Buddha's Birthday

Rousol, the jovial boss of the houseboat in Srinagar managed to get us tickets on the once weekly flight to Leh. Don't ask me how. We'd looked and everything,  even via Delhi,was fully booked but it seems that in India anything is possible.
Getting through Srinagar airport wasn't as easy. 7 security checks including 2 pat down body searches. They turned Brian back at the last gate because all electronic equipment had to be separately signed off and his camera had been missed. They let him on eventually and then it was a short but stunning flight over the frozen Zanskar mountain range into the moonscape of Leh. Ladakh is a high altitude desert and with only a few centimeters of rain a year it is very dry, very stark and almost out of this world with its brown crumbling cliffs in shades of amber, ochre, tan and dun. Once again everything changes in India. The mountains are closer and colder. The people are of Tibetan origin, swarthy and darker from the harsh environment. Now Buddhism holds sway with monasteries, gompas and fluttering prayer flags adorning the hilltops.
Our arrival coincides with the day of celebration for Buddha's birthday,death and enlightenment so we join the melee to watch the cultural performances and procession at the local polo ground. Monks carrying sacred texts and thousands of schoolchildren wind their way down the hill from the overlooking Tsemo gompa to the celebration. From afar it looks like lines of ants scurrying off on some important task. Once everyone is assembled there is lots of singing, dancing and speeches. Very colorful.
The climate is tough here. When the sun is shining its warm but at other times it can be very very cold. It's very dry and doesn't take long for the skin to crack like a old prune although I found some delicious apricot oil which is the favoured local remedy. And we are at 3500m so it's take it easy for a couple of days to acclimatize. I'm doing well. I got a little breathless climbing up to the palace today but even Bryan got dizzy. I told him to put his running shoes on and do some high altitude training. He is so excited to be here. For me trekking the Annapurnas was something I've always wanted to do. For him Ladakh or Little Tibet was the place he's dreamed of visiting with its remoteness and Tibetan and Buddhist culture still intact.It certainly has a raw untouched beauty and a fascinating culture and history. Desolate deserts, green valleys, apricot trees, soaring snow capped mountains, gompas and monks. I think we'll find enough to do here at the end of India in the lap of the himalayas.

Namaste Sandy