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Published: December 26th 2009
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The states of Jammu and Kashmir is 700km north of the capital, alongs the Indus River and West Himalayan Plateau, most of the areas are situated 15,000 ft above sea levels, covers 15% of Indian Subcontinent, however, has the least population in India and one of the most isolated states in the world. Most places are only open for tourist few months a year, from early March to late October - The rest of the year are quiet, totally isolated and very, very cold.
Leh, is the main town in Jammu & Kashmir, set in dramatic surroundings and scenics alongs the Indus Valley to the north, the city was closed for locals and tourists until late 70s, seized fire by both Pakistani and Indian Government, the city opened and more than 100 hotels were opened along the main street in the Old Town of Leh.
There are several ways getting into Leh Ladakh, some travellers choose to take mini-bus from Maneli or Srinagar but road and weather conditions can be challenging, and buses from Maneli can take up to a day but views along the Indus Valley is amazing. However, due to limited of time and budget, we decided
to fly from Delhi. The Indian A320 plane took us less than an hour from the capital, compares to 30 hours on the bus, we touched down This Military Base airport in perfect spring afternooon. I took my first breath of fresh air before we were directed into this wooden airport terminal, this single storey building was very small, simple, and everyone are required to fill out tons of paperworks, that seems to related to the trip within the state, and I started to open the map and look for the hostel that we've pre-booked, a well traditional dressed Ladakhi lady approached us and greeted us "Ju-Leh!", multi purpose of "Hello" "Good afternoon", similar to Arabic's "Salam Malaykum" or "May God Bless You". 90% of Ladakhi do not speak Hindi, English or Urdu, instead Ladakhi is the most common and widely spoken.
I did not wanting the hassle of searching for the place under the freeze, so I had booked ahead at a family run guesthouse near the old town for just US$10 a night, and offered free airport pick up. I have residered in so many countries of 5-star hotels, tropical resorts, guesthouses, dormbeds, bungalows, tents, Girs, temples
and even train stations, but this time in Leh was just made everything so luxurious.
The electricity and water in the city is only available from 7pm to 11pm (4 hours) a day, or else, generator supplied is available from the guesthouse. We were provided gas generated heater by the owner, the day temperature was just perfect but after dark, temperature drops below zero. Each morning at 7am, the kind owner and his young son bring us tons of buckets of hot and cold water for us to rinse and drink.
The main attraction in Leh is the old ,huge, mud made house Leh Palace or "Indian Potala", once the home of Ladakh Kings after the capital moved from Shey in 17th century, 20km west of Leh. The palace appeared like frozen in time, but it was great walking and exploring about.
Apart from Leh palace, most other monasteries are outside Leh, and the nearest and easy reached is Shey Palace. Shey is easy to reach, mini buses are available in Old Town of Leh, but do not expect alot, the 20km journey took us more than an hour. The driver dropped us off just outside the
Palace in a lush, we were so thirsty and hungry so we were tying to find something to fill. On one side there was a bank but closed without any reasons in weekday, and on the other, was the modest one-storey building that I guessed was cafe or restaurant also abandoned for some reason, it was fairly cold so we decided to walk along the road where the driver dumped us off, no market stalls, no restaurant, no people, no traffic could be seen, I saw there was a hopeful smoke outside the house but I know it's very far, so we decided to return and walked up the Shey Palace.
This eponymous building is the center piece of ancient Leh, was once the summer palace for the Royal Family of Ladakh. Unlike Leh Palace, Shey Palace has more than 10-storeys high. Due to slight altitude sickness and headache, we stopped for a minute breath , when every 10 steps we walked, finally we've spent nearly an hour to walk up this 10-storey monastery.
On return, we saw a Ladakhi man who was carrying his livestocks.
"Ju-Leh!" I said, "Is there any restuarant or something?"
"Ret-Ta-Rong?" He replied.
"Yea, drink drink.....EEEAAATTT.... Food? Noodles?? Water??" I tried my best and was cold enough to see my breath.
"No, Leh, Leh!" He responsed, and pointed the direction to Leh.
"Thanks, anyway"
I was so upset at the author of Lonely Planet, who was recommended some restaurants in Shey. The rest of the town was totally deserted, there was no people on the road, just occassional buses to Maneli passing by.
We finally arrived Leh at five and we did not hesitate to find a whatever restaurant is still running in town. In Leh, there are sizeable of Tibetan refugees and therefore, the local foods influenced by the Tibetans. Before I came to India, I've been told by my friend that, Indian never say no directly, and this time I've experienced why.
"I don't take mutton and chicken" I said to the waiter
"Mutton? Mutton impossible.." He replied
"Do you have vegetarian dishes?"
"Vegetable? Vegetable possible....."
"Do you have coke?"
"Coke possible!"
"Is smoking also possible?"
"Smoking possible.."
Frankly speaking, saying impossible is infact more offend than saying no to me.
However, I can honestly
and proudly say that the trip to Ladakh has been the most facinated in my life so far, before I set out and plan of going to Ladakh, I always had a great worries of this place, but the fact is Ladakh is fairly carefree and easy going place, as everywhere else in the world, be conscious of all potential risk that can also be happened anywhere.
The main and only airport in Jammu & Kashmir is Leh Airport, and Indian Airlines was losing their monopoly market since the open skies policy in 2005 and opens of budget airlines, good news is nowdays more than 3 to 4 budget airlines flies to Leh from Delhi (US$235 / return) each day. However the flight is always heavily booked because the government limits the airlines cannot carry more than 75 passengers each flight from Leh. All flights from Delhi are depart in early morning at terminal 1B. Because of high altitude (16500 ft), therefore plan well ahead and early booking is compulsory. Be wared that when flying into this world's highest airport, affects to most people to some extent, including headache, vomiting, dizziness, and difficulty in sleeping, therefore always allow 2
to 3 days for your body to adjust the altitude, before setting for higher altitude.
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Stanzin
non-member comment
some wrong datas..
it seems you really had a nice trip in Ladakh, and you have also written well.