Blogs from Leh, Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, India, Asia - page 2

travel diaries…. my amazing experience of Leh Ladakh It all started with an idea of a getaway from the daily hustle bustle of city life and mundane routine which actually binds you with normalcy and leaves very little scope of newness to it. We continue to do the same stuff on a daily basis and take solace in the thought that we are living our life and it is moving on. With an impending travel plan in mind, me and RP decided to take some time off from the city and travel to Leh Ladakh, which was suggested to us by group of friends at various point in time, but we never really decided to travel considering it wouldn’t have been a short trip and would need at least a week’s time to visit various places ... read more

No, I don't have chapped lips... Indeed in this very dry area, with high altitude (all above 3000m) and blazing sun, even through the clouds; MY LIPS ARE COMPLETELY DRY! Leh is in fact a bit of a city in a desert. All around Leh it is rocks and sand. And only the city is a bit green. It's like that all over Ladakh. Very arid landscapes is sprinkled with little green valleys. As soon as there is a little river, usually glacier melting water, then the Ladakhi use them to build their villages around it. Through a smart and communal irrigation system they succeed at making thess high altitude deserts into fertile farmland. But so, water is a rarity here, and tourist like us form a threat to the environment. So it is very important ... read more

08-08-2013 Altitude 3500m. Local name: Leh, Ladakh. We are exhausted and will need 24 hours sleep before being able to get around here... ... read more

The pristine waters flowing in the rivers and streams, the large expanses of emptiness surrounded by mighty bare mountains and the mystic blue sky above; all blend perfectly together and form a heaven called Leh-Ladakh! Om Mani Padme Hum, the Buddhist mantra adrift with the flow of the wind, the aura surrounding you all over Leh-Ladakh. Asking around what the meaning is of the sloka would be in vain for it is inexplicable. Besides the colorful panel of rectangular prayer flags representing five elements to the enchanted prayer wheels, engraved rocks, this mantra keeps following you, or should I say travel along with you. The place is full of chortans and large prayer wheels at every corner which gives the feel of the rich Buddhist culture and its glorious tradition carried through ... read more

Sitting high in the Indian Himalayas Ladakh is a piece of Tibet outside of Tibet. Leh is at it's heart. After almost 14 hours the four of us staggered out of the jeep at Leh jeep stand, tired, with bodies battered and heads aching. In Keylong the night before we had met an older guy at the place we had dinner who comes every year to Leh (well tries to - in 2010 massive landslides meant that Ladakh remained cut off) and has travelled all of Ladakh. Finnish by birth he has led an interesting life and calls three countries 'home'. We had of course asked if he had any recommendations for places to stay. He told us that he stays in the same guesthouse every year a little away from the town centre in a ... read more