My friend Fayaz gave me a couple of pieces of Kashmiri bread then sent me on my merry way just by myself, to walk the told 60KM(37Miles) to Coltag Glacier, to ‘perhaps get half way to the Glacier, then come back for dinner before it’s dark’ as Fayaz put it, however the next time I saw him was 3 days later.

What made it more of a challenge was that I had to get there and back as fast as I could since there were just 12 hours till nightfall, limited time to walk the 37 high altitude miles up, down and along rocky passes, many of which that lead to small rickety tree-branch bridges over white water rapids, to near sheer drops where you’d have to move slowly along constant tumbling rocks to avoid slipping. Very Indiana jones stylee’, I felt like an adventurer.

It did not take me long until I decided to go all the way instead of merely walking ‘half way’ since I would  never know in my life if I was ‘half way’ at that point or 9/10 of the way, since I was just told to keep following a seemingly endless river up over the mountains as it became smaller and into but a stream.

Eventually I arrived at a huge plateau which steadily became smaller as the fog gained in on me and within 1 minute It was difficult to see more than 5 metres in any direction. This drawback meant I had to keep my eyes constantly on a male character’s silouette that I’d just spotted ahead of me, in order to keep proper direction. I eventually lost him but shortly after from the mist, appeared a wooden hut and a curious girl stood static outside of it.

Inside the gypsy house was a much needed break, shame about the salty-salty food.

At this point I was knackered and losing faith in ever getting to the Base of the Glacier which made the hospitality I encountered when they invited me in, a real saviour, the food however, was questionable in regards to my western tongue. I was handed some Yak Tea (which was awful) and a strange snack that resembled rice (also awful) and believe me was it hard to pretend I was enjoying the taste in the slightest. Either way, from what I could translate, they seemed to be a friendly natured, shy people, just with different set taste buds on their tongue than I, I still ate it all though which was a challenge comparable to walking to a glacier in the Himalayas.

I left the gypsy house and onto my target, but to my surprise, it was right there in front of me, now visible to see after the fog was cleared away and the sun had come out somewhat idyllically, to light up the way forward.

The work I’d put in to get there made the view all so worth seeing coupled with it’s overwhelming feeling of the grand scale of space and total seclusion. Strangely perhaps, as knackered as I was, after reaching my goal, it was no longer such an issue to me that I should have to walk  back the same distance I’d just walked, but merely a necessary part of my path that I must take, and an accepted one, to now appreciate the journey I was required to partake in and not merely appreciate the destination.

Unfortunately, the camp had left by the time I arrived back at 6PM-ish (just getting dark) which meant I ended up staying for another three days in the mountains, this time at the less remote village of Aru and made great bonds with the few other traveller guests that resided there, all of whom were patient, kind and talkative individuals with a story to tell. ‘Milky Way Lodge’ in Aru= Good times.

In case you are confused about the video, this man was doing an impression of one American tourist who was very intoxicated, so all of a sudden the American guy got up, with his hands on his side heroically proclaimed ‘I NEED TO GET BACK STAIRS TO STAIRS’.. oh, the people one meets.

Click here for Part 1 of this article set