"India has
mountains?" I was asked today. Yeah India has mountains
and I was going to see them. Send me away for a month and I better
get something out of it, so I had this little extended
weekend trip planned to Leh. Leh is located in the northwest corner
of India in the Ladakh region at 11,975ft. It's almost more
Pakistan then it is India, though the people there make you feel
more like you're in Tibet or Nepal.
My flight was at 5:40am
Friday morning. Leh is kind of a security issue because of its
proximity to Pakistan, so you have to be at the airport at
least an hour and a half before your flight. That put me at a 4:10am
airport arrival, which meant a 3:30am pickup. My never tardy driver
showed up at 3:15am. Oh boy here we go.
The
only interesting thing about the outskirts
of Delhi at that hour is the number of people up and about
on the roads. Not so much cars, just people walking around and
hanging out. The other interesting thing were all the bicycle
rickshaw dudes asleep on their rickshaws. I'm not sure if that's
their home (wouldn't surprise me) or what.
At the airport I
bought a liter water bottle for Rs. 130. Later I checked the
receipt to see it was only Rs. 30. Bastards.
After
a whole bunch of security checks (you have to go out on the
tarmac and identify your bag before they'll put it on the plane), it
was time to fly.
Picture of the last minute
packing.
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It
was an hour long flight. The view was incredible from my window
seat, but I had two problems - no camera and my seat was on the
wing
.
I had heard/read
you couldn't take anything with you in the cabin on a flight
to Leh, so I packed my camera. Turns out cameras were ok, but I
wouldn't have gotten any shots past the wing anyway.
The mountains
were amazing. I've never seen anything so raw. The strata (layers
of rock) shot straight up into the air. There was no vegetation
and very little errosion. It was like nothing I've ever seen. For
miles in every direction it was nothing but uplifted rock and
patches of snow (glaciers likely).
It was amazing to land in
the middle of this and find the little town of Leh. The airport was
marginal, more military then tourist or commercial. After getting my
bag and putting on an extra shirt (no elevation sickness yet), I
headed out for my ride. I'd gotten used to having rides wait
for me with my name on a sign, so when I didn't see any I grabbed a
cab and headed off. Turns out my cab driver didn't know where he was
going. I had to get out and point to the name of the guest house on
a sign for him to follow. In addtion, my ride was there. The owner
of the guest house, David, was actually there to pick me up. He said
he saw me, but didn't think I was me. Apparently I looked too
confident to be some kid hopping in for the weekend in foreign Leh.
I owe that one to Steve - "Always walk in like you own the
place".
This was a shot out of the back of the cab as
we're headed up from the airport and though town. Notice the prayer
flags across the
street.
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I got to the guest
house and had breakfast with some couple from the states. I was
pretty tired and elevation sickness was starting to set in, so I
don't recall much of them. I grabbed a book and headed to my room as
seen
below.
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I spent the rest of the day
doing this. The book I grabbed was Dan Brown's
Demons & Angels. Quick read, but that's about it. The couple from
the morning had headed out for a three day trek, but
another couple (US) came in from a 13 day trek. I had some lunch, but spent
most of the day reading and sleeping. Doing little things like walking
or eating left me winded and
nauseous.
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Finally I'd had enough, I got up and went out.
Right outside the guesthouse I came across this. The name of
the guest house (what the hotels are called in Leh) I was staying in
was the Snow View. It's owned by a guy named David and his
wife. They've been in business for a while and are expanding.
Most of the construction (here we go again right?) in Leh is brick.
The bricks are made right on the spot. This was a batch of fresh
bricks made and drying for the new expansion. You can see the color
differences between the fresh ones and the cured
ones.
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This is the
expansion.
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Here
are the three buildings
together
. I was staying in the one in the
back. Don't ask me what the green plastic roof was about. I never
asked. Overall it was a nice place. The staff were great.
My shower didn't work worth a damn, but I didn't really need it -
I'm still in
India.
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A little down the road I found this. Those are
stacks of barley under the snow capped mountains in the back. In
Leh, it's fall. It's harvest time. From what I learned and saw
the women of Leh are responsible for the
harvest. There were fields like this all
around.
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Some
more barley stacks and snow capped mountains. I was told the snowy
one on the right is about 20,000ft and the tallest in the Ladakh
range, though I haven't found any proof to back that
up.
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Here's another recently constructed building
with the snowy peaks in the background. Like Gurgaon, Leh is
experiencing a huge (in Leh terms) amount of growth. It's become a
very popular trekking location for its remoteness and Tibetan
culture.
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