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Published: September 9th 2010
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Traditional Ladakh costumes
These ladies were among the crowds waiting for the Lama to arrive - they were so excited - you can just see the anticipation in their faces Maybe the pictures speak for themselves - we loved Ladakh!
It has been about a month since we've been in Leh, Ladakh, north India and for various reasons this blog has taken ages to upload. And since we have been there the area has been hit by real tragedy with landslides and flash floods killing nearly 200 people in Leh town alone. It seems that a change in the jet stream meant the monsoon rains didn't move on causing the downpour which has caused the terrible flooding in Pakistan and parts of northern India.
There has been some concern for a time that global warming is bringing more rain to Ladakh than the area has had before - creating problems for the area - not least because out in the villages many of the houses are dried mud. Typically the very high altitude means the climate is very dry and cool with incredible blue skies, it's the one of the largest, uninterrupted Tibetan Buddhist populations in the world and the majority of Ladakh people live a very traditional lifestyle, cut off for much of the year by snowfall in the high mountain passes. In winter the roads close
and villages pool their resources taking turns to go out and graze the communal lifestyle, living off foods like apricots and nuts which were harvested and dried in the summer months. Around this time of year people keep themselves occupied with religious festivals and celebrations.
It really has a much closer affinity to the Himalayan regions of Nepal and Tibet than to any other parts of India that we visited- the climate, the religion, the pace of life and the look of the people. Ladakh sometimes called Little Tibet and we felt that we got a better experience of free Tibetan/Buddhist culture than we would in oppressed, occupied Tibet
For much of the year Ladakh is accessible via the Srinigar-Leh road but we decided to go on the Manali-Leh road which is only open part of the year. This meant we were stuck in Manali for a few days until the road could be cleared after heavy snowfall. The journey there was an experience in itself. Nearly 24 hours in one minibus with one (ultimately totally sleep-deprived) driver on the most beautiful and insane road - 4 hours stuck in a traffic jam because the army had only cleared
a one way route through the snow so when we met oncoming traffic we were all stuck until we dug/reversed our way out. (By the time we returned a week later 7 people had already died in road accidents).
We only had a week to spend in Ladakh but we made the most of it. We were lucky enough to be met off the bus by the wonderful Bishal who set us up with a lovely room in a local family home in a quieter area of town ( Changspa is the main strip but everywhere is such a short walk that it's worth staying a bit further away to avoid the not-so-great backpacker scene). It took a little time to adjust to the 3500 metre altitude and we used the first day to explore our options. We didn't really have enough time to do things independently on local buses but that is definitely an option and there was a hike to Stok we would have loved to do with a little more time. There are about 7 or 8 short day or overnight trips which every local tour agency offered and then there are another whole load of
much longer treks or expeditions. Because of our time scale we had to skip on the longer treks and in the end we didn't get time to go on the meditation course we wanted. The Mahabodhi centre offers some wonderful courses and is doing some amazing work helping local people ( http://www.mahabodhi-ladakh.org/).
A wonderful day was being driven up to the Khardung La pass which is about 6000 metres high, believed to be the world's highest motorable pass. From there we hopped on mountain bikes and spent the day cycling down the, sometimes very rough road, back to Leh - an amazing day!
We took a two day trip over to the NubraValley, stopping in the desert to take rides on the camels that were left there after the end of the Spice route. We would recommend going there for as long as you can - the pace of life over there requires just chilling out and the trip, despite our great driver, was a bit rushed. We were lucky enough to come across a mini religious festival as local people waited a visit from a local Lama who had been appointed to a high position on the
Tibetan executive - a very great honour. We stopped and watched the people waiting, seeing so many different local costumes.
One day we hopped on a local bus out to fascinating Thiksey monastery and chatted with the monks out there, absorbing the amazing atmosphere.
And of course, we spent some time in Leh itself - making some good friends from both the locals working there and the guys working the tourist circuit, many of whom move with the season - from Goa, to Manali, to Leh and then onto Nepal. There are some great walks around the town and lovely climbs up to the palace and the fort. We several times to watch a film on conservation and the Ladakhi culture at the Women's Institute, but each time we were there power cuts meant the showing was cancelled (hot water and regular power supply were very much a rarity in Leh - torches and quick cold-water strip-washes were the norm).
Then it was one last bone shaking drive back down to Manali, a few days there, an overnight bus onto Delhi, then a two day train journey (quite simply the best way to meet Indian people properly) onto Chennai,
one night there to watch Holland lose the World Cup and then we flew to Kuala Lumpur. A couple of very decadent days there and then onto Gold Coast Australia! Phew!
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