82 Invite 4961x3508px

Hanu gongma

I'm on the road to a backcountry that isn't even on the map. The time is past 4 PM, and if you delay a little longer, you will meet the night on the road. If you take the return bus behind me, you will be able to safely return to Leh at dawn the next day. But here I did not want to give up. No, rather than giving up, another anger was triggered by this absurd situation. There were already people walking by. As I was physically confident, I also wondered what would happen to me. This situation will be one of the contingencies that will come up in my future travels. So if I take the bus back to Leh, I will definitely regret it.

I said goodbye to the bus driver and followed the Radaki youths who had gone ahead. Crossing a single wooden bridge through which the river flows, we had a short conversation with them and walked about 5km like that.

There were a total of 5 of them, and it turned out that they were Nepalese children from Kathmandu, not Ladakh. However, the fashion of these children was the highlight. In Korea, the semi-hip hop fashion that was popular 10 to 15 years ago with strange accessories seemed to be quite the latest trend here. To me, it was just the end of the old-fashioned, but when I asked how they were dressed, I simply said, “Good! Cucking Awesome!” I had no choice but to give a soulless answer.

At first glance, we may seem quite friendly, but in my heart I was on guard against them. Because I was the only outsider here. It was because these young people could have buried me alive if I coveted the camera or wallet in the room. It became increasingly uncomfortable for them to whisper to each other in Nepali while looking at me. If they attacked me as a group, I wouldn't have the guts to stand up to these five young people.

The sun was setting. As I walked, altitude sickness and thirst plagued me. It was the first time I had walked for such a long time without resting in the high mountains. It was a mistake to think that I had now adapted to altitude sickness during my stay in Leh. Nepalese teenagers inquired about my condition, took some apricots out of their bags, and handed out their own bottled water. Apricot is a fruit that helps overcome altitude sickness. There are many apricot trees in Ladakh, but it is not recommended to pick them up because they are delicious. As a side effect, severe diarrhea is coming.

Fortunately, drinking apricots and water soon relieved thirst and altitude sickness. I didn't express my concern for them, but somehow I felt sorry for them. As my physical condition improved, I felt like my alertness was naturally released. I think it was not because of the situation I was in, but because of the alertness that occurred unconsciously in a bad condition.

Dahanu is not a village name, but a local name within Ladakh. all It was said that the villages of Dha and Hanu were divided into villages called Hanugongma, Hanuyokma, Hanutang, and Dapima (Garhon) under a large area called Dha and Hanu. When we arrived at Hanutang, a village-like landscape with people gathered now appeared. Most of the kids I met in Pangongcho or Turtuk villages came up to me playfully, curious about being captured by my camera.

However, I was amazed at the fact that there were no outsiders in this place, and my existence itself was different in skin color, attire, and eye color. Then he shyly hid behind the legs of the adults and watched me. It was like dealing with an alien.

Since the villagers did not speak English, they made all sorts of gestures and drew pictures in their notebooks to inquire about the village where Old Radaki lived.

Eventually, I got information from a truck driver that Hanugongma and Garjon had Old Radaki living with flowers on their heads. But soon it will be a dark night with no lights. To make matters worse, this truck driver seduced me by asking if I didn't want to go to Hanugongma. Of course, what this driver wanted was money from an outsider. That's 400 rupees! He was the first Ladakh I met when I came to Dahanu to make me a hogu. Reluctantly giving me 400 rupees, I parted with the Nepalese youths who accompanied me for a short time to Hanutang after the road was lost. The fear and excitement of the first night in the backcountry and fantasies of the Old Radaki were running through my mind.