A very hard day in Nubra

Our breakfast was prepared in the garden of the tent camp. Two of us didn’t eat anything because they were ill. They decided to stay at the camp because today we had a tight program and it was going to be very hot – we couldn’t make out a single cloud in the sky!

The drivers brought us to the foot of a mountain. From there we started walking up a steep path that led to Entsa, a hermitage. While walking I felt worse and worse. I had stomach ache and felt sick too. I reduced my pace and when I told the others that I thought that I was ill too, everyone was immediately nice and caring. Someone took my backpack, I got offers to take medication and it made me feel better to see that the group was worried about me. I finished the 250 meters of altitude and lay down in the shadow of a tree in the courtyard of the hermitage. I got a Aspirin, but when I tried to drink it, I felt even more sick, so I stopped drinking and tried to relax instead. In the meantime, the others had a look at the building which is still not reachable by car. The road is being built at the moment.

Soon, the group finished and we went back down. I already felt much better, the rest in the calm garden was good. While going down, I didn’t feel sick at all and I could keep my normal pace.

on the way to the hermitage

After a short drive, we had lunch in a farmer’s garden. It was a pick-nick with rice, potatoes, vegetables and tofu. I only ate some vegetables. The problem that I had was that I was thirsty but when I drank some water, it made me feel sick, so I didn’t drink that much.

Our next destination were the hot springs. They weren’t that interesting, you could see where the 70°C-water was coming from and shortly hold your hand into the stream. But we didn’t use the simple bath that they had built. I thought that in Europe, there would be a big thermal bath with lots of basins and a sauna and all that stuff. But here they have some simple showers and one blank tub...

The third thing we visited was the holy lake of Tirisha. To get there, one has to do an uphill walk again, so I stayed behind and enjoyed the shade again. It is told that on full moon, one can see the Potala in Lhasa in the lake. Although we just had full moon, nobody could see it.

One last point we visited was a monastery called Samstanling. Again, I stayed behind and sat down on the stairs that led to the building complex. While I sat there dozing, suddenly something mad a loud noise when walking up the stairs. When I looked up, I saw a big cow passing by. It simply went up and then started to eat the flowers in the monks’ garden!

Annetraud and the others were lucky to see some beautiful statues and a mandala that was not yet finished.

I didn't see much more of the monastery than this... :-/

Finally, we drove back to the camp. I wasn’t exactly sure how I felt, sometimes it was better, sometimes it was worse. We arrived at five o’ clock and didn’t have any program until dinner at 7.30. I had a shower and went to bed. Those two hours of sleep helped me a lot already. For dinner, our guide had ordered rice soup for the three ill group members. The soup wasn’t too bad if you added enough salt to it. I also drank some Magenfreund-tea and had some plain bread. Then I immediately brushed my teeth and went to bed again.