Leh Ladakh Trip (Part 1)

03/06/2011

20:30 – We are heading for the Mumbai domestic airport, driving through the pre-monsoon showers. There is a decently long wait for the train as I spend my time with 2.5 men.

04/06/2011

We take two continuous journeys for Leh. I slept for the Delhi to Leh part till my dad woke me up to check out the scenery from the plane. I had never seen such vast beauty. There were mountains and there were only mountains till the horizon. Covered with snow it was a shade of dark grey and white.

7:00- we land at the Leh airport. After long was I experiencing chill air. Looked around

and it was fabulous. We reached the hotel, a decent place. Our heads were

slightly tipsy as if were on about 90ml Vodka (we are at 10000ft). We have to spend the day getting ‘acclimatised’ to the environment. Our rooms overlook snow covered mountains.

Day 2

05/06/2011

6:00- I watch an episode of 2.5 Men, and then go for a shower. The sun is normally piercing in Leh. One can just n

ot think of sleeping if curtains are drawn out. That is just what I did to wake the rest of the family. By 10:10 we were ready to start out outing after having breakfast.

First we went to an Army Museum. We saw all kinds of models of aircrafts and stories about the victorious wars against Pakistan. It was adjacent to the airport. It’s

awesome to see an aeroplane take-off into a family of mountains.

Then we went to a place called Sangam, where two rivers were meeting- The Indus and the. You could actually see the two rivers distinctly. The secenery around it was beautiful too. The usual yet amazing snow clad mountains. And this time there was sand beneath us too. Leh is a cold desert.

It was the Sunday plus it was I guess the Sikh Guru Arjun’s birthday. So we went to a Gurud

wara. A story of a demon that had a heart change because of Guru Nanak.

We then went to our last place for the day. A monastery. Well it was surprisingly not a bad place to be at. The scenery there was just breath-taking. There were those roller things as well (pardon me if wrong 

but I guess they are for luck). We returned early by around 3. Rest of the day was rest 😉

Day 3:

Today we went to the school they showed in 3 Idiots.  It was quite modern. Built such that in case of earthquakes, the walls shall fall out. All the energy was solar driven. Although whatever they sh

owed in the movie was well, shit!!. We even saw the wall Chatur tried to pee on.. Its named

The Chatur Wall now.

We went to this monastery where there was this 2 floor high copper Buddha. We went to two other palaces, not much attraction except the scenery.

The rest I would write separately, The Pangong Lake and The Nubra valley.