Blogs from Leh, Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, India, Asia - page 8

Because reading novels is preferred over writing them we will keep it to bullet points. (and also because the power goes out every 15 minutes and erases our prose) Posted along the road to the Sham Trek: "Don't be risky and drink the whiskey" "Be Mr. Late, not Late Mr." "If you sleep, your family will weep." Riding along the highway to Likir we chuckled with white knuckles. The road, questionable at best, wrapped around the Ladakhi mountainside 1,000 feet above the Indus River. Bends surprised us with military transports and other stretches gave us a moment of reprieve. The Sham Trek: No white people. No tourists. Period. Don't dip your (used) toothbrush in Elizabeth's (clean) water bottle. "There are very few things on this trek that I can control, and a clean water bottle is ... read more

It was a journey getting here. It took over 40 hours - most of which was flight time. We arrived and left Delhi in the dark, although it should have appeared to be dawn as we boarded the plane. The smog from the city of 16 million people created a grey curtain overhead; we were only able to see the sky when we were at 5,000 feet. It was dawn at the time of our departure, but we just didn't realize it! Status. It is like rehab. You leave a country full of caffeine, meat, oxygen, and a reasonable internet connection and it just hurts. But it is a beautiful place here in Leh. The air is crisp and clean (aside from an old generation of diesel trucks that brush by you on the alleyways). Cows. ... read more

Nachdem wir nach harten 18 Stunden Fahrt endlich und mit grosser Erleichterung in Leh ankommen (nach ueber 10 Stunden Fahrt faengt man an der Endlichkeit der Fahrt an zu zweifeln) lassen wir uns, zu erschoepft und erfroren um zu protestieren, in ein Hotel "five minute walk to center" verschleppen. Es gibt zwar momentan keinen Strom, aber zumindest ein Bett und Kerzen. Die Busfahrt hatte neben den atemberaubenden views auch eine weitere positive Begleiterscheinung: Wir lernen zwei liebe Amerikaner, eine Deutsche und eine 50/50 Schottin/Amerikanerin kennen, mit denen wir unsere Tage in Leh verbringen. Leh liegt auf 3500 Metern und ist dementsprechend kuehl, theoretisch halten allerdings die rundum liegenden Berge das Schlechtwetter ab, also gibt es ueber 300 Sonnentage pro Jahr. Aber die Statistik ist ein Hund und wir haben gleich einmal ein wenig Regen am ersten ... read more

I knew that a culture shock would be waiting for me… so I prepared myself - Thank you, Jonas, for such a lot of good information about India! Some of you told me that maybe they’re going to go to India - so I write pretty detailed… I’ll do paragraphs so you can choose those one you’re interested in - it’s a lot! Or just have a look at the photos! As you’ll see I had to start several times to write everything down and often there was no internet - next time I try to write it in a better way!!! But if I don’t publish it now I’ll never do it. Sorry for that anyway! I tried it for 2 hours to upload fotos - but unfortunally it didn't work... ahhhhhhhhh - but I'll ... read more

It has been a few days since I updated my travelblog, and though I would like to bring everyone right up to speed with what I have been up to over the last week this is going to have to be a really small post. I made the trip from Manali to Leh in three days, but was really quite sick for most of it. I am not sure if it was a mild case of altitude sickness that ended up becoming a migraine headache, or just a migraine headache itself, but I spent four days total without sleep. The altitude didnt seem to have any effect on me either ascending, or descending, so I think it was just one of those headaches that I sometimes get. Now that it has finally cleared up, I have ... read more