Where are we?

Want to follow our footsteps around the Himalaya? We will be carrying a satellite thingy that will transmit our location to your home.
Just go to...
https://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=1viLYMGcXkGiIbO2xipth7CUgx03z6K15 and look at the google map. The password is "exschool"

Final post

Sorry for the lack of posting recently, we've just arrived back in Leh after two weeks in Padum where internet was almost non-existant. Our time spent there was split between a home stay in Gyapak and a 6 day descent of the Zanskar river. We also had the amazing experience of seeing the Dalai Lama speak, who was visiting Padum for the first time in 10 years! This also involved some pretty intense partying afterwards, where rather a lot of rum and chang was consumed (some handled this better than others)! We all managed to conquer the amazing Zanskar gorge without any swims (though there were some close calls) and even the constriction, where all the water flows into a 15 foot gap, was done in style. Everyone is pretty tired and getting excited about coming home to England, where we can run rivers with less chance of getting downtime in whirlpools!

See you in a few days,
ESCC

66 hours in, arrived safely, between 3 and 5 hours sleep, and an intolerable amount of plane "curry"

Despite a slightly close call upon touch down into Leh, we are now happily enjoying the intense sunshine and stunning scenery. New Delhi on the other hand, was comparable to spending a day in a dirty, sauna with more than a few flies. Even so, it was a truly enjoyable life experience and I think we would all like to go back under different circumstances...in other words, not having spent the last 24 hours lugging kayaks and kit halfway around the world with little or no sleep/food!


Arriving at Heathrow...

and then at the other end in Dehli...and yes there were a few accidents with kayaks!

During our short stay, we had a tour around the city visiting shelters for the street children, where the young children sang a traditional song for us (all that we could muster was twinkle twinkle little star). The shelters are run by a charity called Salam Ballack, which take in street children and either reunite them with their families or house them and give them counseling and education. We took taxis back to hotel which turned out to be a bit of an epic ride, with numerous minor crashes with other vehicles (rickshaws were the worst culprits) and also an interesting incident when one taxi was stopped by the police for running a red light (charlie was very kind and offered to pay for the 100RS fine (thats roughly 1pound 30).

A view over the mountains near Leh.

However, having spent today "acclimatising", or as interpreted by us, a day chilling out and enjoying the sun with a short trip into Leh town to try our hand at haggling with the locals, we are now refreshed and ready to sleep and looking forward to getting out on the water.


Upon arriving in Leh, Larry and Reece immediately went into tourist mode, class.

ESCC

Packing

With less than 24 hours to go, we have packed up all the boats and loaded them up in the van. It's the first time we've all been together since before exams and everyone is pretty excited. After a year of planning and preparing, we finally get in the air tomorrow!!!


Will has managed to injure himself even before we lift off, so he won't be able to paddle. Though he is still coming on the expedition, just for our amusement and to make the tea. A few pills from Doc Charlie may yet do the trick.


And this is what it's all about, the entrance to the Zanskar gorge.

Ladakhi Facts

With only a day to go, I thought you might be interested in a few facts from my guide book...

Location – Northern India, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Neighbours - Pakistan, Tibet and China.

Altitude – The lowest point is at 2500m!!! The highest is 7500m.

Population – 175 000. That’s less than the population of Exeter!

There are four mountain ranges crossing Ladakh, the Zanskar, the Ladakh, the Great Himalaya and the Karakoram. We will be starting in Leh in the Ladakh valley, and then travelling by bus over a mountain pass (4420m/14500 feet high!) into the Zanskar valley, before kayaking down the Zanskar river!

For 8 months of the year, the Zanskar river freezes and and walking it becomes the only access to the zanskar valley!

The weather is dry, less than 50mm of rainfall a year! So all the river water is meltwater from the largest glaciers outside the Polar regions. Swimming will be a bit chilly, so no bailing! (Will)

Temperature vary from -50C to +35C and it is said that if you lie half in sun and half in shade, you can get sunburnt on one half and frostbite on the other!

The Ladakhis practice Tibetan Buddhism and Islam.

Until recently Polyandry was common, that's having more than one husband!

Subsistence farmers grow barley, peas, apples and apricots, using methods of farming that haven't changed in centuries.

This includes the use of dzos which are a cross between a cow and a yak and also maintaining miles of irrigation channels that are constantly redirected to make up for the lack of rainfall.

The time difference is +4.5 hours from British summertime.

Look at some Ladakhi pics at http://www.travel-pictures-gallery.com/pageladakh.html

The Team and Project

We have a full expedition team - 13 of us in all!
The team is.. in no particular order:

• Cameron Clark
• Charlie Pidgeon
• Miles Ashton
• Alex Partridge
• Harry Reece
• Chris Ripper
• Jonny Watson
• Jamie Conn
• Wilf Gilbert
• James Hawkins
• Lawrance Panter
• Jethro White
• Will Ruddick
  

Also, we have sorted out the project for the trip.

We shall be helping to set up a community development project with LEDeG - the Ladakh Ecological Development Group. And what a location!! ... a small village called Gyapak, which is 3-4 km away from Padum, in the Zanskar valley, close to our put-in for the Zanskar. Padum is the "capital" of the whole Zanskar region, which has a total population of only 10,000!

The plan is to build a two-room workshop for the women's self help group in Zanskar. The group is involved in the production of handicraft products. Winter is the best time for this - however, winter temperatures of -30 degrees are not uncommon - so it is a bit chilly to work outside! We shall be helping the villagers to construct a work-shed ussing passive solar technology. Trombe walls are used to provide space heating for the work shed. We will be briefed of the solar construction techniques whilst we are in Leh.

One of the exciting aspects of this project is that we have the oppurtunity to stay with families in the village for the 4 or 5 days - which will be an amazing experience! Matt says we shall have to get used to the taste and smell of yak butter tea! all part of the character-building experience I suppose...