Hey you,
The first letter I wrote you in 2024 said I’d walk you through my travels too.
In Oct 2023 I visited Ladakh- Leh and Pangong Tso and Numbra Valley.
From there we drove down to Kashmir.
But for this week's newsletter. I thought of showing you Leh-Ladakh in a few pictures. All that I can upload here.
PS: The flights to Leh from Delhi are cheap during off off-season.
I booked mine in October for 2700 rupees but they make it hard to fly back with funky rates of 15000 to 27000 rupees on certain days.
PPS: You don’t need a permit to see Leh but you need one to visit places like Pangong, Nubra Valley, etc. I will share the details around that and transport etc in my future newsletter.
Now let’s go to Leh- Ladakh!
The flight is 1.30 hours and it’s an amazing site to see waves of snow-capped mountains from your plane window.
PS: The photos don’t do justice to the sights seen by the naked eye.
Speaking of eyes, the sun is piercing.
Please do carry sunglasses, the dummy me didn’t.
The above pic is right out the Leh airport.
No Ola or Uber here only local taxis.
Also, only postpaid Indian SIM cards work in Ladakh
Your own prepaid SIM card will not work in Ladakh.
Mine Didn’t.
The terrain is interesting. Mostly dry brown mountains mixed with snow-capped mountains in the background. With limited or no trees. Since few things grow in such high altitudes.
Certain homes look like windows/bunkers, like the ones you see on the right.
👆 is where I stayed in Leh.
It was a homestay and I had the whole place to myself, certain perks of offseason travel. lol.
The wooden carvings you see around the windows and doors are not only beautiful but also mandatory to have for commercial properties in Leh.
To maintain architectural symmetry and preserve culture.
Speaking of culture, the Ladakh greeting for hello is Julley.
I was in Leh for 4 days. One day extra coz of acclimatization.
I didn’t take that seriously before thinking nothing would happen and I would be able to walk and see everything the day I landed but I was wrong.
I didn’t fall sick or anything but my body felt weak and tired.
I felt like I needed a lot of energy for simple tasks.
But after a good night's sleep, I was all good:)
That said, the direct sunlight on the skin felt wonderful.
It’s sooo warm even when it’s sooo cold.
So much so that I took a sunbath without woolens, still carry the tan lines tho.
But I highly recommend sunbathing. It’s amazing.
This and the next two Pictures are from Tsemo Monastery. It’s a white building at a height visible from the road. I kept pointing to it but it was difficult to reach since no one knew the name
The slight lines you see on the hill down are the path to trek back down to the main market. Best to do that when there is enough natural light.
We were lucky to have hitchhiked the way up and down.
I enjoy this part of traveling, the hitchhiking experiences.
In the city, I am more cautious.
Mountain people are nice, plus I felt gutsier since I had male companionship.
This is the main Leh market and the brown building you see up in the mountain on the left-hand side is the Leh Palace.
It is ridiculous but I missed going inside, in case you take been.
I’d love to hear about it.
The lit-up building right on top on the left-hand side is Tsemo Monastery.
You can see this view from the main Leh Market.
This is another monastery we spotted on a casual walk around Leh.
This a gateway in about out of the main Leh market.
During night time it lights up with different colours.
Overall I really liked Leh. It’s culturally rich with beautiful nature.
The people are kind with clean and warm houses.
Which they often build themselves.
They leave a gap between the house wall and the main living area.
They fill this vacuum with hay, styrofoam, and other waste materials which help keep their homes warm.
People here mostly use solar energy and the standard drink is butter tea.
It’s salty and tasty.
Traditionally in Ladakhi culture, women would get married to a man and his brothers but that practice is now redundant.
I loved talking to my host, she is a knowledgeable lady working in waste management.
She did express how she is not a fan of how Ladakh is getting influenced by city culture.
People don’t wear traditional dresses as often and now greet each other (If at all) with hello instead of Julley.
So the next time you're in Leh don’t forget to say Julley.
Julley is a popular word in Ladakh used to greet, thank, welcome, hello, hi, namaste or even to bid adieu to known or unknown.
They also have an app with the same name.
It comes in handy with basic information and helps with getting your permits too.
That is it for now until next time, Julley:)