INDIA: KASHMIR & LADAKH EXPLORER II

Posted September 2, 2009 by Rahul Aggarwal

After a good breakfast I set off in my jeep for rafting. The terrain here in Ladakh is incredibly arid, with some astounding rock formations, constantly changing in colour, from deep purples to bright turquoise. Set against another royal blue sky, the colours stood out even more.

After 2 hours of driving, I finally reached the aptly named village of Chilling, which was the departure point for the raft.

There was a good turnout of rafters, and after our safety briefing and donning of our wet suits, we were ready to take on the rapids. We were to set off down the River Zanskar for 28km, with the end point coming at the confluence of the River Zanskar and River Indus. I last went rafting some 6 years ago in Africa, so I had forgotten just how tiring this can be, especially in the face of strong sunlight.

Apart from the jaw-dropping backdrop of mountains, the most memorable moment was when we hit a rapid and one of our rafters fell into the water. For some 10 seconds she was out of sight, then we caught sight of her floating sandal, before she promptly surfaced when our guide hauled her to the safety of the raft. At the end, I tucked into a richly deserved lunch and then headed back to Leh.

En-route I stopped at Magnetic Hill, so called because this particular spot seems to defy gravity. To the naked eye the road appears to go downhill, yet when we put our jeep into neutral, it rolled backwards in the opposite direction! From there, I went on to Gurudwara Pathar Sahib, which is revered by Sikhs, as a rock formation bears the resemblance of the Guru Nanak. After an eventful and tiring day, I finally reached Leh, wandered around the bazaar for a while and decided to call it a night. Tomorrow is another action-packed day.

This blog is part of an Off-The-Beaten-Track Travel Diary. Click on the links below to navigate through this journey.