Leh

  Leh, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Petertosh, the Srinagar man that offered me his entire supply for a date.

Petertosh and his supply boat

So the teaching gig in the village outside of Srinagar didn't work out as planned so I decided to head to Leh. Because of the strikes and curfews the local bus was not a possibility. There was an Italian couple staying on the boat for a couple days and they wanted to leave for Leh as well. We had to hire a driver to take us. So we left at 6:00 AM for what is supposed to take about 14 hours. The distance between Leh and Srinagar is only about 300+ miles, but the only road that connects the two cities winds through the Himalaya Mountains. It's really just a gravel road (in most parts) only one lane wide, but of course there are cars going both ways. Luckily the only traffic we really saw were goats, sheep, and army trucks. Early on we passed about 30 army trucks heading into Srinagar. Glad I got out of there when I did!

Army traffic

Road block

We passed many small villages along the way but it seemed as though there were more army camps around and definitely more army officers than villagers. I guess this comes with the territory, being so close to Pakistan. I took many photos of the journey, but of course being taken from a moving car they didn't turn out very well. But the scenery was magnificent.

Mountain road

View from village

At one of the army checkpoints where we had to show our passports, our driver decided to close his eyes while waiting. We knew he had driven all night to come pick us up and of course was driving all day, so we let him sleep for about an hour. Later on he practically fell asleep at the wheel, drove towards the mountain side of the road (thank god he didn't head towards the cliff), and drove onto a pile of stones that nearly flipped the jeep. We decided to let him sleep a bit more after this. Two hours later it was dark so we decided to wake him up. We didn't arrive in Leh until 1:00AM. Better late than never!!

Leh is about 9,000+ feet above sea level so the first day I took it easy since I had a bit of a headache. Because it is close to Tibet there are tons of refugees living here. Walking around you basically feel like you're in Tibet, not that I've ever been, but there are Tibetan markets, restaurants, shops, etc. Because of this there's a large Buddhist population here. One day I walked up one of the hills on the outskirts of town where Leh Palace is located as well as a few Buddhist monasteries.

Mosque on Main Bazaar

View of Leh from palace

Leh Palace

Buddhist murals in monastery

Prayer wheel

This is one of the best jumping off places for trekking in the Himalaya Mountains. I've decided against trekking seeing as though I get winded just walking up the hill from my guesthouse to the Main Bazaar. I think I'm also reconsidering that Kiliminjaro climb as well!

Tonight I'm leaving for Manali, another 14+ hour mountain drive. Hopefully the driver won't fall asleep like the last one. Keep your fingers crossed!

I'd like to wish all of my teacher friends the best of luck this school year. Ex-Harper colleagues...let me know where you'll be teaching this year...and more importantly, let me know if they'll have an opening for me next school year!!! Those of you who are staying at Harper, please keep me informed on what's going on there. And tell my kids how much I love and miss them!!

Hope all is well with everyone!

Happy 40th Anniversary to my parents (holy shit that's a long time!) and Happy 2nd Birthday Braya!!!

Jen