Ladakh, India

View of hills across the great valley of Indus in Leh,

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."

- T.S. Eliot

To think of a beautiful place, the first picture pops inside my mind is a cool serene landscape, with gushing streams, caressed at its side by lush green meadows, or some sun-bathed sandy coast…with silhouettes of the palms….soothing breeze taking its fishy whiff from every single splashes of the unending waves.

What if one strips out from such a scenic landscape the softness of greeneries and splashes of water and expose the very skeleton of it, with bare minimum flesh to show what lies below such landscape……That aptly describes Ladakh.

We started off in the month of August in the year 2007, as a part of a geological field trip. It was an expedition to this amazing terrain.

Breaking dawn on hills overseeing the valley

It was humid warm evening in Delhi, temperature about 30deg. We were a team of about 20 people and we were eagerly waiting for the dawn. Our flight to Leh was scheduled at 5:30 am in the morning.

The destination was Leh, the capital of the province of Ladakh.

It was a fogy morning of August at Delhi Indira Gandhi Airport. We reached airport on time. at about 4am. This was first time I was boarding a flight. So, I was naturally excited.

The flight took off at 5:30. Everything was well and good. I got an window seat and all I could see outside was lights of a vibrrant city waking up in the misty darkness of the dawn. There was a pink glow in the horizon as we reached a little high.... then all of a sudden came in a flash of sunshine, the first light of the day, which flooded the cabin.

Part of valley of Indus from the hill top, some patches of vegetation

I have never seen such a beautiful dawn with such dazzling sunshine all my life. Down below was a sleeping city in the dark waiting to see the sun.

It was about 6 am, we had good breakfast. We could hardly see anything below other than a milky white ocean of clouds and the shiny blue dome of the sky which meets at the horizon. The wings were shining like a blade. I was mesmerized at the vastness of the nature. Then I came across some jitters in the horizon which was little above the ocean of clouds. As we approached nearer the cleared it became, and to my utter surprise I meet the the ice clad Peaks and perennial veil of glaciers of The mighty Himalaya....I was such a memorable glimpse that I will remember all my life. As if we entered the realm of the mysterious heaven, the clouds below became thinner and I could see the sharp white peaks and patches of the dark rocks, and majestic glaciers with moraines making its way down the valley. I could not believe my eyes as it looked all the same of the pictures i have seen in colorful physical geology books on earth and landscapes. In a word it was breathtaking....Flight was taking swings as we were approaching the valley through the winding snowy valleys, tackling thinner air column, till we reached the great valley of Leh, by the side of the mighty Indus.

Outskirts of Leh, hills are barren and dry.

The descent was smooth. Leh welcomes us with sunny weather gusty wind as we stepped outside of the flight. The temperature was about 5 degree. The airstrip was small within a vast vally between two major snow capped mountain ranges, with no extra frills but with lots of heavily guarded zones, camouflage bunkers, military supply crafts. Photography was strictly prohibited in and around airport. We felt proud of our fellow country men who have been there for us to protect our homeland.
After a through check up of the luggage everyone of us we headed for our hotel which was nearby.

Leh is right on the north bank of Indus, encased within the valley. It partly lies on the hill slope and partly in the beautiful green meadow of the mighty Indus.

Ladakhi Kids

In hotel we received worm welcome in traditional Ladakhi way, with a small piece of local silk cloth (Chaddar), with pali script on it. Most of the occupant were foreign nationals with a indian guided.
We were strictly instructed to take a day rest for aclimatization, failing which will have serious health issues.We were told take small steps and not to clip upstairs in a hurry and sleep a lot on the first day, to get adjusted to the air pressure and thin air. My excitement forwas out of control and ignored. In the evening I started getting feverish and had headache and nausea which unfortunately continued till th end of the trip.
I had lots of soups and hot water but even the steaming water was not worm enough.

Ladakhi women performing at Soma Gompa(Monastery) at evening

Th next morning, I was feeling little better. So, I had this snap of the majesctic hills across the Indus valley.

Indus or Sindhu is a perennial stream flowing partly through Indian hills and feeding plains of our neighbour Pakistan. It is one of the great rivers from ancient times and has become boon to many prehistoric civilizations, including the Harappans.
Next morning we started working in the surroundings of the Leh. Ad we climbed up the thinner were the greenery and after some height were like in a barren desert. The greenery were just around water bodies or some thin mountain springs.

The Lord Buddha, inside Soma Gompa

In the evening after the days work we headed to the nearby market. The people were motly tibetans and were selling local stuffs. There was a major Astronomical observatory just on the way to the market. People who comes here mostly buy wollens, shawls, knitted kashmiri garments which are hugely expensive than the price in thepaces in the plains like Delhi. Because tourism is the only earning o fthe people and it comes mostly comes from the foreiners. People are short in height, shy, honest, reigious, homely and hardworking.

Military bunkers, helipad

I took this snap of these two cute ladakhi twins, peeping from the a perched window from a house in the narrow lanes of the market. In ladaakh, people of all ages are extremely fair in complexion and have reddish blunt nose, and some are nomads. Nomads live on livestocks farming and are rich. They are real courageous people and inhabitant of this difficult terrain blessed with rugged beauty and no blessing from nature. We have seen roaming nomads on our way to Tso Marari, with their hoard of yaks (Furry mountain cows) and Goats, riding on their horses. They live on meat and milk from the cattles, around the small waterbodies and springs.