The boys in Zanskar!

Busy, busy day... Gab riding in the afternoon and Alex and Benjamin had a judo tournament. Those tournaments are always dragging on, so it was 4pm instead of scheduled 2:30pm before Ben was called to join his pool. Fun afternoon though, the boys won both their pools and were so proud of their gold medals. Alex did really well with fancy technic and won all three of his rounds. I'm proud too... But before heading out for the judo, I quickly checked my emails and Brigitte had just posted great news from our guys in Zanskar:

5 minutes ago, after losing the connection 3 times, I finally had Tim on the phone!!!! They've reached the end destination of the Zanskar valley !!! It was a rough last two days, it snowed last night and the snow was so heavy that the ice broke on the river... they almost didn't make it to the village, but after 4 hours of hard rock climbing going around the broken ice, they just managed. They're now sitting in a very small house, with a sand floor where a fire is burning. The sun just slowly set and it is getting colder. They are very spoiled by the cook, he's a great chef!! Spicy food, but so yummie. During the day, he's making tea all the time in all kinds of flavours: sweet, salt, spicy... you name it!
It is very cold, during the day when the sun is out, approx around -12C° but at night the temperature drops below -30°C (a minimum of €30 / sponsor coming up!! ;-), even the drops on their noses freeze up, hahahaha!
Tim and Bram have already concluded that this is, beyond doubt, the most beautiful trip they've ever done together. I think it is just awesome, that they are blessed sharing this adventure together. Memories for life.

The guys (porters, cook) accompanying them are just great, SO friendly and "buddhism is beautiful" Tim said (and that coming out of Tim's mouth, is really something). They're having so much fun together and enjoy every minute. The porters speak english, so no problems communicating!
Tim actually called from a rooftop (you need to get as high as possible to reach the satellites) and he said there are about 20 houses in this village, a monestery of course, there are yaks, sheep and goats walking around and the surroundings look like a fairytale with heaps of snow everywhere. There is also a small shop that they visited, not bigger than 2*3m (hahaha..), and when I asked what you could buy in there (maybe some nice souvenirs, yak milk??) Tim answered: nothing! Well... I guess that's the way it is.

Tomorrow, they'll start their way back towards Leh and they have 3 more nights sleeping in caves, brrrrrrrr. They estimate to be back in Leh by Thursday. Bram sent me a big kisses (moooaahhh) and Brigitte passed on our big kisses and hugs as well!

We'll miss him a little bit "extra" tomorrow... it's my b-day! But we're having a party without him, I have all my friends from the stable over for a big lunch. We'll be 20p all in all. I've just finished cooking and laid the table, so that I can take it easy tomorrow morning. Only need to prepare the aperitief... and voila, the party can begin!!! Cheers to Bram, Tim and Arno, have a safe return to Leh, we miss you!!!

Good night dear friends and family, stay tuned.... love from Jenny
PS Can't wait to hear back from Hella to see how her school collection is going. It's kind of double to sit here and talk about food and parties... but that's the way it is, and that is also the reason why it is so important we try to help the best we can.