Thursday, October 27, 2011

Ice Road Truckers on our trail in India

Watching ugly Americans struggle to drive the same roads (see last post) we've enjoyed traveling for the past month brought up some strange emotions about returning home...  


Monday, October 17, 2011

Leh to Manali

Moving south from Ladakh a 16 hour minibus ride took us from Leh and Manali. Though it's a national highway following a crucial ancient trade route, the road is seriously rough going and quite precarious. Seemingly endless switchbacks took us over three massive passes--Taglangla sports the world's second highest road at 5,330 meters (over 17,000 ft), and Rohtang (which literally means "pile of corpses") is one of the deadliest in the Himalayas. 

The journey was long, cold and at times nerve-wracking but though and through extraordinarily beautiful.      
  
First Light

Boarder crossing check point entering Himachal Pradesh, at 5:30 AM a man in the tent checked our passports.  

Tea Stop



The red tent is an outhouse with a premo view! 

Our no-frills minibus caravan with bald tires, shot suspension, no seat belts and no heaters, plus the same driver does all 16 plus demanding hours--India at its finest.   

 Desolate tent camps sever the ancient route.   

 The scene changed dramatically as we made our way into Himachal Pradesh. 

Monday, October 10, 2011

Thiksey, Ladakh


The government bus from Leh delivered us to a dusty intersection with the highway maps market as Thiksey—a non-defined town center in a decentralized patchwork of small farms. But it’s not the town that’s the draw.  We stood at the toe of a massive Buddhist monastery whose whitewashed walls climbed a steep rocky rise, elevating the complex above the Indus River Valley giving it a presence of immense grandeur against the landscape.


Hundreds of stairs found us on the shoulder of the knoll, out of breath, at the monastery’s guest quarters where we spent two nights.



Thiksey Monastery
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Looking down on the Indus Valley



Chanting Hall



Stupa Stupa Stupa


Off the backside of the monastery. 


Walking the Valley

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Wheat Harvest


Yak!

Seabuck Berries


So many stupas!

The Druk White Lotus School in the neighboring town of Shey, an internationally recognized example of ecological architecture. 

The buildings use locally sourced materials and passive heating/cooling design.  


The buildings respect and blend well with the larger landscape. 

The unique composting toliets are one of the school's most famous features--the black wall heats up in the sun to create a thermal loop of air to vent any undesirable scent and keep the decomposition aerobic. 

To learn more about the project check out:
or


Thursday, October 6, 2011

Leh, Ladakh

At 11,562 feet above sea level, we spent the first few days in Ladakhi capital of Leh moving slow. The altitude had us out of breath and head spun even after a short walk. The high desert region bordering the east side of Tibet is spectacular both scenically and culturally--as we climatized it was easy to settle in and hard to leave.      

Leh is an oasis in a moonscape.
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Apple Season


The classic HK Ambassador. 

Walking the allies of town you can help but meet the locals. 

A student environmental rally down Main St. 



The view from our room over the wheat fields.
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Harvest 

 The monastery perched above town.
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