Woke up around 7:00 today and got ready for a day of touring around Jaipur.   Had a bit of breakfast in the hotel and then met my guide and driver.  We made a brief stop to take a photo of the Wind Palace, which is a nicely designed red colored building in the town area.  We then proceeded on to the Amber Palace,  which is at the top of a hill overlooking Jaipur.  We toured around the Amber Palace.  This guide was good and provided a good mix of information and time for me to take photos.   After the Amber Palace we carried on to the observatory where there were a number of large instruments for telling the time and making astrological predictions.   We then visited the City Palace for another detailed tour.  Stopped for lunch and then visited a couple of workshops for textiles and gems.   Didn’t buy any jewelry but did buy a couple of custom made tunics, which they will apparently deliver to my hotel by 9 tonight.  Then headed back to the hotel to try and get the blogs up to date.   Managed to get most of them posted!   Then went for a pre-dinner drink on the rooftop bar.  After the drink headed to my room for a brief stop before dinner and got a call that my order had arrived.   Went down to collect the items and turn back up to the room to try them on – fit well and they turned out pretty good!  Went for dinner and had a quick bite before heading back to the room to pack and get to bed early as I have to leave the hotel at 5:15 tomorrow for my train to Delhi. 

Woke up and grabbed some breakfast (mostly donuts) before meeting my driver for the ride to Jaipur.  On the way we stopped at Fatehpur Sikri, where a guide provided me with a tour of the remains of a Mughal capital, which was apparently abandoned after a few short years due to the lack of drinking water.  The ruins were pretty impressive considering I had never heard of the site and that it was only used for a few years. It was pretty warm out and my attention span was not particularly long so I was getting a bit impatient by the end of the tour.  We stopped for lunch and I had some rice, which was not particularly good. My driver and me headed on towards Jaipur.  The driver suggested a stop at the Step Well, which I googled and decided was worth a stop for a photo.   Didn’t have a guide but got out and took a few photos of the impressive geometric architecture, reminiscent of an Escher print.  We then continued on towards Jaipur.  I could definitely feel the cough coming on – not sure if it was a cold coming on our just the air quality.  Got to Jaipur in midafternoon and decided to take it easy the rest of the day.   Relaxed in my room for a bit and then had a pre-dinner beer on the hotel’s rooftop patio.   Drank my beer, watched the sunset and listened to some peacocks squawk from a cell tower beside the hotel.  Then headed to the restaurant for a quick dinner.  Had some chili chicken and fries.   After dinner went to bed to prepare for the day of sightseeing in Jaipur tomorrow. 

Had to wake up early to check out and get my car to Agra.   Met the the driver after a quick breakfast and headed to Agra.  Definitely started to notice the air quality a bit more and started coughing on the way.  Got to Agra before lunch and had a quick bite at the hotel and then relaxed for a bit until my guide arrived at 3. Fell asleep but woke up when they arrived – too late of a night in Delhi last night.  Toured the Red Fort first and managed to get some okay photos bit it was pretty crowded and hot so I wasn’t lingering around too much.  After the Red Fort we went to the Taj Mahal, which was also cro0ed.  Toured around and managed to get some decent photos – was only a bit of scaffolding.   Also got some cheesy photos of myself taken by some onsite photographer – not sure what I’ll do with those… After the sightseeing went back to the hotel and had some pasta for dinner – didn’t want to order a bunch of dishes so the pasta was easy.   Then went to the room to attempt to upload some blogs and photos but the wifi wasn’t very fast.   Off to bed so I can get ready for a day of traveling to Jaipur tomorrow.  At least the car isn’t coming until 8 so I can sleep in a bit. 

Woke up at 5 am and managed to get my stuff ready and get down for our early breakfast.   Had some toast and fried eggs and we made our way to the airport.   Still no Internet available.  The Leh airport was quite confusing and chaotic but fortunately the local guide was there to get us through to our gate.   I lucked out and got a window seat so I was able to take some photos as we flew over the mountains.   When leaving Leh we flew quite close to the mountains.  Arrived back to Delhi and took a while to get back to the hotel through the traffic.   We were hungry so we grabbed some lunch in the hotel.   I went for some pepperoni pizza,  which was not too bad. Spent the afternoon relaxing and uploading some photos and blogs.  Met a few of the others before the dinner in the hotel bar for happy hour.   Had a couple of Kingfishers.  We went to the same place as previous for dinner and I opted to try something other than the kebabs so I went for the Chinese fried noodles with chicken.   Had some more Kingfishers.   Everyone was having a good time so most of us went out to a bar for a few more drinks.   The bar looked almost like a chain restaurant but had a live band and was a lot of fun.  Got back to the hotel around midnight and said our goodbyes – sad to have to see everyone go :(.  Then went to get my stuff organized and get to bed as my driver will be picking me up at 7:30 am tomorrow to head to Agra.

Got to sleep in for the last night in the tents and have a leisurely time getting ready before breakfast.  After breakfast we presented our tips to the camp and pony crew and got in our jeeps to head to Hemis monastery.  We toured around the monastery and museum. The monks were preparing for a large festival taking place soon.   Our guide for the monastery was Chosphel,  who was the tour leader on my previous trip to India.  After Hemis, we headed back to Leh for a shower and a chance to clean up.   Had a shower and then went for lunch with some of the others at the Penguin restaurant we had been to previously. I had some momos and a Kingfisher and we relaxed in the outdoor restaurant before heading back to the hotel.  I did a bit of wash in the hotel and went through some photos.  We then met for dinner to say goodbye to our trek guide who we would be leaving in Leh.  We went to the restaurant overlooking the main shopping street that we had went to for a drink before.   I had some chicken biriyani. We ended up hanging around drinking for quite a while.   Got back to the hotel and packed stuff up as we had a 5 am wake up call for our flight back to Delhi. 

An early start this morning as we had a long final day of trekking.   We got our wake up tent tea at 6:00 am and had breakfast at 6:45. We set out around 7:30 and climbed up the hill to the Gongmaru La pass.   The last bit was definitely a slow go but I made it to the top!  The weather was nice and sunny but the top was a bit windy.    We did not wait at the top got the remaining two as they were quite far behind.   We started the steep descent down on the zig zagging trail.   After a while the trail entered a canyon with amazing purple and turquoise colored rocks.   Soon we had to descend to the river bed,  walk along the rocks, cross small bits of river and had back up on the banks.   Finally we stopped for lunch alongside the river after having to steeply climb the side and descend.  For lunch we had soup,  pasta,  cauliflower and paneer,  vegetables and tuna. Relaxed by the river for a bit before carrying on.   The trail involved a lot more of the river bed,  which I was beginning to despise,  steep climbs up the side, walking along a 6 inch trail on the sandy sides and descending on steep, sandy and rocky trails.  We finally came to a tea tent, which was about 2 hours from our camp.   It appeared like the dreadful riverbed might be behind us.   We stopped for a bit of tea and a rest and then carried on.  Disappointingly, we had not seen the last of the river :(.   We carried on with a bit more walking on the riverbed and a lot more narrow,  crumbly trails above the river.   Was definitely glad I wasn’t feeling dizzy!  Finally, we came to the final camp!   Had our cup of hot juice and set up my tent.   Then a couple of us drank some “Godfather” beer and ate chips one guy bought at the tea tent above the camp.  Was definitely a good celebration after completing the trek!   The final two had a jeep meet them a bit before camp as it was now dark and us in the camp were getting hungry.  They made it!  For dinner we had fresh vegetable and mushroom soup,  papadom,  eggplant,  curry mutton, potatoes,  rice and dal.   For dessert the chef made us a cake with chocolate icing!    Since it was a bit later, most of us were pretty tired so there was no cards just a bit of post dinner chatter.  Headed to bed around 9:30 so I could write up my blog and get some rest.   Has been a great trek! 

Since today’s trek was relatively short we got some extra time to get ready in the morning.   For the first time this trek I was actually asleep when they came with the tent tea.  For breakfast we had scrambled eggs,  apple pancakes and porridge.  We headed out on our trek and climbed up to a ridge where there were some great views in all directions.   We then carried on to a plateau area where there were a couple of small lakes.   The lakes reflected Kang Yangtse, the tallest mountain in the area at 6,400 m.  Managed to get some photos while we rested.  We then carried on along a plateau,  seeing lots of pica running around.  Arrived at camp around 12:30 or so and had our warm lemon drink.   The camp is located in a high altitude field where no one lives permanently.   In the summer,  shepherds bring their sheep,  goats and dzos (cow yak cross).   Once the others arrived we had lunch in the tent.  The sun was shining and it was quite warm until a cool wind started to blow.   For lunch we had Nepalese donuts,  potatoes with garlic and onion,  some kind of parsnip type vegetable with a tofu sausage and soup.  I felt pretty good despite the high altitude of the camp. After lunch relaxed in my tent and debated about going on the 1.5 hour acclimatization walk.   Got dressed and prepared to go and went out to meet the others.  The cold wind was blowing and I thought the warm tent sounded better so I was about to bail when one of the others in the group said we could always just go up a bit.   I ended up going and we ended up going all the way to the top, which did have some impressive views is Kang Yangtse.  Climbed back down and had some tea with cakes and biscuits.  Then took bit of a break before dinner.  Dinner was early tonight at 7.  The temperature definitely had s dramatic drop the moment the sun started to go down. Went from having just a shirt on in the tent to putting the fleece and wool hat on.   For dinner also wore my down jacket and felt somewhat warm.   Dinner was chicken soup,  which helped warm us up,  chips,  cauliflower, pasta and warmed pineapple in syrup for dessert.   Played a few rounds of cards and then we all headed to bed as our wake up tea will be at 6 tomorrow and our final day will also be the longest and have us cross the highest pass. 

Woke up this morning at 6:30 and packed up my stuff and got ready.   We had breakfast of porridge, boiled egg and a Swiss roll type thing with dried fruits and nuts.   After breakfast we set out, up a hill to Markha village and the monastery.  We carried on through more impressive landscape until we reached a monastery high up on a steep hill.  Climbed to the top and got some good photos of the surrounding area.   Then made my way back down.   We then carried on and stopped for tea at a nice tea tent.   Had some tea and then continued on.   Lots of great scenery and colors.   The wheat is golden yellow, there’s green grass, red rocks and the blue sky.  Another fairly warm day today.  We then came to a river area where we had to cross the river with our wet shoes.   Went fairly smoothly!   Later on I came to another river, unsure of which way to take as there was a path upwards, which appeared to be blocked by 4 donkeys, a path across the river and maybe some room alongside the river on the rocks.   The guide was up ahead trying to motion the correct choice but it was to far away to see.   He ran over and said the part alongside the river was the way.   Made it through and carried on.   Came to another section where we were creeping along a very nartow, soft and crumbly ledge above the river – definitely the scariest part yet!   Managed to make it across and to the lunch spot at an eco cafe.   Had our lunch and relaxed before carrying on to visit a school in the area.    We then carried on up a steep hill to an area where there appeared to be another monastery further up on a pinacle.  May have just been ruins so we didn’t stop there.   Carried in through some farm fields and had a dicey river crossing over some rocks.   Got a foot wet but managed not to fall in!  Carried on more until we reached our camp site,  which, again, has some impressive views. There are also a number of pikas (little groundhog type animals that live in holes in the ground).  I had spotted another one earlier but it was a different type.   Spotted two standing up wrestling on the way into camp and managed to get a photo.  Set my sleeping bag up and then took some photos of the sunset.   Played a bit of cards before dinner.   For dinner we had tomato soup,  rice with vegetables,  green peppers,  some other Indian vegetable and dal.   We then had apple fritters for dessert.  Played more cards after dinner and am just getting my blog done now at 10:20 – the latest night on the trek so far.   Time for bed! 

Woke up this morning around 6, a bit before the tent tea wake up call set 6:15.  Got my stuff organized and cleaned up before the breakfast gong.   Had some toast,  Indian bread, rice pudding and cheese omelet for breakfast.   As we were getting ready to go I noticed my camera battery was dead,  changed it with the one in my day pack,  which was also dead.   Managed to run to my tent and get a couple spares from my main bag.   Very glad I checked the camera as today is supposed to be one of the most scenic days!  We headed out of the campsite and into the Markha river valley.   The scenery was stupendous and one could barely walk 10 feet without wanting to take more photos. The sun was very strong and I remembered at a stop to put some sun screen on my hands as I think they got a bit of a burn from yesterday.  We carried on through the valley,  up along the banks of the river on little paths cut into the sides.  We stopped for a tea break at a nice tea tent with a big green lawn.   Had some tea and relaxed for a bit. We then carried in for another hour until our lunch stop at another tea tent.   This one was also nice although there were a number of wasps flying around, which seemed to get worse after lunch when tea was served.   We had some soup,  mixed peas and potatoes,  a cheese slice, some Indian bread and some beans.  After lunch we carried on through the valley.   There was a bit of a scare when a herd of blue sheep, high up on the ledge, started some rocks falling, one which landed not far from me as we were backtracking.   Luckily our guide noticed the dust high up on the cliff and had is go back.   After the herd moved on, we carried on winding up and down alongside the river.  Crossed a few dodgy looking bridges, which were often in some kind of weird angle.   They seemed stable enough… and were better than having to take off our boots and wade through. I saw a number of little lizards -1 managed to get photos of the green ones but the orange and yellow one was more elusive.  Finally arrived in our camp which is surrounded by the valley sides.   The Markha village is above our camp, which we will pass through tomorrow.   Had our tea outside on the grass and relaxed for a bit.  For dinner we had chicken soup,  papadom, pizza,  chips,  cauliflower and a salad with carrots, cucumber and tomato.   There was some fruit salad for dessert.   Played a few rounds of cards and then headed to bed to write up my blog.  Lengthy walk today but the scenery was amazing.   Time for bed now as tomorrow sounds like it will be a long day as well.