Early morning on 4th Feb, we landed in Leh. The temperature was in the range of -10 to - 15 deg C. We took a cab outside Leh airport and reached Hotel (Noor Guest House, Leh) in next 15-20 mins. As we reached the Hotel, we felt the chill passing through the bones. That was the moment when we realized the significance of having layers of warm cloths for below 0 temperature.
We had carried a jacket for -10 C which helped a lot along with other 2 layers of thermals and a cotton shirt.
First day, you are supposed to take descent rest but not sleeping for long hours. In another hour or two other participants in our group arrived. We had formal introduction and decided that we would go for lunch in Leh main market which was around 20 mins walking distance. The other two guys were Kishor and Satya. Kishor was from Mumbai and Satya from Odisha working in Chikmagalur
Around 1 PM, Suraj, Kishor and me walked towards Leh market to try some local food. The roads were literally empty with some cars going up and down after some intervals. Most of the shops were closed. Since winter is a tourist off season, everything was closed plus the pandemic may have had its adverse impact. 20 mins walk and we reached a local restaurant and tried Tibetan Thupka but it failed to satisfy our test buds. Not so good start :(
We spent rest of the day in the room trying to get accustomed to the cold weather. A warm heater proved to be a big help for us in initial days.
Second day (5th Feb), we all 4 decided that we would go to Leh Main Market for lunch, window shopping and some nearby exploring. We left rooms around 11 am. Roamed in the main market which is not too big but a nice place to spend some leisure time.
Leh Palace is one of the best attraction near market. It can be reached by road which is a long detour or one can take a short route by walk. It is located on a small hill and takes around 20 mins to reach top especially if you take stops after every few meters. Since we were not yet acclimatized well and did not want to stress our body, we walked slowly. Satya, the youngest guy was however quite enthusiastic and as good as running up hill. 3 of us were worried that this guy would get himself hurt due to acute mountain sickness (AMS).
Alas we reached the top. First time we took the left route which goes to the back side and does not have any entry. Then we came to the front side. Tourists have to pay entry fees of Rs 20. Leh Palace has a exhibition of some of the famous archeological places all over India. Its a nine story building and climbing each floor is a fun. Top of the palace, you get the splendid panoramic view of complete Leh and surrounding. It is worth visiting the place either by road or walk.
Then it was time to walk back to the guest house. Late evening, our local contact Ajaz Ahmed arrived at the guest house to get the formalities done for the medical checkup and trek. Afterwards, we had dinner and went to sleep early around 9.30 PM.
Next day 6th Feb, was the crucial day of medical checkup. Our trek guide Stanzin came to pick up us from guest house and we went to the office where medical checkup was supposed to be done. The most important concern for 3 of us from Maharashtra was that we had the COVID test certificate but no SMS with SRF ID and the officials at the medical checkup center were insisting for it. The problem was that many trekkers were producing fake certificates and there were some cases that some of them found to be positive after doing the test in Leh. Finally after convincing them that its a valid certificate, we completed the process and now we were ready to embark on the epic journey. The fees is around 8K which includes insurance, wildlife area charges etc.
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