It is interesting to note how the body gets used to a routine. Even though there was no hurry to go anywhere, most of us still found ourselves in the kitchen waiting for the morning cup of tea at around 5.30/6.00 am. It was amusing to watch Captain walk in at the same time, battle ready (which essentially meant - carrying his backpack which included everything that would be required to fix a bike or even build one :P in case anything went wrong) for another day of cycling. Upon asking, we got to know that he had just come back from a 2 km ride to see off some of his friends. You can always trust Captain to be prepared for everything!!
Soon after we were done with our breakfast, we were on our way to the first stop of the day - Key Monastery. The climb hardly mattered as we were happily seated in the vehicles today. As we parked the vehicles at the base of the monastery - we saw a few of the younger monks enjoying a game of football. Within minutes the ever enthusiastic Joss, and the never to be left behind - Sumedh had joined the game. While Joss was all about finesse and showcasing his dribbling skills with the ball, Sumedh relied on power to get the ball through wherever he wanted. It was fun to watch the young monks give it their all against the other team in order to score a goal.
After enjoying the game for a while, we climbed up to the monastery which offered panoramic views of the Kaza valley and the farmlands around it. We were served the traditional sweet black tea which had something peculiar about it, a mix of sweet and spice which made you feel satiated and left you feeling warm. We only got the same tea once afterwards when Bachhittar brewed it for us at Kunuzum La … but the recipe till date remains a mystery. Later on, who knew that a few weeks after being back in Pune, I would stumble upon some mixture that would come quite close to that taste - but of-course without the magic of the location and the people - it would not be the exact same thing ever.
The next stop was Kibber. Kibber is one of the highest inhabited villages in the region and a treat for those who want to catch the glimpse of the famed Snow Leopards in the regions. The season for Snow leopard sighting though, is slightly later in the year. We strolled across the village to the NCF Office. The office also acts as the base for all NCF volunteers that are there for various projects. It just so happened that we were in the village on the day when they were praying for rains by performing a sacred ritual. Not wanting to miss out on such an opportunity, we walked to the edge of the village where the ceremony was taking place. Though we couldn’t make much sense of the ceremony, the crowd that had gathered was a sight to behold. The ladies had all turned up dressed in antique turquoise jewellery, which apparently passes from mother to daughter over the years. The kids were dressed in bright colours too and many of them were seen munching on lollypops and having their own gala time.
The second part of the ceremony involved, riding a few selected horses to the top of the distant hill. These horses wore saddles in bright colours and on a signal from the elders, their riders pushed them towards their destination. The entire journey takes around 2-3 hours. Rinchin, too had his horse on the line and was off with the rest of the gang as soon as the signal was given.
After a quick chai at the NCF office and lunch at Kibber, we came back to Kaza and took on the task of cleaning our cycles. We walked to the Sol cafe in order to try some hot chocolate, but it turned out to be average. In search of good food and the ever essential shopping for the trip, we kept walking through the market, buying a bit of this and that before we finally found our place for dinner - an Israeli cafe. The market walk, and running after the kids on the street to photograph them had made us hungry and we gorged on pizza, schnitzels, burners and shaksukas while listening to Captain’s photography stories - his tales of capturing snakes, and other reptiles in his camera. Joss invited us all to his place in Goa where he promised to take us prawn fishing and promised that while we barbecue the prawns, we would get to hear an orchestra of frogs.
It was while walking back to the cafe that we realised that it was EID and dropped in to say Eid Mubarak to Bashir (our hotel owner) and he graciously offered us some kheer. The early hours of the night were spent clicking the Eid ka Chand and listening to beautiful old melodies being played on some radio in the valley.
After bidding adieu to the trekking group we retired for the day.