World's longest, highest

3 August 2010
The Turquoise Lake
5 hrs drive along roads you might take a tracktor one

Been hanging around Leh and all the people i've met so far seem to have left - not sure why cos its raining in the rest of India. As this makes it a high likelihood that i'll have to spend my birthday alone I decide to book myself onto a trip to the highest, longest lake in the world - PangGong. Its over 4000m high. 150km long and only 1/3 of it is in India the rest is in China. Rumour is that China has submarines in it! I'm in a jeep with two young south africans, 2 young indian tourists and the driver. We lure Marmots out of their holes in the ground with biscuits on the way. And as we get nearer to the pass the road is virtually undriveable. Its supposed to be a 4/5 hr drive from Leh but we are eating lunch at 4.30pm in the tiny village on the edge of the lake. We all stay in the last guest house - under parachute tents, which are NOT waterproof - it rained all night and although i had a quilt and a blanket - i didnt get a wink of sleep. My pillow was soaking, the edges of my bed were soaking wet and the blanket was soaking wet also. I put all my clothes under the duvet with me and waited for the morning - it was grey and drizzling. I stood around - not wanting to walk eat or drink anything - just wanting to go back to sunny Leh. I had to wait 4 hrs for the south africans and the indians to eat, finish taking uninteresting photos and to find the driver who'd slept somewhere else. I was cold and moody. Back in Leh - its wasnt so sunny either.

Friday 5th I hired a bike and cycled to Phyang 17 km each way - it was hot today - so very very hot.it took my 3 hrs to get to the monastry and village - no shade to eat my picnic and on the bumpby road just down from the monastry my handlebars came loose and i had no control of the bike. hummmmmmm

I had a few kilometers down hill before the main road, which I was soooooooo looking forward to bombing down. At the end - there was a road block because the bridge in the next village had been washed away so no cars were being let through, but this also meant there was some soldiers - I asked if they had any tools - No of course not - but a nice lorry driver did and he fixed my bike ( I was hoping he wouldnt be able to and i could get a lift back as there were some pretty big hills to cycle up on the way back). I managed to cycle to the airport and then hitched a ride in a small van - the lovely Ladaki driver didnt even want the 50rupees i offered. So beautiful are the Ladaki people.

I rushed home put the boiler on while there was electricity - (about 1 hr a day). Put my towel and soap in the bathroom - it was to be my first hot shower (well my first shower for about 3 or 4 days). Just walked back into my room for something and a fat Israeli woman went into the bathroom - she had an ensuite so there was no need for her to use my shared bathroom (sorry to be fatist and racist but now i know why people dont like the Israelis). after a few mins i went back to the bathroom and heard the shower - I banged on the door and told her to stop using the shower - and move my towel etc... - She came out after her nice hot shower and i wanted to scream at her - I let her know that I had been waiting patiently for 20 minutes for the water to heat up - did she not think to ask if someone was waiting for a shower ??? ignoramous.

Needless to say no more power and no more hot water. Walked into town and bumped into Spanish Juan (Quixote I call him) it was his last night so we walked to a Tibetan restaurant - and all the tables were reserved - Whaaaa - can ya believe it - in Leh ????