Day 1 -- Got Leh’ed !!

We started our freedom march from Bangalore on 15th August 2009 for Ladakh.We boarded was late evening flight from Bangalore to Delhi via Mumbai.We reached Delhi at around 2:00 am and joined Vinayak who reached Delhi around midnight from Hyderabad.All the flights which go to Leh (Main City of Ladakh) leaves in the morning so we waited for around 4 hours in newly built 1D terminal in Delhi Airport. It was only when we were standing for security checking we realized around 95% of the people who are traveling to Leh with us are Foreign Nationals. Suddenly ‘Swine Flu’ scare started looming large in my mind as I slowly put my mask on in despair. We boarded the flight pretty excited realizing we will be in Ladakh in another 90 minutes. The view from flight when we were crossing Himalayas covered in snow in the midst of clouds was completely breath-taking. Viny had to face the brunt of Air-Hostess when he could not resist his urge to take snap from top. After sometime pilot announced that we are about to land in Leh.The first sight of the arid and barren landscape of Ladakh still brings me goosebumps and it made me realize that this place was different from whatever places I had seen before. The sudden realization that I was in Ladakh made me a little emotional as I looked forward to spending some amazing time in next few days.


(Gorgeous Himalayas from top!!)



(After Landing at Leh Airport--All Unmasked)


We boarded the cab waiting for us and straightaway went to Hotel.Though Leh was situated at an altitude of around 11,500 feet it was very hot during daytime. Everybody from Ladakh sites to travelling forums to hotel staff advised us to take one day rest before starting exploring Leh.But we were already short of days and we did not gave much heed to those advise. We planned to cover some of the local destination on foot .We planned to cover Leh palace and Soma Gompa as they were in nearby places. First we went to Soma Gompa, which is situated right at the middle of the main market. This was the first of many gompas that we would be covering in next few days. Market place was also quite unlike in big cities and we could see a lot of foreigners all around the market. This market somehow reminded me flea market outside Palolem, Goa though Leh market was much more cultured and well organized. We started our next move towards Leh Palace soon. The palace was built in the 17th century, and now undergoing restoration. We faced the first brunt of Altitude sickness(AS) enroute to Leh Palace. We all were panting heavily after taking some 100 steps upwards and had our first AS casualty in the form of Suresh who was the culprit who took us from longer route. But Diamox came in handy and he was able to stand in his feet after some time. Leh Palace is undoubtedly the most noticeable building in Leh as it was situated at a height altitude then rest of the city. There's not much to see from the inside, but there are good views outside. We came back to Hotel from Palace after taking heavy lunch for a long rest.


(Leh Palace from a Distance)

(Posing on top of Leh Palace)


(Leh City as seen from Leh Palace)


We all woke up late in the evening and planned to visit Shanti Stupa.The stupa was situated at a very high altitude from Leh City and it took me around 300 steps, 5 small pauses and 2 long halts to reach there. Suddenly Diamox that I also took in the morning does not seem to be much useful and I became conscious of the thin air in this high altitude much more than ever before. But the pain that we went through for reaching this point was completely worth. The view from Shanti Stupa of Leh city was simply amazing. Shanti Stupa itself is an admirable structure, but the panorama of the Indus Valley from its premises, with its green stretch spreading like an oasis in the middle of dry brownish mountain ranges, gives a perspective of the scale of the landscape that accommodates Leh. The stupa looks best at night, when it is beautifully illuminated with glittering lights. We left Shanti Stupa after it was dark and climbing down the stairs from such hight was a perilous task. We walked from Shanti Stupa to Hotel at night as hot weather during day was compensated well by chilled weather at night. In all it was quite an eventfull day and by night we felt as if we have been staying here for quite some time.


(Me n Mulls --Enroute to Shanti Stupa(One of the many halts)--Panaromic Leh Valley behind)

(Shanti Stupa as seen in the Evening)

In next posts I will be covering our trip to various monasteries around Leh town, Nubra Valley including Khardungla Pass Top, Indus River Rafting, Panyong and Tso-moriri Lake!!

Till that time… “Julley”!!