How to get Lehd

The bus journey from Vashist to Leh was awefilled. It was not only the literal most beautiful drive I've taken in my life, but the most butt breaking and stomach lurching landship ride I've err taken. Leaving at 2:30am to avoid traffic over Rotang Pass we were lucky that it was open. The pass is open only a few months out of the year and again closes for a few days often. When the snow is most melted and the path clear we took our leave. Trying a one day bus ride, there's the option to do it in two days to help with acclimatizing seeing as you get to such high altitudes. Understanding that landslides, avalanches, large stones, and any form of road block can add hours and days to the journey from Minali to Leh, but the gods were good to us, and we only had a 19 hour journey. But a Journey full of Barf. Now, I never get motion sickness, the only time before was an upset stomach on the road to Pai Thailand from Chaing Mai. (for anyone having taking this road you'll understand why) And this journey, worse. The mini bus not only turned as often as it went straight, but there was a constant side to side rock for 19 hours, like a boat. Up and down mountains and a second pass that reaches 5000 meters, the bus was full up queezy faces and high altitude breathing. No vomit came from me. But Lina wasn't quite so lucky. Barfing as often as not, the ride for her was hardcore. And the humorous highlight for me was when pour Lina's vomit didn't make the bag, but the the two necks of the pour men in the seat in front of us, a really funny tragedy. Having not slept in 30 hours and all you want to do is stare slack jawed at the scenery passing you by. Keeping your eyes open was a challenge. Waaa you'd be staring at great green hill spotted with white boulders struggling to keep both your stomach inside and your eyes open only to wake up some time later to a view of an ice lake at 4,500 meters again fighting motion sickness and sleep deprivation, to once again wake up in a dessert the resembles Tajikistan more than anything. A crazy dream-like shifting beautifully painful drive of vomit and Indian Himalayas. I felt like I was being beat up by a beautiful woman. And by the end, I could hardly walk with my sore butt. But Leh, the place we arrived at, was worth every beautiful suffering, and it felt like we got what we suffered for. Leh is the biggest town in Ladakh and feels almost as far from Manali where we'd just come from, as home in Idaho. With a feel more middle eastern and Tibetan than Indian. If I were asked I would guess I was in Pakistan or Tibet. Flat clay roofed homes of beige white slabs, dust, and very little green the desert of Leh is a dry hot dream. Eating all the apricot related food I can, enjoying Leh is far from difficult. Lina, who's goal was to go trekking, finally found her place. The trekking Capitol if India I spent a few days with Lina waking around finding all the possibilities for treks and such. She ended up climbing a peak called Stok Kangri. 6,100 meters alone with a climbing guide we'd met not In a travel agency, but on the street. Himal is his name, and at 56 he's a climbing legend. Having climbed more peaks than he can remember, the humble Nepali climber climbed Stoo Kangri 99 times before, Lina couldn't ask for better. So Himal, Lina and I spent some days getting her warm cloths and all the equipment she needed, and Lina and Himal left for peak climbing, while I stayed in Leh. 38 days trekking on the trip already, and wanting to save money made the decision for me. As well as a few days later, Catherine, an old friend from my last trip in South East Asia, was coming to Leh! After a few days by myself eating figs and apricots and exploring dark rooms and old windows in an ancient palace and castle from old Ladakh. Catherine was flying in. Ecstatic to see her again I went and picked her up at the tight security airport of Leh. And spent some days catching up and talking about Burma and having the grandest time. Walking down the road I saw from a distant someone wearing a shirt with Idaho on it. Whoa. And closer seeing it was a Board Bin shirt. Whoa. And even closer seeing it was Lexi Dupont. Whoa!! Even in one of the more difficult places to reach in India, you can still find Sun Valley. Juniors from Wood River volunteering in Ladakh. Awesome.

Into the Palace