Reflections on the Sham Trek, Ladakh 2009

March 18, 2009

Some thoughts on the Sham trek

This past week we trekked through the Sham region, travelling by car to Likkir, then an easy 4-hour trek to Yangtang, where we spent the night. There we stayed in the homes of 2 families, a good first introduction to Ladakhi homestays. We had Chu Tagi—it translates literally to "water bread" -- a thick delicious barley wheat noodle in a milk and onion sauce. I'd had it before, but never this good! VIS students slept in 2 bedrooms, one for boys, one for girls, and I slept in the kitchen with Kunzes, the VIS Ladakhi language teacher, and Tashi llamo and Somo, two SECMOL students who came trekking with us. Falling asleep with a full belly by a warm stove, listening to Ladakhi words I thought once again how lucky I am to be here in Ladakh. Sometime during the night I woke to one of the kittens crawling into my sleeping bag, searching for warmth.

The second day we hiked uphill for about 3 hours, to the village of Ulley, high up in a mountain valley. VIS students were split into smaller groups here, and after we reached our houses we had some tea, changed out of our sweaty clothes, and sat around the woodstove talking and eventually nodding off in the smoky warm room. I woke when the room got cold, the fire had gone out, and no one was around. The door creaked open and a little boy, about 5 years old peered in at me, and then beckoned. What else to do but follow him through the dark shadowy house, through pitch-black corridors, and into the kitchen, where Shona, Matt and Morgan were dancing with him to Hindi music? Quite the dancer, little Stanzin refused to let any of us stop dancing. We must have danced for an hour, this enthusiastic 5 year old delightedly shrieking in Ladakhi at us--he was at the age where he couldn't understand why we didn't speak Ladakhi, why everyone in the world wouldn't speak Ladakhi--so we danced until his mother came back and we started preparing dinner.

Our third day we hiked to the village Hemischupachen, one of the larger villages in the Sham region. To get there we backtracked down the valley the Ulley sits in, then went through another snowy valley and over a small pass. In Hemishupachen, light filters through a piece of green plastic in the roof, bathing the room in green glow. A cat sleeps beneath the stove, paws twitching with animal dreams, ribs rising in falling in deep sleep. An old radio sits on the wooden floor, playing slow sad Tibetan music. At 6pm there are 5 minutes of news in English, staticky, British accented. Flowered contact paper covers the chokste table. The wood floor is blackened around the stove, and we sit on a threadbare but beautiful rug.

The radio crackles and through the static speaks, "Pakistan terrorists killed 8 members of the Sri Lankan cricket team. New Zealand has cancelled their upcoming match with Pakistan." Tashi looks at me. "Nobody wants to play with Pakistan anymore," he says softly, smiling sadly at his phrasing. I nod. Nobody wants to play with Pakistan anymore. The cat rolls over and yawns.

Our final day of trekking brought us across one large snowfield, finally reaching a set of prayer flags at the edge. We took some group photos, gazed out from our vantage point, about even with the next pass, but with about a 1000-foot drop to a valley below. Then we tore down the mountain, sliding down the snowy slope before resting over cookies and candy bars in the sun. About an hour's trek through sandy rock, and we reached the south side of our second pass of the day. Trudging up with the ponies and our own packs, we passed another hour or so simply putting one foot in front of the other, shedding gloves and hats for t-shirts as we baked in the sun. Endless switchbacks, finally we found footing in the snow as we neared the top, and took a lunch break on top. From here we could see the prayer flags where we had been only a few hours ago. The rest of the day was a descent into the village of Ang, falling into a methodical rhythm as we tramped through canyons, shady sides frigid and snow covered, sun side warm and sandy. Finally we reached Ang, and the silence was broken for the first time in hours, as if we'd just woken up, grins all around.

All in all, the Sham Region trek has been one of my favorite treks, both for the beautiful snowfields marked by chortens, high passes, changing climate from desert to mountain, and evenings spent around warm stoves with welcoming families in high mountain villages. --Amy