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08.09.2005 -- Manali, Leh, and Beyond - INDIA --
India: Leh, the most remote Himalayan town...
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Well we made the arduous journey from Manali to Leh and it was well worth the effort! The travel book states "As befits India's remotest Himalayan town, Leh is singularly hard to get to, and even harder to leave." We definately found this to be the case. The overland route from Manali takes about 28 hours and covers about 450 km - the journey does include an overnight stay in large canvas tents.
The road itself is paved in few places and mainly consists of a narrow dirt road full of potholes, rocks and running streams that switchbacks up the mountains to reach a final height of over 17,000 ft. It's the second highest pass in the world and is spectacular! The trucks and buses pass each other with literally inches in-between and Todd found it fun to point out all the vehicles
crashed in the valleys below.
As happens with any near death experience, we bonded quickly with our fellow travelers. You could feel the tension ease as we pulled into the bus stand in Leh. We quickly found the Dubliners, Gary and Claire, to share a taxi and we were off to get some much needed sleep at one of the guesthouses. So far, it's been easy to show up in a town and find accommodation.
The town of Leh sits at about 3500 meters and the surrounding mountains rise to just over 6000 meters. It's a spectacular setting and can't really be described in words - we will try to get some photos on the website soon. Unfortunately, all internet connections in India are slow and the power outages are extremely frequent.
WE LOVED LEH and the surrounding areas! The area has a large Tibetan and Nepalese population, which might contribute to it being much cleaner and more peaceful. There's a large Buddhist monastery just down the road in Thiksey and can be reached by local bus for 25 cents a person. The monastery is pretty much like the one you see in "Seven Years in Tibet". We have heard the Dalai Lama is fond of this monastery in particular, as it reminds him of his home in Tibet.
The monks are really "hip" in their robes with fleece jackets and hiking boots to match. We found that for the most part they speak good English and have great senses of humor... and ride motor bikes.
Across the road from the monestary, the villagers were having a festival of traditional dancing and an archery competition. Unfortunately, the competition was for men only, so Maggie didn't get to participate. But, the men welcomed Todd right in and gave him an archery lesson.
The next day we went rafting on the Ladakhi and Zanskar rivers with a cozy group of 20 others. We organized the trip with some Dutch folks we met and were told it would only be the 6 of us on the raft. One thing you can count on in India, is that things are rarely as they've been told. So, we squeezed onto the raft along with Cat, Jeri, Esther, Derrick and 5 others (there were 2 rafts for the 20). It turned out to be a fun trip with some big water in places.
As we were in the Himalayas, we had to get some hiking in, so we headed to the town of Stok, just south of Leh and did a day hike. It was wild to start the hike above treeline and we were not only winded, but had headaches within an hour of starting. Talk about elevation.
Another highlight were dinners at Amdo's with the Dutch crew. We had some great Tibetan and Indian dishes. All of the masalas tended to be good, along with the mixed veg and the vegetable momos. We were all sick of the Dal (lentil) dishes, as this is commonly served in all the small villages while in transit. The breads we liked were the garlic nan and the gobi parantha. By this time, Maggie's stomach had settled down and food was enjoyable again.
As mentioned earlier, the guidebook said Leh was hard to get to and even harder to leave. It was a sad day for us as we boarded the plane in Leh for Delhi (one 28 hour bus ride is enough). We hope to get back here some day - we highly recommend it for trekking or just for hanging out!
While it was hard to leave Leh, our next adventure is Africa. We are currently in Moshi, Tanzania. Mt. Kilimanjaro obliged us and came out of the clouds today. It's a pretty spectacular sight!
-- Todd & Maggie
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