Momo is a Tibetan dumpling... which I have yet to try. Momo is also the nickname of the girl that came along trekking with me and my Kashmiri friends. We planned our trekking adventure in less than a day... buying food, finding a tent to rent, deciding on which trekking paths to take. We decided upon Sonamarg (since I was in Pehalgam many a times last year and Momo had been to neither... I was the deciding factor!).

DAY 1 - began with a rush. A friend was going to drive us in his mini car and us just supplying the petrol. But with the amount of equipment that we had we were forced to hire a somu (Jeep) and spend Rs1400 instead of Rs500. But off we went, stopping only for fresh veggies, bread, and kerosene (for the stove). We got to Sonamarg and it was packed with Indian tourists. It was late in the afternoon so we decided to just do a little hike, camp for the night, and come back to the town (of Sonamarg) and hire our horse and horseman!). We found a lovely place by a stream, set up camp, began the process of cooking. I was good with cutting veggies, washing dishes, and getting water... maybe I've been conditioned to the American kitchen! The day was hot, the night was cool... too cool. We had two tents, one for the kitchen and one that fits 2 to sleep. I slept in the kitchen. It was cold. Freezing cold actually. All we had was a wool blanket to sleep on and another wool blanket to sleep under. It was not enough!

DAY 2 - Morning couldn't have come any sooner and when it did the sun hit us with the most scorching heat. I was applying sunlotion every fifteen minutes and I still felt the redness appearing! A boy from the mountain village came to join us for the morning bearing gifts of milk and roti and we gladly exchanged with some kerosene. Gifts of milk seemed to be a common practice in the mountains. It was a nice change to our regular Kashmiri chai. Once we were all packed up we headed back to Sonamarg and haggled with prices for horsemen. We ended up with 1 horseman and 2 horse and we still had a small bag each on our bag. Our trekking began. We climbed over rocks, rivers, and steep hills but didn't quite reach the rocky part of the mountains on this day. We wandered passed herds of sheep and goat, wild horses, yaks, and buffalo. We stopped only to fill our water bottles with the mountain river and for a quick cantaloup snack. I was tired. My lungs were tired. Usually they are fighting for air from the exhaust fumes of the city now they are working harding trekking up steep inclines. I was overjoyed to see our first campsite. And just as the tents were up the rain started to spattered all around. So we all piled into the kitchen tent, all four of us and the horseman and started cooking dinner. The horseman took up the task from that day on but I still help with washing dishes and getting water. A task that I would take on like a little kid! He was a good cook... all diferent kinds of tasty dishes with aloo, mutter, gobi... the list goes on... I'd have to start a whole new blog if I wanted to write about food! The rain stopped enough for us to make a small campfire and soon we were all tired and crawled to bed. This time the four of us all slept in the kitchen tent and the horseman took the little tent. We need all the body heat that we could get. I was much warmer that night!

Day 3 - I awoke to milk-chai... somehow the horseman got a hold of milk. Every morning he seemed to wake early and take off only to reappear with some kind of treat for the morning! Breakfast was bread and chai and we relaxed for an early lunch of leftovers and packed up. On our trek we caught up with a family who live in the mountains and trekking with them the whole day long. This is the day that we first hit snow on our journey and camped up in a rocky area. For firewood... since there were no more trees around we chopped down a few dozen little mountain bushes. We leave the embers burning all night to ward off strange animals (and anything else). And then in the morning the embers are used to warm our lunch. The family seemed to like me and kept coming near to just sit and stare at me and be with me. Funny, they never did that with Momo (she's from Switzerland and has short curly hair... they said it look like gobi... cauliflower!). Our water supply at that campsite was trickling down the steep, rocky hill. It look so inviting especially since I hadn't really washed for the last 3 days (aside from hands and face by the evening it is much to cold!). So today was going to be the day of my big wash! I took my biodegradable soap, my sarong (which I use as a towel), my shorts, and a change of clothes and climbed to a little area of the falling water and was about to change into my shorts... but I was being watched by the family. Ack! No privacy. I waited and waited and finally decided to climb higher. They must have been fascinated by a white girl going to bath in freezing cold water for at the time I didn't know the temperature! But who cares if the water took my breath away... I was finally clean!!! Later they called me over for nuun (salt) chai and roti... usually I really can't stand the salty tea but decided to take anyways and sort of enjoyed just this one time... but I had to say no to a second glass!

DAY 4 - Morning time I was brushing my teeth when hoards of army men came trekking by. One saw my camera and actually me to take a photo... so I did! The horseman took the photo for me and the army men gathered around me... like I was the focus, one guy put his goggles on me, another gave me his gun to hold... at that point I didn't know whether to be afraid or laugh! They all shook my hand and continued on their way and I went back to brushing my teeth... I hope the photo turns out! We trekked on with the same family for most of the day. They started to call me 'butterfly'... I'm not really sure why... I'm positive I looked nothing like one. Most of the trekking was on snow through the glacier area... I had not prepared for this and my Aldo fashion shoes are not ment for trekking... needless to say I did a lot of slipping and slidding but then so did everyone else (including the horses). We got to an area called Vishnasar and parted with our friendly family and set up camp by a peaceful lake. In no time it starting hailing and then snowing. Us girls were tired and napped while the guys (cold as it was) went trout fishing... with their hands!! The horsemen caught 7 and the two boys caught 4. We feasted on rainbow trout that night and hot cinnamon goat milk from the nearby sheepherders. Despite the weather it turned into a wonderful night.

DAY 5 - We were cold and getting grumpy. The weather hadn't changed much except now it was wet snow and my Aldo shoes were soaked and my soaks were no more. But we packed up and trekked on. This day we were going to head back the way we came as Momo had to get back within a couple of days. We stopped at one of the Military camps to warm up with some Dahl and chapati and chai and carried on all the way to Sonamarg. My shoes proved to be no good as I slipped and prayed that I would tumble to the bottom many a times. I made hours after the rest! We decided against another night of camping and took to a hotel instead. The horsemen wasn't pleased (this ment less money for him but we gave him the rest of our food). We found a hotel and to our delight they had hot water... hot, hot water. I stood under the tap, kept my hands in the bucket of hot water at the same time, and just took in the heat! Aaaaahh... I was once again clean and warm!

DAY 6 - was my birthday. I woke up in a warm bed, on a beautiful sunny day in the mountains and sipped hot chai and ate warm kashmiri bread... I love the mountains!

ps. Happy Birthday Rachel and congrats on your awards! Happy B-day Mark!