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Published: September 12th 2008
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After four days travelling through the most stunning scenery, I was almost afraid of being disappointed in our destination, Leh.
While the scenery was not quite as dramatic as the journey, Leh is definitely a special place and was an excellent final destination to our trip.
Leh is an awesome little town that seems to give itself over to tourism in the brief summer months. For the rest of the year, the Manali - Leh road is shut and the only way into the area is by aeroplane. Most things shut down and the roads are icy and dangerous. The schools even shut for up to three months in the depths of winter so conditions must get pretty extreme!
The town reminded me a bit of Chang Mai in Northern Thailand - the same sort of laid-back vibe with lots of western travellers who come for the trekking, monasteries, Buddhism, outdoor scenery or the pot smoking. Depending of course where their interests lie.
Leh really doesn’t feel like India at all. The buildings are different, the landscape is different. Even the people look completely different. The streets are lined with shops selling handcrafts from Tibet and monks
in red robes and sunglasses ride motorbikes up and down the streets.
Almost every second shop is a tour company selling treks and expeditions. Since it was impossible to hire a motorbike that didn’t have gears, we hired a jeep /driver and visited three monasteries. Our favourite was Thiksey where the monks were performing a ceremony that involved darkened rooms, drums and lots of chanting. We didn’t have a clue what was going on but it was quite moving.
We joined a few other Brits for a mountain biking trip down the worlds highest motor pass Khardung La. At an altitude of 18380ft, we felt embarrassingly breathless and a bit tipsy. The ride down was awesome even though my hands were cramping from using the brakes so much. I think I proudly hold the world record for the slowest descent of Khardung La! Unfortunately the boys motored off into the distance and I caught them up later only to find that one of the Brits had taken fall and suffered really bad grazing on his stomach and arms. Well, well… at least Nana Anna made it to the bottom in one piece!
On one of our rest
days we tracked down the Donkey Sanctuary that takes in some of the many abandoned donkeys that would otherwise spend their days wandering the streets and eating from the rubbish heaps along with the cows and dogs. We had high hopes of leaving a hefty donation but the experience ended up being a bit weird. The two old guys that were looking after the place were thrilled to see us. They had obviously spent the whole afternoon sitting in the sun drinking alcohol and were pretty nailed. The younger one jumped up and started throwing hay AT the donkeys. The donkeys got a bit excited by their tucker and then proceeding to kick the hell out of each other. The guy picked up the tiny baby one and nearly dropped it. We left a smaller donation that anticipated! We talked to friends who told us they had a completely different experience when they visited in the morning. The got a receipt with their donation and also got to bottle feed the foals so I guess we just lucked out with our timing! I’m not sure if the rupees we left will got towards the donkeys food but here’s hoping!
The shopping in Leh was great. Being so close to Tibet, the crafts were quite different to those in Rajasthan. We spent a morning cruising the markets and finally made the purchase of a couple of horses and a stunning Buddha!
Evenings were spent looking out over the old town in the fading sun and eating and drinking at the outdoor restaurants scattered around the place. Very relaxing and once again, we didn’t actually feel like we were in India being surrounded by so many westerners. (Well except for the dogs, toilets and ‘makaroonie parsta with eegs & tomartos pizzer’)
We completed a day trip out to Pangong Lake as we were quite determined to see it, even if it did mean another 8 hours in a jeep. The lake is at an altitude of 4,250 m (13,900 ft) and totally stunning. Unbelievably, it’s 134 km long and is salt water. What salt water is doing at this height, I don’t know, but the colours are amazing.
Only one third of the length of the lake lies in India. The rest lies in Tibet which was visible, only 50km in the distance. We would loved to have
It's all downhill from here!
Chris doing the 'standing in front of the highest road in the world sign' thing kept going towards Tibet but unfortunately it wasn’t to be on this trip.
During the ride out we passed over Changla Pass, the third-highest pass in the world. It was absolutely FREEZING - using the outdoor toilet in -10 degrees is something I’d rather forget! Thankfully the army (poor blokes, they get stationed up here for months at a time. In winter it must be unimaginable) have a small teahouse and hand out a free cup of tea to each person who comes up over the pass. I could hardly drink it, my hands were shaking so much!
The villages, temples, streams, harvested fields, stunning mountains, wild flowers and Himalayan marmots made it an amazing trip. We were also lucky enough, to the amazement of our guide, to see a lone Himalayan wild ass wandering the mountain side. Of course my photo of this is rubbish and unfocused but I’ll try to hang onto the memory!
After 6 days were made our way to Leh airport. Being the highest commercial airport in the world, it is of course surrounded by mountains. The only way out is to fly between the mountains. This terrified filled me with dread and
Tourist Pose
And Anna does the 'standing in front of the highest road in the world sign' thing had Chris very excited. Thankfully, the morning of the flight was once again sunny and clear and we actually had the smoothest flight I have ever experienced. No turbulence and the good-looking staff of jet airways even served up a fab breakfast! The views of the snow capped Himalayas were amazing and something we with both remember forever.
Well this is our last India blog. From Leh we flew to Delhi and then onto London. I am writing this from our London flat and starting to think about those upcoming holidays in only five weeks...
Thank you India, for providing some of the most intense experiences of a lifetime.
There are two pages of photos on this blog entry. Click the 2 below to view the second page.
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Smitha
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When did you go to Leh? What month?
Which month of the year did you visit leh?