Hermit Kingdom

I'm having a quiet day while Bryan goes whitewater rafting down the Zanskar and Indus rivers. The rivers are running wild with icemelt coming from frozen lakes high in Pakistan so I'm sure he'll have an exhilarating ride. I couldn't face 2 hours of being wet and cold although today is positively balmy, almost tshirt weather.
The day we arrived in Ladakh was freezing. Even with 2 layers of merino and my down puffer jacket it was still bone chilling cold. I can see why it's sometimes called the hermit kingdom. The roads in are still closed which leaves just 3 months of summer that they'll possibly be open for the year. Bryan couldn't have his eggs for breakfast this morning because there's no eggs left in town. I do remember seeing lots of chicken trucks stuck at Sonamarg. 
Leh is a friendly town of winding lanes, flat roofed mudbrick houses and barren brown hills dotted with colourful flags and stupas. The usual namaste has been replaced by a cheerful jollay.
I walked up the hilltop to the stupa this morning sharing most of the walk with an Indian woman who seemed to have missed the bus to work. The landscape is beautiful but stark with pockets of green poplars, shimmering snow and a sapphire blue sky. Thankfully the breathlessness of the first couple of days here seems to have gone as the body adjusts to the thin air. With the bizarre landscape it still feels like we've arrived on the moon. Appropriately I spent the afternoon looking at iridescent moonstones for a gift. I think my photo for today has to be sunrise this morning seen from my bedroom window with the full moon still in the right hand corner.

Namaste Sandy

ps The results of the election were announced today. The BJP with Modi at its head won by millions. The locals in Leh are celebrating but I'm not sure if our Muslim friends in Srinigar will be happy. Hoping for a united prosperous India.