Mine and Lalits thoughts captured at the end of the day from the Journal.
26th Jun (Sunday)
- The trip starts 35 days of vacation.. off to Delhi-Manali-Leh
27th Jun (Monday)
- Trains in India have not changed in the last 10-15 years
- There continues to be a severe lack of waste management everywhere & on trains
- "People Will leave things. As is where is" - improve the system and people will respect it ?
28th Jun (Tuesday)
- The stations need to improve, Okla station "the entry was full of much"
- Shatabdi (Delhi to Kalka) - "Excellent, Euro Class". Time and money efficient.
- Pahadgunj 'Heard of it many times, First time there'. A pretty filthy street.
- "Are we living in an Oasis in Bangalore ?"
29th Jun (Wednesday)
- Shimla and Mr. Bindra the 'Photo wala' who still uses 'Burmese Paper'
- Alfa restaurant with the excellent food and views from the windows (both Front and Back)
- The Kalka Shimla Heritage train journey. Good views but the speed sucks.
30th Jun (Thursday)
- In Manali now. The walk after Vashist Temple. The falls and smoking point next to the stream and Korean restaurant.
- Lunch and Beyond at Evergreen Cafe.(old manali)
- The score (Good and the bad wait) & Tashi Topgyal.
1st July (Friday)
- First good coffee of the trip (Amigoes German bakery + Honey nut). A good spanish breakfast with spinach omlette.
- Peed on the way to Rohtang and ate Bhutta. Rani Nala bad roads.
- Mika and Asha. The dutch women.
- Night halt at open tent (lalits stargazing between 2-3am)
2nd July (Saturday)
- Baralacha La - the first views of a glacial filled valley from here and being at the end point of the Chandartal-Baralachala Trek.
- Start of the rivers from Glaciers to streams to rivulets to a river (making of the Indus)
- Tanglang La was the Roof of the hills around us. The first Head ache are felt here, acclimatization begins ?
- Worlds highest transit camp
- Claudi and the the Tirunelveli female
3rd Jul (Sunday)
-'Summer Kitchen' Lunch
- Nangso guest house , a quite and peaceful place.
- Candle light at Leh Cafe
- Discovery of a friendly cafe "Desert Rain" in Nausher Market. The best cafe in Leh (for me)
4th July (Monday)
- Bike ride to Thiksey and the sunset ride beyond the airport
- Thiksey monastery was great and peaceful. Bhudhism , 6 stages of life and the view of the green and dry divide all across Ladakh /Leh.
- Winter gear purchase as a bargain. 'North Face' jackets and shoes + Sleeping bag
- Dinner at 'Tibetan Kitchen' with Pankaj 'Surgeon', Prisellia , Mika + Asha. Best fired Momos here.
5th July (Tuesday)
- Ride to pangang so lake. And 'Soni' the pashminas.
- The wet cowboy cap and its final burial in a trash can (good lake side breeze)
- Sunset views and the walk beyond the flags including the photography walk.
- Midnight hospital run and the tail of an unknown mountain creature. Yeti ? Snow Leopard? Lost dog?
6th July (Wednesday)
- Oldest Theater in Leh. End of the search for 'Koflach' shoes (Siachen shoes) , quality vs cost vs utility vs bragging rights.
- Dinner of Wheat bread, Jam & Cheese.'Tang Party' organized by Pearl.
7th July (Thursday)
- Rafting in Zanskar.from Scorpoche to Nemo (confluence of Zanskar and Indus). Lalit replacing the 'expert' Pearl at the front.
- Jumping into the water. Thermal shock in the freezing balls and hands.
- Wonderful outdoor home cooked meal at 'Wimbeldon Guest house'. Rajma, palak, alu n chawal.
- Meeting 'Samara' and 'Patricia' the spanish girls. Organizing the Nubra trip.
8th July (Friday)
- Topless bums at Khardungla. A bet for a bottle. Still to come by.
- Hot springs from the Rock face, the dam building and Rock Climbing. How water shower in the bath.
- Double humped camels, Pearl the water baby in the stream and me and pearl as the 'Camel Rider'
- Hungry Lalit gorging on the biryani and loosing it in parts over the night.
- Nice trip with Particia and Samara
9th Jul (Saturday)
- Good breakfast at 'Summer Harvest'
- Leh palace and views
- Patch up tea with Stanzin.
- Farewell dinner for Pankaj, Priscilla, Asha and Mika. Again bumping into spanish girls with Matt.
- Buying the North face pants.
10th July (Sunday)
- Mask Festival in Hemis. With the violent and abusing firangs (European and Italian) White bearded 'dadiyal' jumping around for pics and the trigger happy 'Thai' with the huge cameras.
- Red Masked dancer posing away including the shoes and hands.
- Watermelon, fried rice and chole bhature lunch.
- Riverside nap and relaxation.
- Our stuck car and the clevevr Sardarji helping with the science of removing it.
Leh (Overall)
- Consistently bad toilets
- Ginger Lemon Honey Tea discovered
- Very poor waste management in India
- A bullet ride to Thinksey
- Meeting a lot of interesting travelers.
- thoughts recorded. Signing off.
3 comments:
love the comments though a little more info would have been better
Leh is awesome with the snow, green ,cold river, lovely ladies, dirty washrooms and awesome momosss and apple juice
Roomie,
Love the bulleted blog post idea. It captures so much and yet one can breeze reading it all
I think the observation on Pahar Ganj is spot on
To me its a Delhi Spoiler
Next Summer I am on the trip as well :)
@jailbird
Yes Leh was lovely. There was so much to write but so little time. Hence treasured 3 thoughts per day in a pad and penned it down late.
@harsht
Pahar Ganj was one of the areas i could not visualize due to the numerous criss crossing statements i got from various people. Guess your imagination is sometimes more powerful than reality.
ATB to your trip next year. latest postings on switzerland ?
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