day 45 - trip diaries... Contd....

Oh i've been to Heaven .... And back... :)
Ladakh is one place which everyone must visit at least once ... The landscape is postcard- picture-perfect! - pristine, demure, breathtaking and at the same time magnificient n awe-inspiring ...
The people (ladakhis) are also very nice n sweet folks... Imagine what they go thru at a place where winter temps go down to minus 30!!! N all u get to eat in winter is potatoes n dals (if u r vegetarian - which most of them are, being Buddhists ) ... Schools are shut for 3-4 winter months (nov to feb) ... some kids are sent away by parents to boarding schools in delhi n dehradun... all this I knew before I touched down at leh airport... Courtesy a pretty ladakhi
Teenaged girl named Rinchen (ladakhi name means princess) who was sitting next to me on the flight!
She also wrote down a few Buddhist chants for me....which was really sweet! We exchanged email ids ... She's not on orkut or fb! ... And also invited me to stay over at her place ... (not possible, this time around!)

Coming back to d landscape, there was this inexplicable feeling of Wow which comes to u when u walk out of leh airport and breathe d freshly baked air! like a fren of mine who visited the place last year (or last-to-last yr) says - ' one could never think bare rocky mountains could be so beautiful!' ....
I so so much agreeee! There are layers and layers of chocolate chip n vanilla (some mixed, some pure choc, n mountain ranges all around u... Each mountain looks different from d other...
Each tries to outdo the others in enamouring d beholder... !
But these gigantic mountains can also have a dangerous side - landslides are not new in this geography... the treacherous weather is not helpful either!
And who knows this better than d brave Indian Army!
Pls salute them while u're reading this...
Right from leh, all above, u see only army camps all d way - providing tourists with refreshment and restroom facilities....
And they brave d rough n ruthless weather at altitudes ranging from 11800 feet - Leh, to 18000 plus feet (khardungla pass)... Kudos to these guys!!!!

the trip was over in a tizzzy ... :) time flew... N so did we... Back from heaven to our respective cities.... :) but trust me d scents, d picture of this stupendous place stays with u...even after u're back to d hustle n bustle of mundane life !!!