The Spirit of Ladakh.. A trip among the highest mountain tops of India

The Spirit of Ladakh
A journey through the high peaks of Ladakh .. in close contact with Tibetan Buddhism .. a dream come true ..

 

The Spirit of Ladakh

Finally the time has come ...

We meet at 6.00 in Borgo San Dalmazzo .. we are a nice group of 5 friends: me, my brother Robert, my colleague Simon and the two girls and Deborah Alice .. backpacks are filled with beautiful and ready .. the adventure begins!

The flight of Qatar is the 11:55 from London Heathrow to Doha, arrived in Doha at 3:00 and change planes on May 29 are in India! (Compared to Italy there are 3,5 hours more).

Landed in India, the wait is for the luggage .. We put a little 'coming, but luckily there's all! after a quick exchange of notes at the airport first (with 1 € take 56Rupie) Kingfisher leads a bus to the airport for domestic flights, a race to the check- to send your luggage in at 6.00 and does the flight to Leh!

The Delhi-Leh route takes about 1 hour, 20 and the view of the high Himalayan mountains is nothing short of extraordinary!

At 7:20 am on May 29 will land at the highest in the world .. Leh!

Leh is the capital of the district of Leh and the Ladakh division, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir ... Leh has 27,000 inhabitants and is at an altitude of 3486mt!

After almost 24 hours of travel we arrived tired but happy to be in Ladakh .. the altitude gets a little 'feel.

Arriving at the airport baggage claim and a prepaid taxi (Rs 160) brings us to the guesthouse recommended by Lonely Planet legendary .. Glacier View!

The guesthouse will prove a good choice .. RS400 daily double, private bathroom and hot water is run by a friendly, welcoming Tibetan family .. I recommend it highly!

We spend the morning shooting a bit 'to Leh .. suddenly the weather changes from snow to sunshine in the blink of an eye .. incredible.

The bitter surprise is that cell phones do not work in Ladakh, but there are good internet point (on average are paid 80Rs per hour).

After a good dinner at one of the many terraces of Leh, we allow ourselves a well deserved rest.

For dinner, we choose the Summer Harvest which will prove one of the best restaurants in Leh, where the cost is very low (on average are paid 150Rs per person).

At 22:45 it's back to the Guesthouse .. deserved rest.

Excellent breakfast in a cafe with cake with cinnamon or chocolate (RS35 for a huge slice of cake!).

Although the guides recommended 2 days of rest before tackling the demanding journey, since we are all well, we decided to visit the Shanti Stupa .. quite a challenging course that brings us, however, to have a wonderful view over the valley.

The other good afternoon walk to the Leh Palace and Namgyal Gompa Tsemo .. beautiful view of Leh.

In the evening went to eat at the Tibetan Restaurant (RS800 in 5) .. eating well even when the room is not very good.

For the day for today we decided to rent bikes!

Take 2 wasps and a honda 125 and a mythical Enfield .. the cost for the whole day is really very low cost RS400 wasps per day, the Honda RS500 Rs600 125 and the Enfield!

Ready to go .. visit with the bikes in the order of Shey Gompa, and finally to Thiksey to Hemis. (Describe every Gompa in specific posts in the next few days) ..

Dinner at the Summer Harvest (Rs 650 in 5).

Given the excellent choice of hours to visit with the bikes, now reply!

Visit the Gompa Gompa Takthok Chemrey and Shakti ...

Come back after a strong wind slowed us down a lot of pace ...

Renting bikes is a very good thing .. you just have to consider that you can even break! Well .. that happened to us today is the start of the Honda 125 had a flat tire Debora .. (Luckily we were at Leh) .. halfway, exactly in Karu, my Vespa has broken the throttle .. (The guy who called to Leh in the space of 45 minutes took me another bike .. a nice new Honda!) .. but there's more! When there were about 5 km from Leh was the turn of Enfield Simone .. stopped and there was more to get it again! Luckily we were almost in Leh! Today we were very lucky .. but now joined in the spirit you have to take everything with Indian philosophy and, above all, and maybe no problem!

Given the time a little 'uncertain today we decided to take a car with a driver who took us to Rs1900 visit the Gompa Likir and to Alchi .. Fortunately, however, then the time has come back very nice .. and the visit of two Gompa was very beautiful ...

For lunch we ate near the Alchi gompa .. a very nice outdoor restaurant with great food!

Come back the next day we arranged with a local agency .. We do lead to Tsomoriri Lake (2 days-1night) and Nubra Valley (3 days-2 nights) .. The agreed price was Rs14000 (including the inner line - permission required).

Departure at 8 for Lake Tso-die.. it takes about seven hours by car to reach it.. but worth it! (Also with regard to the Tsomoriri describe it later..).

Rs600 per night stayed at Lake View Guesthouse.. accommodation basic, but apart from the tented camps, there is no other choice! however in this guesthouse you eat very well!

Afternoon to wander around the lake.. and visit the beautiful Gompa.

8.00 am we leave! At night the temperature dropped well below 0 ° .. but with a couple of blankets as we were in the warm period also saw the "low season", we were the only visitors to the lake .. a good thing, because in July-August this place is taken by storm and you have to book well in advance ..

On the way back we did the 2nd step paved the highest in the world .. the Taglung-La (5328mt) .. on the road between Manali-Leh (still closed for snow).

Organized a good day to visit with car + driver (rs 1300) Gompa, the following:

-Stakna, Matho, Stok, Spituk

Today it's off to the Nubra Valley! In the morning, unfortunately it was closed Kardung - La .. broken down to 17 .. about 1:45 a.m. and arrived at the world's highest paved pass .. the legendary Kardung - The pass 5600mt! the weather was very nice and beautiful view!

At about 22 arrived in Diskit .. stayed at the guesthouse "Sand Dune" (Rs 500 double).

After breakfast we left for Hunder where there are still the legendary Bactrian camels .. here in fact passed a branch of the legendary Silk Road .. You can find both in the wild camels in captivity ..

Back in Diskit to approve the Diskit Gompa and the imposing statue of Chamba (Maitreya).

Continued in the Nubra Valley to Sumur (the guesthouse where we will sleep tonight "Namgail" Rs 600 per night double) and visited the Gompa Samstemling continued until Panamik where there are hot springs spa. Among Panamik Sumur and, after a walk you can arrive at a beautiful mountain lake.

After breakfast we left the guesthouse to Leh .. remade Kardung - La and stuck for a couple of hours because it was snowing .. luckily it was reopened at 13.30 to 15.30 and so we were in Leh.

For dinner, try the Little Italy Restaurant .. discreet eat but very dirty .. Not recommended.

Wake up at 5 .. why at 5:30 is a taxi that will take us to attend the puja of the Monastery of 6 Tiksey .. miss .. very impressive.

In the afternoon went to visit a lek of Sankar Gompa .. but does not open until 17 ..

Dinner at our favorite restaurant .. the Summer Harvest.

Today is the day of departure for Alice and Deborah .. excellent traveling companions ..

At 6 later accompanied them to the airport, we went to Lamayuru, where there will be a two-day festival ..

From Leh to Lamayuru it takes about 3 hours by car .. some parts of the road are particularly striking. A Lamayuru've eaten and the Dragon Guesthouse (Rs 600 per night) .. basic rooms without bathroom ..

Lamayuru Day to see the beautiful Festival

Departing from Lamayuru in the morning and the road to Leh stopped to visit the Gompa and Chanraszing to Rizong.

Return to Leh in the afternoon

Today day visit to Leh .. and the first purchases ..

7.00 am Departure for Pangong Lake .. unfortunately 10km from the summit of Chang - The (5298mt), a heavy snowfall prevented us from continuing .. Unfortunately, we return to Leh ... sob ..

After a great breakfast Simone and I we took a taxi and went to visit Chamba Basgo Gompa and the beautiful Sar - Zung Temple situated inside the Gompa.

Afternoon at Leh ..

In the evening, at midnight, and I went to the Summer Harvest Roby who has kept open just for us to see the first game of Italy in the World Cup in South Africa ..

Leh and the last day for photo gifts .. Tomorrow we leave.

Il nostro programma era ripartire dal Ladakh in auto e percorrere la Leh - Manali per poi arrivare a Delhi (in tutto calcolando 4 giorni).. purtroppo quest'anno gli alti passi sono ancora tutti chiusi a causa delle copiose nevicate.. è stato quindi obbligatorio ritornare a Delhi per via aerea.

L'aereo per Delhi della Kingfisher è partito puntuale alle 8.. alle 9:30 eravamo già nella torrida Delhi (30 gradi di differenza da Leh!!).

Pomeriggio in giro per Delhi.. pernottato nella Old Delhi in Main Bazar.. (Rs 300 la doppia).

At 2.00 a taxi took us back to the airport .. a flight of Qatar, with a stopover in Doha and change, take us back in Italy .. we are in Milan at 13.30 ..

A very nice trip where the beautiful scenery of the high Himalayan peaks is the setting for places always dreamed .. for any information you can contact me at email: India (@) enricoguala.it

A big thank you to all participants of this trip "Spirit of Ladakh" ..