India: Leh-Ladakh

Here we go. Finally a few more videos from India.
This round, just videos from Leh-Ladakh.
Often described as a moon-scape, Leh is the highest altitude desert in the world. The stark and barren landscape is dotted with mud-brick homes that blend into the sand-colored background.

We had some trouble adjusting to the altitude the first day. But that was planned into the trip to some extent. We just went to the hotel and slept for the first couple hours. I've never been to that kind of altitude before, so i didn't really know what to expect. Andreas has, so the side-effects of getting used to 3500 meters were at least somewhat familiar to him. The lower oxygen levels mostly meant I just tired much faster - climbing stairs, carrying bags, generally walking uphill...maybe not even really tired - we were both just a bit breathless. For those first four hours, it felt quite strange, I felt like I had to take an extra breath every view seconds to catch up somehow. Even when we were sleeping, it felt like I had to concentrate on remembering to breathe that extra breath.

The videos here are a mixed bag. We spent a day in Leh proper, and then went driving ...north west along the Indus river towards Pakistan. The following day we continued until we were within 10 kilometers or so of Pakistan (or the "line of control"). At that point, we were not allowed to continue driving. We visited a little village there called Dha, where we saw the descendants of an ancient Aryan tribe - who looked quite different from the Tibetan-heritage-looking people of Leh, both in terms of the facial features and in their traditional clothes.

We visited 3-4 monasteries, beautiful little fortresses of sorts built on hills, with HUGE golden Buddhas inside, that extended from the first story of the monasteries until the 3rd or 4th. Elaborate paintings covered the walls inside, something you'd never guess from the beige wastelands outside.

Leh-Ladakh - view from above, near a Japanese-built shtupa (spelling?)


Leh-Ladakh, walking around town, buddhist prayer ...cylinder (these were everywhere - and people would go up to them and spin them, as we understood, this was an act of prayer)


First night, eating dinner at a rooftop restaurant, Muslim call to prayer in the background.


Inside one of the monasteries



Also from inside one of the monasteries, looking out


Multi-colored mountains


Scary driving on the mountain roads