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Published: September 20th 2008
Leh, North-India, 3505m
Just before arriving in LehMy trip from Kargil to Leh
Because of the elections I had to stay one day more in Kargil - so I went on to write my travelblog almost the whole day. Finally the owner of the guesthouse I was staying at organized a jeep for me to head on to Leh. Just some impressions of this journey: the cassettes were kind of broken so the music already sounded very strange - and the music was Indian one - for 8 hours.... ahhhhh, every song seemed to be the same: very high voices of women... The wheel of my side of the jeep didn't seem to be very fixed, once the guy had a look at it but due to him a reparation wasn't necessary. On normal roads it would already have been scary, but on Indian Himalayan passes.... ufff. The landscape was amazing: huge mountains - almost only rocks, sometimes some oasis. Also the change from Muslim to Buddhist area was obvious: temples and mantras all over the streets instead of mosques. When we arrrived in Leh first I wanted to go to a private guest house, a friend of the guy we stayed in Kargil with - but
Leh, North-India, 3505m
We (Germans I met) went up to the Shanti-Stupa with a taxi but walked down - for that reason I got the hight desease and had to stay one day long in bed then I didn't feel like beeing in a private place in within a family. I wanted to be alone and get to know travellers. So I asked the jeep driver to bring me to the hostel the Germans recommended me. We didn't get there with the car; I had to walk because a bridge some days ago suddenly broke down. Welcome again to India😊
Leh, tourist hot spot within the Himalayan Mountains, North-India
The hostel Greenland was great - actually a Buddhist monk was living in the upper floor and there was a nice garden with lots of flowers and trees around the house. For India the bathroom was sooooo clean unless it was a shared one and the people were very nice - I could leave my stuff for free in my room during my trip to Nubra-Valley.
On my first day in Leh I was just walking around and very happy about to see some continental shops like the German Bakery - I mean Indian food is great but it’s all cooked for such a long time and the taste is so different - sometimes it’s nice to eat an Apple-Strudel and to have
Leh, North-India, 3505m
View from Shanti-Stupa (Mantras and sometimes bones from dead persons inside) at Leh a milk-coffee. I took a cab with some Germans I met on the street to a temple called Shanti-Stupa. We didn’t walk up (but unfortunately down!) because of the height. When we got down my feet were trembling and I rarely couldn’t hold a water bottle I bought, my stomach suddenly hurt so much. So I took a cab home instead of having dinner with them. I stayed the whole night and half of the next day in bed - my first stomach problems, and not because of food… In one of my hurtful journeys to the toilet I met Marcos, a Brazilian guy - thank you for making me smile! It was such a strange feeling to lie alone in the bed - knowing that nobody else knows right now where and how you are. In the afternoon we walked slowly to the Ladakh festival - there was a group singing and dancing - but the speakers were so bad so it sounded just horrible, you even cannot say interesting. The whole village run out of electricity because all of it was on the festival😊
Next day I felt better so I started to make plans for my stay
Leh, North-India, 3505m
Thank you Marcos for making me smile when I was sick - it's horrible to be alone when you're sick! Have a look at the lound(a)ry, it's in the stream just in front of our guesthouse in Leh - but as it’s end of the season there it was difficult to find people to share a tour there. Finally I found one. I also booked a bus for the day after coming back from my trip to Nubra-Valley because I was always told to do that in advance.
Nubra-Valley, next to Leh
So I had to get up at 7 o’clock - I asked my hosts to wake me up but I didn’t really trust they would do so - with good reason😊 Luckily I found out that my camera has an alarm clock! I almost lost the jeep because it was not clear where he would pick us up - so I asked a guy to call the number that they gave me - I was lucky! Also with the group: Remi and Claire, a couple from Bordeaux and Chris from Bristol! We had such a great time together! First we had to pass the highest motorized pass of the world called Khardung La (5602 m). It was pretty cold and there was snow, and very thin air - it was difficult to walk up the small hill next to the pass.
There were always lots of military vehicles around us - I’m not sure if they’re all transporting goods or if some of them are just empty (but they’re supposed to do that journey every day). The soldiers are responsible for the streets - but still you wouldn’t call that street in Europe and less pass.
Arriving in the beautiful Nubra-Valley first we visited the monastery of Diskit. We were very lucky because we were the only tourists so the monks invited us for a tea. Luckily I already tried the special tea from that area in the houseboat in Srinagar: a mixture of black tea, salted, with yak butter and milk. I try all - but that’s toooo much so I asked them kindly if I can also have a normal milk tea. It was funny to talk to them - and we were lucky to be there when they made a special ceremony. We were sitting next to it while they made fire and burned a lot of different kind of food - surrounded by the Himalayan Mountains - very special atmosphere. But then there a very embarrassing tourist group from Europe arrived… - from that moment on
Leh, North-India, 3505m
the house-cats of our guesthouse, there's also a Buddhist monk living - interesting to get to know what he and his monk friends are doing the whole day long it wasn’t quiet and special anymore…
Then it already became dark so we had to search an accommodation - we followed a hint of a friend of Remi - so we slept in tents in a place called Organic Farm. We bargained the price for two tents (4 persons) from 6000 Rs to 1500 Rs - good job, Remi (he lives in India some time already). Still more (350 Rs - 5 Euros) than I usually pay but the owner brought us Chai-tea and Rum and showed us a ppt-presentation on his laptop about the valley - the last things I expected in that valley in the end of the world in the Himalayan Mountains. In the morning time we had a nice breakfast and the place was so peaceful and clean. It was sooooo freezing cold at night unless there were beds in the tents with great duvets. On the next day we went to sand-dunes - grey ones with camels; really strange to see that in the Himalayan Mountains.
Afterwards we wanted to go back home to Leh - after 3 hours driving we were informed that the pass is closed because of snow…. Ufff -
Nubra-Valley near Leh
on the highest pass for motorized vehicles on the world - pretty high... Khardung La, 5602 m and I already payed my bus trip to Manali (30 Euros). But what can you do… it was a strange feeling to be like in a prison in that valley - the only way to get out is this pass and winter is coming so it wasn’t sure if it would be open the next day. Anyway - we drove back to the valley (ahhh - I hated to be in the jeep on that streets) and searched for an accommodation; on the way Sikh soldiers gave us some pistachio nuts😊 The family was so nice - they cooked for us kind of Ravioli without filling with vegetables in a soup and we watched Indian TV; very interesting to see Indian soaps, music clips, jet-set-news and advertisement. It’s not necessary to know Indian languages because it’s just obvious what it is about: one rich macho guy that fells in love with a woman, they’re dancing and singing a lot as in a musical. The soaps are about the same topics, very simple. And the advertisement is for example about products for white skin. Of course we know that that kind of things only belong to 1% of the Indian population.
Nubra-Valley near Leh
great traveller group - I was really lucky: Remi and Clair from Bordeaux and Chris from Bristol The next day we gave it another try to get out of the Nubra-Valley, listening to the driver’s cassette: Vengaboys, Backstreet-Boys, techno - really funny! We were lucky and could go back to Leh - thanks! I always wondered if the driver don’t have fear of aquaplaning or the rocks on the street - but anyway, there is no other way than to trust! The streets in this area are even worse than the street between Puerto Escondido and Oaxaka in Mexico (the worst street in that area - until now I thought that would be the worst one…): we had to pass rivers, let military vehicles let pass on one-lane-streets (better not to look out of the window to the edge you cannot see anymore). Later I couldn’t stand Indian music anymore - so I mixed that with my Spanish music (in the background high Indian women singing - ahhhhhh). The signs in the curves of the streets are funny: I love you but not so fast or I’m curvaceous go slow or Take care on my curves or Don’t gossip let him drive or If you’re married divorce speed - haha/ jaja, luckily all in English.
Nubra-Valley near Leh
Buddhist write Mantras and leave them there so their wishes become true as soon as the Mantra flew away in the air to god Discussion with the travel agency about my bus ticket to Manali…
After coming back from amazing Nubra-Valley I had to get a new bus ticket to Manali because I lost my booked bus (because of the closed pass). So I went to the travel agency I booked my tickets to see what I can achieve. Of course I knew it would be hard to discuss about s.sth. that was caused by the nature (snow on the pass…). After discussing with them for a while and without any result (because the guy had to go to the mosque because of Ramadan) I went back to the guesthouse - very angry. I told my story to the owners of the guesthouse - they told me to go once again to the travel agency and to fight for my money; Europeans would always give up to early, don’t talk/ discuss loud enough and accept to high prices. So I went there again - suddenly there was a solution: he pays half of the price of the bus ticket and I pay half. Suddenly there was also a seat in the bus available to the next departure date (before the first available
ticket was in about 1 week available) because somebody cancelled seat number 1 (the best one because it’s located in the front - especially important on that street in the Himalayan Mountains) - who knows if this was true but anyway: I got my ticket!
Afterwards I had once again dinner with the guys I was traveling with in Nubra-Valley - Tibetan food, great! I was so lucky to travel with you, guys!
One day at the monasteries around Leh
As I had one spare day before my bus ride to Manali I decided to visit some monasteries near Leh - no tour but local buses. Walking to the bus station of Leh was disgusting! Although Leh is one of the cleanest villages/ towns I ever saw in India (they collect every morning the rubbish from the streets) still there was toooo much rubbish on the street that stinks, the black emissions of the buses and trucks very disgusting (there’re no sidewalks on the streets), cow shit everywhere in the street, butchers are selling the meet just hanging in their shops on the streets without any cooling or covering (the heads of the animals beside of
Nubra-Valley near Leh
soldier trucks every X minutes the meat) - I was so thankful not to be sick in that moment (you feel those things even more).
After finally arriving at the bus station there was no counter to sell tickets so I had to search my bus - but most of the destinations were written in Indian language… so I asked some people until I found the correct bus. Unfortunately the driver didn’t know English and was about to leave (due to my lonely planet there’s only one bus a day to the monastery I wanted to go) so I took kind of a risk to go with that bus. As always I wasn’t alone in that situation: there were also 3 Israeli girls and two Asian guys. So we decided to share a jeep or taxi if we don’t get where we wanted to go. We were lucky! It was my first time with a local bus - wow - so funny! There were always more people in the bus than I ever thought there would fit in, loud Indian music and very bad speakers and lots of bass. There’re always two employed persons in a bus: the driver and anther person that collects
Nubra-Valley near Leh
Nubra valley - amazing, huge, sand dunes, desert, Himalyan mountains, snow money and has a whistle (Trillerpfeife) to tell the driver to stop, go on and to go backwards in special situations. Another noticeable thing is that Indian children are so peaceful - Western ones would have started to scream immediately - especially because there was no centimeter free space in the bus.
Allover Buddhism areas (not only in monasteries) you see those praying wheels - you should start walking around them on the left hand side and move that wheel - then your karma becomes better. Until now I never did that because only to see a moving wheel I felt sick (height disease).
Bus ride from Leh via Keylong to Manali
I had to be at 4:30 at a meeting point to get the bus - so there was 20 min. walking time including crossing a stream between my guesthouse and my bus… after a successfully crossing of some small streams thanks to my head light I crossed the provisory bridge so I thought I’m fine… but then I stepped into 30 cm deep, ice-cold glacier water where there was never water before (apparently this changed because of the constructions work) … ahhhhhh. But there was no
Nubra-Valley near Leh
our driver - great job, mate! other way then to go on walking - on that dark street (there’re no street lights), barking dogs around me - but at least there were no vehicles passing (with the black emissions). I was very lucky: on the seat next to me sat a very friendly Canadian girl called Donna. She also had a great blanket to my feet were not those ice-cold anymore - thanks a lot! The landscape was amazing - it became step-by-step greener. The bus had to drive as we were already used to it: always right on the edge, crossing streams, passing rocks on the streets, sometimes we also bottomed-out, once 3 people (of 20) had to leave the bus because we had to cross an old bridge, 6 people were sitting in the drivers’ cabin (also one elderly Indian women - incredible how she could sit there for the 15 hours drive without having a chair-back). For Western standard I would describe this street as a single-lane one - but there was always on-coming traffic. Once in a curve we almost tipped-over; everybody was screaming and asking to leave the bus - but the experienced drivers kept cool and asked us just to
stay calm.
During one break we were talking to an Indian family that traveled with us in the bus - with their two years old daughter. They asked us how the European civilization could grow if we don’t have children (the Western travelers they meet in India are often not married, traveling alone and without children) - we explained them carefully that we wouldn’t go to India with our children because of the different food and the exhausting way of traveling in the buses and trains etc. - and because they’re not used to a lot of bacteria (we didn’t want to tell them about the lower hygienically standard). In some of the breaks there was no toilet - just flat field and a toilet under construction…. But you get used to anything.
After the 15 hours drive finally we arrived in Keylong where we spent one night in tents - ufff, it was freeeeeezing! In the morning time still it was still 1 degree Celsius - at least there were beds to sleep in. We paid to much for that night and the awful food - so it was one more time clear what we paid for: for
Nubra-Valley near Leh
The Sunnyboy monk of the monastery - thank you for explaining us a lot about your culture and religion and for inviting us for a cup of tea - unless I ordered the normal black tea (they often have tea with yak milk and butter and salt - ahhhhh, sorry!) a good commission for the travel agency. But anyway - we were just happy to arrive after the second day (125 km in a 8 hours drive) in Manali. We asked the riksha-driver to bring us to a particular guesthouse (that recommended me Chris from Nubra-Valley that had been there 2 weeks ago) - but the drivers said it’s under construction. So we (Donna and I) went with the Dutch guys to another one (of course the riksha-drivers offered us a lot of hostels and hotels that were located on the way) - a very good decision: an old British house in a huge and nice trees and flowers garden with a lot of animals. In Manali there’re a lot of Western style nice resorts and apartments because lots of rich people from New Delhi spend their honeymoon there. In some moments I forget that I’m in India - it looks like the European Alps! Inside of the house I felt like in Britain: green floor and wooden walls - we shared a 50 m2 flat between 3 persons and paid 1,60 Euros per night each - incredible! Everything was as the British left it - in the dining room
Nubra-Valley near Leh
monks have lunch in that room - but before... there were old pictures in black and white of the British family living in that house - living history! We met Chris from Nubra-Valley again and had great Italian food - wow - really good not to have Indian food every single day!
On the next day I started searching for a good tracking tour - it was quiet difficult to find a cheep one in an official travel agency because there’re not enough people to share the price (end of the season) - suddenly a guy talked to me and offered it to me for the half of the prices of the travel agencies. I had tea with him in his house and he showed me a lot of pictures. Donna and me almost already decided to do that but then... we met her British friend Emma that she knows from Japan. She was traveling with her Indian boyfriend and a Ben, his French-American friend. They proposed us to join them on a 3 days trip to a house of the Avinash friend’s family living in the mountains around that area. Great idea! So on the next day we got up at 4 o’clock to arrive early enough
Nubra-Valley near Leh
... they made a ceremony - we're lucky to see that, but then embarrassing European tourists came - without any kind of respect in the Parvati-Valley (village called Kasol) that is 5 hours away by bus. On the way there we saw two accidents (not heavy ones) - the advantage of driving so slow in India is that there cannot happen that much. Before we went tracking to the mountains cottage we left our big backpack in a hotel and bought the food for those days - luckily there was a shop where we could buy Italian food! Wow! I missed it so much to cook!
It was a very steep and great 3 hours track to the cottage in the mountains with amazing views! The family of the Avinash’s friend was so lovely! We could cook in their museum-like kitchen - for hours, because there were only two heaters - we enjoyed it a lot! Back to nature! My main concerns were the huuuuuuge spiders there - the biggest ones I ever saw in my live. The small toilet-house next to the house was always a challenge… first you had to cross meter high and wide weed-fields and then the question was if the spider went back to her place - so the boys became our spider-hunters😊 Thank you so much!
Nubra-Valley near Leh
no electricity in the organic farm where we stayed - brushing teeths at 5 degree and without light in the middle of the Himalayan mountains - I love that! A lot of people stay in Parvati-Valley because the weed-plants are just growing everywhere!
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Ulises Abadia
non-member comment
Wow Nina, tengo que estar en esos lugares.... sigue pasandola super bien besos ulises