Goba Guest House

The beautiful walking entrance to the Goba Guest House, Changspa, Leh. Just ahead and to the left is the flower garden with tables, chairs and an arbor. We stayed here for 10 days; it was our center as we travelled and trekked. WIth a large community of European and Israeli travelers (and one American!), we made it our home away from home.

The south side of the house and the flower garden.

The edge of the upper terrace of wheat, over the vegetable garden. You see the cold frame in the background. This photo, to the west, is away from the city. You can see the stark difference between the irrigated land of the guest house and the dry foothills. Many of these photos remind me of Sydney and Miguel's home in Chimayo, New Mexico, a place that we love where we feel at home.

We met for breakfast in the garden, and exchanged stories and information about treks and buses and restaurants and yoga classes (only 2 in the city, the better one with an American teacher). Once we began to eat breakfast in this idyll, we began to feel connected, like we belonged to a mini-community. People would hang out during the day as they acclimatized, or during down time between treks, or if one family member was trekking and others were not.

We met a wonderful family from Israel with a 4 year-old daughter named Ofir. It took a little while for her and Delilah to cleave to each other, because though all the parents could speak English and communicate well, Ofir did not, so Delilah and she communicated in other ways. I was so impressed at how many activities, toys and games her parents brought for her: 2 decks of cards, activity books, paints (we had paints too), a speaker system for their iPod. We ate several meals together and she and Delilah spent one blissful day in the garden and Delilah really needed that. She needed to have at least one kid friendship that lasted for a few days. Ofir's family went off the the fabled Nubra Valley (where there are 2-humped camels) when we were trekking. Oh to hear Ofir's sweet voice again! again!

The garden looking back towards the allee.

This photo (someone else's) is of the mountain that we saw from our window. The tallest is Stok Kangri. When we were there there was a little less snow. Stok is a 6000 meter peak that is one of the easier 6000 meter peaks to climb. I met a German woman who had spent most of her weeks in Leh preparing for the 4 day trek to climb Stok. She was travelling alone and met the woman who would become her climbing partner on another trek.

Foreground view from our window which show's some of Goba's wheatfields (Stok wasn't clear in this photo).

Dawa is the proprietor with her husband and his parents. Their season is only two months long due to cold weather, so they put a lot of effort into those 2 months, and really turn their home over to the guests. Their service was gracious. 4-5 years ago Changspa had no restaurants and all the guests ate in at Goba. Now that there are many restaurants (making pizza and pasta among other things) in the neighborhood only a few guest eat in. We did so 3 nights, and they were the best meals we had in Leh.

I consulted with Dawa about where to locate and build another building for guest rooms. We laid out a building on the opposite side of the flower garden/arbor/breakfast meeting place. It is to be L-shaped so that the existing building and the new building will face each other to some extent. The rooms will all have views of Stok. It will be built to that it can eventually have 2 stories, and 10 more rooms. She said that to build in the traditional way, of mud bricks, is easy to maintain. If the walls need a repair, they can be repaired modularly. If the building were built of concrete, if there were a problem, it would all have to be taken down and rebuilt. (she has experience with both kinds of construction.) The thick walls of the mud bricks keep the buildings warmer in the winter. The building will be built in this wheatfield.

Their temple is on the roof of their home. Note the beautiful carved lintel and door. They also have a library with ancient scrolls!

Enat Sidi told me about Goba. She also told me about a particular well in the garden in which she did her laundry. I looked for the well several times when I was there, in vain. This part of Changspa has something like the acequia system that we admire in New Mexico, where neighbors share a water source and it goes to different property, or different parts of the property at different times. Finally, on the last day we were there, I found the well I had been looking for!