I had a much better sleep last night compared to the previous one & seemed to get the hang of the sleeping bag (fortunately). I think my body had also adapted a little to the high altitude too as I fell asleep much easier than the previous night.

I was awake for a while when Indrajit got up to go to the bathroom, then I took a while to go back to sleep. I'm not sure if it was the pro-biotics doing their thing, the high altitude and reduce air pressure, or all the extra chilli and spices I was consuming but for some reason, something was giving me a lot of gas up in the mountains. Thankfully for both our sakes, the sleeping bag seemed to contain both heat and smells!

There wasn't much rain overnight so I was hopeful that the day would be better weather.

Happy Independence Day USA (please approve my visa so I can transit through your airport in 4 days' time and satisfy your ridiculous immigration rules).

Happy 40th Birthday to both Nicole & Bruce! Hope you guys are having a fantastic day wherever you are and whatever you're doing.

I woke up at 6am but unfortunately, Indrajit was still sleeping so I watched the bugs roam around the roof of my tent for a while before getting up and, since it wasn't raining (YAYYYYYY!), I went for a walk partway up a mountainside nearby.

My goal was to reach some frozen snow I could see, which didn't look very far away. But distances on mountains are surprisingly deceptive because you don't have any point of reference! So everything is so much further than it looks.

After I got about 3/4 of the way there, the clouds started rolling in. That normally means it's going to start raining very soon so I unfortunately had to turn back & come down. OK, so maybe today wouldn't be rain-free after all.

Just as I reached the bottom, Indrajit called me over to have breakfast. After we finished, we grabbed all our stuff, then headed out across the slushy grassland.

He was walking in just bare feet as the grass is so boggy. I told him he looked like a Hobbit as his feet are quite big and his toes are spread apart. I'm not sure who that makes me but hopefully not Gollum! We joked about heading to Mt Mordor because the hobbits had to cross a similar boggy landscape ... except theirs was full of dead zombies that tried to kill you. Ours was just wet.

We came to the end of the grassland and had to do our first river crossing of the day. Normally river crossings aren't a big deal: you just take off your shoes and socks, roll up your trousers, wade across, then put everything back on once you reach the other side. Yes, well, normally, the water hasn't just melted from a glacier 5 minutes ago!

I watched Indrajit wade across the 4-5 metres of river and it didn't seem too difficult so in I went!

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've never felt my legs go so numb so quickly! The water was only up to my knees but it was also only just above freezing. I've never felt that much cold in one go. I was struggling to keep my legs moving after only about 10 seconds in the water.

Somehow I made it across most of the way and Indrajit pulled me up the bank on the other side whereupon I collapsed onto me trekking poles & almost fell to the ground. I literally couldn't feel my toes or anything else from the knee down. SO COLD!!!

I eventually regained enough strength to put my shoes & socks back on and we continued on up the path.

After a while, I regained a little feeling in my feet and toes, mostly due to the steep track we started to walk up.

Indrajit had warned me that today was going to be a short but steep trek ... and he wasn't kidding! We went straight up the side of the mountain, past the dual waterfall spilling over the edge of the cliff at the end of the valley, past tiny streams winding their way around moss-covered boulders, and through cloudy fields filled with thousands of dainty alpine flowers.

It had started to rain again by now (of course) so I was back into my rain poncho and onwards and upwards we slowly went. It would have been challenging enough if it were dry but the rain, mud, poo and cloud plus my 15kg backpack all added an extra degree of difficulty.

Still I made it up with only a couple of breaks and we finally reached the top, a vast valley of grassland, boulders and snow-capped peaks ... as I discovered the next day because the day we arrived, I could hardly see anything further than 100m away since we were walking in thick cloud and pouring rain.

Two more icy river crossing and my feet were seriously frozen solid. We decided to leave our shoes off as they were completely water-logged ice-blocks anyway plus the ground was a 50/50 mixture of grass and water.

But we pressed on and continued up the valley in our bare, frozen feet, getting pelted with rain and freezing our asses off in the clouds.

This was NOT a fun day. It was just hard work. Indrajit wasn't enjoying it either.

After what seemed like an eternity, we eventually found where the guys had pitched the tents and went straight into the kitchen tent. I've never been so glad to see a gas burner in all my life! Thank God for the support guys! They're incredible!

We tried desperately to defrost our hands and feet over the flame (Indrajit wasn't even wearing gloves - I was, but they were soaked). We tried in vain to dry our socks and clothes a little too!

Shortly thereafter, Raju (our cook) started making lunchs o we all just huddled inside the tent, trying in vain to stay warm.

After lunch, the clouds lifted a little and we could finally see the magnificence of the surrounding valley. Wow! All the morning's hardships were forgotten (mostly) & I could now see why we came up here. Mountains, glaciers, grassy meadows and icy streams surrounded us on three sides. What a magnificent valley ... even in the rain! I could only imagine how beautiful it would be in sunshine!

We were hopeful that tomorrow would bring a change in the weather - or at least a reduction in the rain, because that's when we're planning on going up to see a mountain lake and reach the goal of our trek: Deo Tibba Base Camp.

We ate dinner and were treated to an amazing sunset. The last rays of the day were streaming through the clouds, stretching up the valley and reflecting off the river, while wild horses played in the grass at the top of the waterfall's meadow. It felt like all the pain and difficulty of the day was being rewarded. Everyone felt their spirits lift as we started to get excited about the prospect of finer weather tomorrow.

We went to bed early but again, I couldn't manage to get comfortable (or warm) for ages. I ended up putting on an extra layer all over. It helped a little but my toes were frozen all night.

Indrajit and I both woke up around midnight to go to the bathroom. We went outside and were rewarded with the most amazing view. The entire sky was clear with no clouds in sight anywhere, and all the millions of stars in the Milky Way shining brightly over the moonlit mountains. It was so incredible & I'm glad I had to go to the loss in the freezing cold. If it hadn't been so cold or so late, I probably would have tried to take some photos ... but the pictures are only in my mind.

A little while later, I heard a loud cracking & rumbling noise as part of one of the glaciers nearby fell off. Fortunately, we're a long way away from these so no risk but still a startling sound!