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Published: June 24th 2008
Hello everyone! Just a quick installment to let you know what we're up to and to write a bit on Leh.
After Srinigar we took a 17hr Jeep ride to Leh which was pretty hair-raising. The driver thought he was Lewis Hamilton and he overtook every vehicle in sight...no matter how close to the edge of the mountain track/road we'd be! We actually drove through a small town called Drass, which, in the Winter, is the second coldest inhabitable place in the world after Siberia. We stayed for a few days in Leh and did a trek for 3 nights and 4 days (the first day of the trek was my birthday!)
Leh is a cute town at 3505m above sea level. They say you shouldn't do any excercise or trekking for the first 36 hours as your body needs to acclimatise. We felt knackered just walking up a small hill through the town on our first day...it really drains you being that high. There isnt loads to see in the town itself. Travellers go there to go on treks from Leh and go to the surrounding villages/trekking in the Himalayas. The town is apart of the Jammu &
Kashmir region at the north of India but many want to be an independant region as it's so different to the rest of Jammu & Kashmir, the main difference being that it is predominantly Buddhist.
In Leh itself we went up to the palace which is where the Ladakhi royal family stayed before they were exiled to a nearby town. However the main thing we did in Leh was a homestay trek where you stay with local (Ladakhi) families. We also saw quite a few Buddhist monastries! Some were really beautiful.
Each night was a different experience where we got to know how people lived. In the Winter temperatures go down as low as -30 so these people really have had to survive in harsh conditions, but they are all so friendly and hospitable. On the trek we went through 3 villages- Yantang, Hemis-Shukpachu to Themisgam. The first night was my favourite (it was my birthday) where we stayed in this small house with this 66 year old lady (who did look about 80) and her children. She was such a character and didn't speak a word of English and we didn't speak a word of Ladakhi (apart
from Jule (pronounced Joo-lay) which means hello,goodbye,thankyou respectively!) Our guide was from Darjeeling and he spoke Hindi and quite good English so we'd be talking to him..he'd speak Hindi to the son who would translate to Ladakhi to his mother....we had some very long winded conversations going around the room..was a bit like chinese whispers at some points!! We had the local beer called Chang on the first 2 nights which was much needed after a hard day's trekking. The highest pass of the trek was over 4000m. That was a tough day for us and we realised how unfit we were!! We were really annoyed to find out that what we did was actually called the 'baby trek!!'
After Leh and the trek we took another very long jeep ride down to Manali which is where we are now. We go to Dhamarisala later today on a 10hr overnight bus ( this is where the Dalai Lama resides for part of the year) then onto Shimla. Manali is very touristic and not that great.
Will catch up soon, Hope everyone is well! Emma xxx
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Tejaswy
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Ladakh
Hi, Really liked your Lewis Hamilton comment...almost fell down laughing....yes the Himalayan roads can be tough....you need a special permit to drive on those roads...... All is well that ends well........ Hope you had a lovely trip Please feel free to write back to me O before i forget.....Yes i am an Indian and i am planning a trip to leh on 30th june 2008 Cheers (Hope to drink a lot of the local beer) Nameste!