Himalayan Mountains of India -- Leh India

On Saturday morning I flew Kingfisher Airlines to Leh India, this is in the Jammu Kashmir region of India, the far north. It closely boarders Tibet (not China) and Pakistan. There is a strong Tibetan influence on the people, religion, and culture, its often called little Tibet. There is a presence of Muslims from Pakistan, but everyone seems to live very peacefully.

Soapbox time – I want to let it be known that I strongly condemn the asshole in Florida that decided that his US granted freedom of speech allowed him to burn the Koran. Having this freedom also requires you to act responsibly. We now have two bad actions that have killed several innocent UN workers. Off soapbox

Main street of Leh, looks busy, but this is in the non-tourist time

Buddists and Mulisms live peacefully in Leh, that is a Mosque to the left.

Leh is in the Ladakh region of JK and is surrounded by the very high Himalayan mountains. The flight in is amazing, first you fly over Leh at about the same altitude as the mountains on each side, then the plane does a sharp bank and lands at the airport. It’s pretty cool to be looking out the window and your below the mountain tops, reminded me of landing in the old Hong Kong airport where you flew between the buildings to land.

The plane was made up of about 148 local people and two westerners. The locals are making their way back to Leh after the bitter winter and the upcoming tourist season. I don’t think they fly much since I had to help several find their seats, in the end it didn’t seem to matter people just sat by their friends. At baggage, every other bag was a 50lb bag of rice.

You arrive at Leh, 11,580 feet, and you immediately feel the impact of altitude. I got in at 10am, took a cab to the hotel, unloaded my stuff and went to town to get something to eat. After lunch the altitude really hit me, increasing headache, chills, the world going really slow. I took a cab back to the hotel, best dollar I ever spent, and half slept and half watched the cricket finals, in which India did win over Sri Lanka. I took a Diamox at dinner and then something for my headache to sleep. I got a knock on the door, it was the hotel guy bringing an old fashion hot water bottle, I immediately put it under the covers and didn’t wake up until 8am.

View from my hotel, outstanding!

Since it really cold here and there is not really insulation in the walls all the water is shutoff in town. Makes flushing a toilet and taking a shower a bit more challenging. They provide the blue bucket of water and a hand bucket for the toilet. In the morning I ask for hot water and they bring the red bucket to take a shower and clean up. Takes some getting used to but it does work. There is a room heater that is powered by a large propane tank.

Showers out of the red bucket

The brand is "Superheat"

The only down side is that since there are very few tourists many of the shops and restaurants are not open, so it’s a challenge to find stuff to eat, mostly Tibetan. For dinner tonight I had a bowl and soup and this huge plate of fried veggie rice all for 95 rupees, that’s about $2, I couldn’t even finish the rice, I'm already starting to miss the Delhi tikka meals.

There is a large Palace that is up on the hill that was built around the same time as the one in Tibet, I’m heading there tomorrow. There is also a large Stupa behind the hotel, I’ll hit that first, they say it has the most amazing views of Leh.’

The Palace that sits above the town

The Stupa with the best views of Leh, see you tomorrow

Congrats to my friend Donovan and Carrie they had their second baby on March 31.

Seemed to be a good year for dogs, there are puppies everywhere.