Road to Gamok

Hit the trial at 6am. As I head along the valley opens to views of snow capped mountains all around. After breakfast in a tea stall about 2k along I set off again. Because the air is so thin at this altitude the sun is very strong and even with my SPF 30 I get a little singed and red. After a few stops for chai I arrive at the ashram that I'll be staying the night at, I'm now at 3800m. I get the last place as the person who asked about 15mins after me is turned away and has to make the 14k trek back disappointed.
The rooms are even more basic then at previous ashram with just dorms that consist of blankets on the floor.
After a bit of lunch I'm feeling good and the weather is clear so I decide to go on to Gamok that is only another 4k.
At this altitude the air is thinner so the sun really gets at you. The views are of crisp snowy mountains with birds of prey soring high. The peaks reaching over 6000m around me.
The trail ends and there on a boulder in bold colours is the marker for 4000m. Everest is 8800m so I'm at almost half it height. Here there is a makeshift temple where i give thanks to Ganesh (the god that removes obstacles) for helping to make the journey as easy as possible.
As the trail turns to boulders and then to an end I'm there, at the source of the Ganga that flows out of an ancient glacier. I drop to my knees and wash my head in the freezing water and drink handfuls to refresh my spirit. As I sit by the river under the glacier tears roll down my cheeks.
After I get up I'm hit with absolute exhaustion, I stagger back over the boulders to the trail and find the first tea shop and collapse in the tent. I pour a liter of water down my throat and a packet of maggi noodles to give me the strength to get back the 4k to the ashram.
Feeling very weak and fuzzy I slowly walk back, sometimes stumbling over the rocks. By the time I get back to ashram my head is pounding and I feel so weak all I can do is go to bed in the dorm. The altitude has gotten to me after all and i can barley see with the pain.
I can hear all the other people filling up the rest of the ashram and many of them sound sicker then I do but I don't find much consolation. I skip dinner unable to move and drift in and out of sleep. I have been joined in the dorm by a French guy but I don't get much sympathy but the company is welcome even though he must have thought me mad from my groaning and incoherent sporadic chat.
The night went on as did the pain, the only solice I found was in the intermittent sleep. We where also joined by a furry friend and was woken by his scurrying and a shout from John when it ran over his face.
The next morning the headache had gone thankfully but I was still feeling pretty shaky as John and I headed back the 14k to Gangotri. When i got back to town I headed straight to a hotel and slept till evening.