JULEH from Ladakh

July 16 -18, 2006

JULEH.....thats what we are supposed to say....for hello/bye/thank u/ or anything...I went on this 4 day trip to ladakh....will not say that it was the ideal thing to do as generally everyone says one week is recommended....but believe me it was real fun...especially when it was just three women.Uploaded some of our snaps...i am sure u guys have seen enough pictures of beautiful ladakh...so if u get bored u can see our faces and the many others that we clicked....just to ensure that we add a human touch to our pictures. Needless to say that the landscape was breathtaking...but man the heat was killing...thanks to a friends advice i kept drinking water...and it was fine....the high point of the trip was khardungla pass not only because it is the highest motorable road in the world but also because we met this most amazing army dude....believe me flirting at 13500 ft is a totally different experience.....when u head goes on a tizzy u are not sure whether its the rarefied air or the dude...

we spent each night at a different place...leh/ likhir/nubra/leh (diff hotel)....it was fun...most interesting experience was the homestay we did with this family inlikhir...u will see the pictures...but they actually told us how plantingtrees in theri village has increased oxygen supply and reduced theirheadaches ...Man...and nothing to beat the ladakhi dry toilets....do not want toexplainabout it in depth in a public email...but they were really something....and of course...shopping...how can it not happen when there are three women......lesson learnt.....if u are going to nepal before ladakh..finish your shopping in nepal as everything is ladakh is "made in nepal" so u end up paying three times the cost....and patriotic me went to nepal first,bargained with nepal shopkeepers and then even told them that i will get it cheaper in ladakh....now i know why the were grinning at me...ok another interesting thing about ladakh were these small shops which were run to help tourists with their daily needs like water refills/ buy plastic bottles / rent cloth bags/ get your laundry washed ...it is a great effort to reduce plastic and paper waste in the region...we actually bought only10bottles in the entire trip when we must have drunk ten gallons or something....but only because we kept re-filling....excellent initiative...ok...let me know if u guys want to know anything in particular ...

Check out our photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/gazalphotos/sets/72157594211084692/