ACCLIMATIZING BUT BUSY DAY IN LEH - LADAKH JOURNEY

It was our first day in Leh and we were advised not to sleep during the day time as a part of acclimatization process, we tried to relax and my ever elusive sleep tried to descend on me promptly, normally I can’t sleep during daytime even if I count 1000 black sheep, here I was groggily fighting my sleep, luckily by 4 pm our car driver arrived to take us on a short trip around Leh

We were driven to the Shanti Stupa 5 km away from our resort, it was at a height of 11,841 ft, on a steep hill 

After parking the car we slowly went up the incline, on the way we saw two temples of Buddha,

One was the main temple ,the Buddha statues were huge and glittering with mesmerizing art on the walls and there were benches for people who can‘t sit on the floor ,these were meant for people to sit and meditate

We heard that the daily prayers are held there , one must visit at the time of prayers before 10:00 A.M, the Tibetan hymns the monks chant along with the ringing bells are musical in nature and refresh and cool the mind

We tried to meditate and could do it for a while when we suddenly heard two women probably co sisters avidly and viciously discussing their mother in law who must have been choking on her food wherever she was, I tried to avoid my husband’s eyes and pondered on why these ladies spoiled their minds after coming so far from home, to add to this bedlam their respective kids started fighting loudly and there disappeared our peace and we got up with a loud sigh 

This is the main difference I notice while traveling ,we Indians are quite loud on phones, set very loud ring tones and let our kids shout at their top most pitch ,most of us don’t seem to understand that religious places need some sanctity and sobriety ,alas!

We reached the Shanti stupa by slowly going up the steep road , we saw people climbing the 500 steep steps to the hilltop and few monks dressed in red robes nimbly skipping up the steps , however we thought it was not our cup of tea at least in Ladakh

The Shanti Stupa is a Buddhist white-domed stupa whose construction began in April 1983 by Japanese Buddhist Bhikshu , Gyomyo Nakamura and part of the Peace Pagoda mission and holds the relics of the Buddha at its base, enshrined by the 14th Dalai Lama. 

The project was built with the help of Ladakhi Buddhists, who offered voluntary labor and Japanese Buddhists, who consider India as the "sacred" birthplace of the Buddha.

The 14th and current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso inaugurated the Shanti Stupa in August 1991.

Going to the stupa we were spell bound by its special location as its 360 degrees view was stupendous and we had a panoramic views of surrounding landscape, we were instructed to go around it in a clockwise direction, as we usually do in all our temples

Entire Leh city unfurled itself before our delighted eyes, we could see small hamlets visible and wherever there were elevated hills monasteries were constructed though it was obvious some of them were in dis- repair and only some were being maintained well, the white hills were playing hide and seek with the fluffy clouds which occasionally threatened to burst on all under them 

The stupa is built as a two-level structure. The first level featured the central relief of Dharmachakra with deer on each side. A central golden Buddha image sat on a platform depicting the "turning wheel of Dharma" 

The second level had reliefs depicting the "birth" of Buddha, the death of Buddha (Mahanirvana) and Buddha "defeating the devils" while meditating.

Both levels featured a series of smaller meditating Buddha reliefs. 

The mission of Nichidatsu Fujii was to build Peace Pagodas and temples over the world and try to resurrect Buddhism back in India.

The Shanti Stupa was built to promote world peace and prosperity and to commemorate 2500 years of Buddhism and is considered a symbol of the ties between people of Japan and Ladakh.

Sunrise and sunset are considered to provide the best views from Shanti Stupa. The stupa is best visited in evening as it is illuminated with lights at night. 

When we stood and gazed at the stupa we felt that its tall tip was playing with the clouds

We next went to the Leh Palace, our driver parked the car at a sharp incline and we ascended up the rough path

On the way we saw that several repair and renovation works were being undertaken 

On the way I saw cute Ladakh women selling hand woven woolen scarves and head bands

At the first glance the Leh palace had a desolate look, covered with fine white dust , the palace however had 7-9 floors which were connected by narrow and squeaky wooden stairs, walls were huge and the special attraction were wide open balconies ,it is said to be a great example of medieval Tibetan architecture and was the main establishment of the Namgyal kings

We then went to the entrance which was decorated with wooden carved figurines but these too were looking old and tired

I could see that the palace was perched on a ridge and I wondered how difficult it must have been for workers to carry up the construction material to such heights

Tourists can approach the palace from the Leh market through the winding alleys of old Leh town but it is quite a strenuous task for the oxygen starved tourists

We entered the palace but we were not very impressed by the display, light was in sufficient and the steps creaky, there were no sign boards or public address system to guide the tourists

The building was built of brick and mud, there were decorated wooden beams and pillars and windows adorned with intricate wood carving. 

There were benches everywhere to sit, the 9th floor however was closed to the tourists, only positive feature of the palace was the 360 degree views from the balconies getting better as we went up the floors, offering amazing views of the Ladakh region and the Stok Kangri.

 We wondered why the maintenance of the former royal palace was so poor, it was constructed in 1600 and abandoned when Dogra forces took control of Ladakh in mid 19th century  

To our disappointment none of the original interior artefacts survive, but we found an interesting exhibition of the best heritage sites across India, and the Buddhist shrine 

Our next visit was to the Leh Market an ancient market dating back to the 15th century, from the era of King Singe Namgyal, supposedly many old trees were felled in recent times and the market was renovated 

As always when we go to a market while traveling ,my husband tells me strictly that we are not going to buy anything more ,we would only be doing window shopping ,I blithely nod very obediently knowing that he would be the first to break the rule Ha ,Ha!

The Leh Market is one of the main attraction of Leh City and needs to be seen preferably in the evening when the lights are on which we were fortunate  

It had wide pedestrian walking space and sitting spaces as well. It was very well managed place and we leisurely strolled down the lanes ,I observed that everywhere in Ladakh there were many stray dogs quite obviously well fed ,satiated and relaxing ,I remembered the quote ‘ every dog has its day ‘

At the pedestrian side we found rows of vegetables being sold by the women, mostly potato, peas, onions, cabbage, carrot and cauliflower

Apricots, walnuts, berries and almonds were also being sold along with the green apples

We saw many restaurants , trinket shops and few ATMs and other shopping options. One can buy Pashmina shawls and woolen clothes. We also went to Tibetan refugee shops where we could get good fridge magnets and key chains 

I found a quaint little stall run by a sprightly Leh lady, we bought some key chains and hand mirrors from her, when I wanted a snap with her she consented and promptly pulled out her goggles and adjusted her hairdo, she also wanted a snap of both of us on her phone too

Wherever we travelled in Ladakh I observed that almost all the native people including the laborers were wearing sun shades

Finally we had a cup of hot coffee in a small café where I saw books kept for the tourists to read and relax and returned to our resort loaded with our shopping bags.

FIRST GLANCE OF LEH, LADAKH JOURNEY

 We took the Indigo flight to Leh from Delhi on a warm pleasant morning, after checking in and at the gate, I observed that most of the tourists waiting for the Leh flight were youngsters, some obviously on their honeymoon trip as evidenced by their lovey dovey body language!

We had a smooth flight, I was lost in thoughts about our trip and was blissfully observing the fluffy white clouds carpeting and floating by, suddenly our pilot announced that we were now flying over the Ladakh mountain ranges

 

Indeed I could see the mighty mountains looking like small hillocks, some were snow tipped and some had snowy rivulets trickling down and in some places I could see small groups of houses snugly nested in these mighty mountains 

The Ladakh range is composed of granite rocks of the batholith, bound by the Shyok suture zone to the north and the Indus suture zone to the south. 

The climate is semiarid, with maximum summer temperatures exceeding 30 °C along the lower slopes and mean monthly temperatures in winter well below 0 °C at elevations above 13,000 feet. 

The Deosai mountains, located southwest of the Indus River in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, are sometimes considered part of the range.

In no time we were approaching the Leh Kushok Bakula Rimpochee Airport named after 19th Kushok Bakula Rinpoche, an Indian statesman and monk, whose Spituk Monastery is very close by to the airfield.

We could see the town and houses, roads and river clearly, our pilot announced that the airport was managed by the Indian Army so photography of the airport was strictly prohibited unless we wanted to face the hassle of our camera or cell phone being seized and spend our precious time giving feeble explanations

Due to the presence of mountain winds in the afternoon, all flights take off and land in the morning or mid afternoon

Our flight took a U turn, we had the sensation of falling down gently and landed. We got down from the flight and were taken in small rickety old buses to the airport where we waited for our check in luggage to arrive. I could sense the excitement on most of the faces and observed their cautious breaths

We were asked to show our vaccination status at the exit gate and some tourists who couldn’t produce them were asked to wait and get their RT PCR tests done, the airport had simple elegance and had Buddhist scriptures and statues all over

Maybe it was a psychological feeling but after getting down from the flight, I started feeling a little breathless and covertly attempted to see my oxygen saturation on my smart watch, my ever practical and clinical hubby stopped me and said  “ wait for a while ! don’t wish the mountain sickness on yourself, you can withstand the lowered oxygen pressure, just start walking slowly and not rush around as you usually do ” ,true to his words my distress decreased and I could breathe quite normally, I thought all my  literature search about the care to be taken in high altitude areas like Ladakh had definitely set my panic button buzzing

We came out of the airport with our luggage and only then I dared to cautiously take out my cell phone to take pics

We were greeted outside by the cab driver arranged by our resort, The Zen Ladakh

As we settled down in the car my first impression was that though oxygen could have been at low pressure, the air we breathed in was superbly pure, we were surrounded by the majestic hills, the milky clouds in clear blue sky were merrily peeping in and welcoming us with a cheerful hello 

As we were moving slowly through the town I noticed that houses in Leh were mostly made of wood, mud and stone. 

Wood for Ladakh houses is used from Willow or Poplar trees brought by truck from Srinagar nowadays and previously from the hills by mules 

Our driver told us that the ceiling of houses which was flat is made from wood as it keeps the house warm in winter. It is used for storing ample animal fodder to be used in winter

Depending on the family members, a house can be of two or three floors and walls are built of stone which are coated with mud and lime

I noticed that almost all houses had balconies called rapsal made of wooden latticework reminiscent of the Ottoman architecture, these are used as observation post for visitors by the family members.

Ground floors usually have no windows and are used for storing animals & house hold articles and wooden steps are built to go to other floors

There were also red decorations on the wall, triangles, lines of dots and sometimes swastikas, these are very reminiscent of our village dwellings 

The head of an ibex- a goat or any other animal favored by the owner, was used as a decoration above the door

Houses are frequently rebuilt and 30 - 40 years is an average lifespan for a house. 

As we travelled further I noticed that Leh appeared very dry and white 

Majority of the soils in Leh and Kargil district are sandy to sandy loam in texture and medium to medium-high in organic matter with poor water holding capacity. 

Leh as it is tucked in between the huge mountains gets very scanty rainfall, probably because of the extreme dryness, there was sparse vegetation in the area. There were scanty patches of grass and shrubs for animals to graze.

During the summers, trees of fruits such as apples, apricots, and walnuts bloom and we could indeed see the trees loaded with fruit

These trees can easily be grown because they suit the climatic conditions required for growing such trees, like everywhere else these are useful for oxygen and can control air pollution.

Ladakh is a small town and we reached our destination the Zen Ladakh resort which sat prettily on an elevation within a very short time

We were met warmly at the reception by the staff there, given a welcome drink and were presented with a thin white ceremonial scarf around our neck called a khata or khatag in Tibetan Buddhism

We were given a room in the old wing of the resort, there was a new wing but we liked our spacious room with big French windows, a dressing room and a huge bath room with Jacuzzi facility and in built music system and a French window in the bathroom too, we even had our own massage chair to our delight, which I was regularly using at the end of the tiring days.

To our surprise our rooms had fans and no A/C but the corridors outside had them throughout their stretch.

On opening the huge windows we got delightful and breath taking views of the Stok Kangri trans Himalayan mountain range, I could see that some of them had snow caps, all through our stay in Ladakh we could see that the all the mountains which had very scanty green cover were changing colors remarkably when the sun and the moon rays fell on them or the blue clouds passed by 

                                       

After a simple lunch which was indeed very tasty, though advised to take rest that day we decided to initially take a tour of our resort. It had luxurious facilities like an indoor centrally heated swimming pool with a steam bath, conference hall, gymnasium, health club, beauty parlor and a souvenir shop, there were also laundry/dry cleaning services, car on hire, doctor on call and a spacious car park area.

It is my experience that during our travels we get to stay sometimes in beautiful resorts and hotels with swimming pools and gym facilities but we never use them much because we are anxious to see the places and rush around , as a result by evening we are very tired, maybe it is the plight of most of us who are budget conscious and want to cover as many places as we can before it is too late to travel

From our room we could see the gardens, as we went closer we could smell the beautiful fragrance 

The flowers were lovely and colorful, I noticed suddenly small trees loaded with ripe and raw apples, some had even fallen on the ground, some of the staff of the resort were munching on them for dessert, though small they tasted delicious and were free for all in the resort.

Whenever we go to such serene places on a visit I keep telling my hubby locals are so blessed to live in such peace and beauty and how I wished I could live there for ever and promptly my hubby reminds me that “ I would thoroughly get bored after few days, how cruel of him to jolt me out of my dreams” I tell him

The reception desk people were very helpful and friendly, Mr Thinles took extra care of us and gave us personal attention. He guided us with our itinerary and advised on few shopping spots and the local food 

We then took the permits needed for our travels in Ladakh as we needed them for the next day tour

Hey come along! the beautiful hills are beckoning - Ladakh Journey

Our Ladakh trip was getting postponed indefinitely for one reason or the other since a long time .Finally a day dawned when the trip was about to become a reality.   

                             

I happened to casually mention to my friend about the trip we had planned and to my surprise she vehemently started opposing my idea saying that going to Ladakh which was a very high altitude area was very risky at our age, I honestly felt 64 years was not too old to be traveling to such areas

                                         

 Like” Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary” my desire to go to Ladakh was further strengthened after this demoralizing talk and I started doing some research into the means of transport, places to see in Ladakh and things we needed to take with us

From what I had heard and seen in snaps and videos, Ladakh is not a barren uninhabitable and harsh land. Nestled amidst the Himalayas and Karakoram ranges, in fact it is a magical place where nature lives in its purest and raw form and has its own rule book to follow

                            

From lush green pastures, high rustic mountains to blue scenic lakes like Pangong Tso, natural treasures adorn Ladakh fittingly making this cold desert an extremely awe-inspiring place

                              

Acclimatization is important while planning a trip to Ladakh as Leh and most of the places in Ladakh are located above the altitude of 10,000 feet in contrast to our hamara Hyderabad which lies at a humble 1780 feet altitude

Visitors may suffer from dizziness, vomiting, headaches or even acute mountain sickness (AMS) which is a serious condition that can happen to anyone at altitudes above 10000 feet. It is pretty common if one flies or drives to such a higher altitude directly due to scarcity of oxygen at a great height

So a full day of complete bed rest is compulsorily advised for acclimatization to the high altitude and low level of oxygen once one reaches Ladakh. 

I was not letting the Acute Mountain Sickness which exists in all high altitude places like Ladakh spoil my plans to visit that heavenly place, so we bought the prescribed Diamox tablets but refrained from using them as we wanted to test our endurance 

We were also told not to exert ourselves for 2 or 3 days as our bodies have to get used to the high altitude oxygen pressure fall, tourists are also advised to abstain from alcohol

We had chosen August for our trip as we were relatively free with our schedules, though the best time to visit Ladakh is during summer season - April to July when temperatures are tolerable and between  15 to 30 Degree Celsius. As Ladakh is known for its extremely low temperatures almost all through the year, we thought we could rough it out 

Apart from our basic travel items, we were instructed to take at least two copies of Photo ID and an extra pair of reading glasses, sunglasses were highly recommended to protect our eyes from the glare of sun rays

Multi-Plug was a must as we would need to charge our cells, Plastic Bags / Plastic Zip Lock Bags to dispose our waste during day trips instead of clustering the pristine surroundings , Small handy water bottle ,Pens, pencils, crayons, chocolates and toffees for distribution among local children, Hand Sanitizers , moisturizing Cream and Lip Guard, Mobile, Basic First-aid, medical kit & our regular medicines formed part of our luggage and Sun screen lotion (SPF 50 or greater) was compulsory 

Clothes we packed as per our schedule along with one light jacket each and  we didn’t take heavy woollens or thermals except for a sweater and monkey caps

There are 4-5 ATMs available in Leh town but we will not find any ATMs anywhere else in Ladakh. It is better that we carry some cash to use in restaurants and shops 

One can reach Leh, Ladakh either by road or by air. Ladakh is connected by Manali Leh Highway and Srinagar Leh Highway. Unfortunately, there is no connectivity to Ladakh by train. Due to constraint of time we chose to take a flight from Delhi to Leh

Ladakh is known as the land of high passes and is India’s union territory, constituting a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been a subject of dispute between India, Pakistan and China since 1947.

                            

Ladakh is bordered by Tibet Autonomous Region to east, Himachal Pradesh to the south, both the Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan to the west, and the southwest corner of Xinjiang across the Karakoram Pass in the far north. 

                                          

The Siachen Glacier lies in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south. 

The largest town in Ladakh is Leh, followed by Kargil, each of which headquarters a district. The Leh district contains the Indus, Shyok and Nubra river valleys. The Kargil district contains the Suru, Dras and Zanskar river valleys

                                

The main populated regions are the river valleys, but the mountain slopes also support the pastoral Changpa nomads. 

Religion in Leh City as per 2011 census is Buddhism (43.85%), Hinduism (35.37%) and Islam (15.14%) and rest other religions

Ladakh is one of the most sparsely populated regions in India and its culture and history are closely related to that of Tibet.

The flight from Delhi to Leh would last for 1 hour 20 minutes .As Leh Airport is a small and tricky one, all flights usually operate in the morning and all of them leave Leh by late afternoon.

As suggested by some friends, we blocked the window seats on left side of the plane when going to Leh to get magnificent views of the Ladakh range mountain

As we went in August 2022, we didn’t have to get our RTPCR testing done but had to show our fully vaccinated status at the airport, we also took a BSNL card because we came to know that mobile connectivity was poor in Ladakh and surrounding areas but Airtel connection worked fine whereas my jio net -work was absolutely of no help