About 15 minutes into the flight from sweltering Delhi we were over snow capped mountains. Just over an hour later we landed in Northern Ladakh, which borders China, Tibet and Pakistan. Leh is at over 3,500 metres and as we were flying straight there we took Diamox to avoid altitude sickness and luckily only experienced tingly hands and feet!
After acclimatising for a day and soaking up the amazing views, we explored the old town with the help of a very knowledgeable guide and were shown the excellent conservation work going on.
On our final full day, we hired a jeep (and driver!) and spent the day visiting local monasteries and palaces. Leh experiences a very tough climatic environment as for 8 months of the year the ground is frozen solid and there is heavy snow. For us this was hard to believe as we walked around in bright sunshine knowing that the snow will arrive in two weeks. But the evenings were very cold.....
PS You will be pleased to know that we have mastered about 10 words in the regional language, including hello, goodbye and thank you. ….you may have guessed that 'Juley' covers them all!
Juley! What a lovely blue sky. Fantastic photos. Lashing rain today and very, very grey.
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