The bus ride to Leh took 1 whole day starting at 2am and ending at 930pm. So I slept the first part, not exactly the best kind of sleep cos we stopped halfway due to a jam and so on. But when dawn broke, we could see more scenery and the snow capped mountains along the way. Very nice and travelling along one of the highest highways in the world was cool!
Trip costs about SGD 30 to Leh and SGD 50 back from Leh and the extra is because of some taxes payable on the way back. Stopped quite a few times along the way and surrendered our passports so that they can record
foreigners’ details and track where they are in case we didn’t get to
Leh or anything. So these were good opportunities for rest, pee breaks
and Chai if there was a shop. We also had a late veg chowmien lunch at
around 4pm in a tent pitstop.
The driver vs the road.
Chai break at 6am! REALLY GOOD!
Beautiful sky
snow-capped mountains!
the mulicultural group we were travelling with!
In the bus too was a Japanese lady from Hokkaido, a British lady (Terry) who broke her ligaments a year ago and was going for a trek in Leh. 3 Australians which consisted of a couple (Paul & Serena) who was travelling the world and one girl who was touring India. The back row was taken up by 3 Nepalese who were going to Leh to trek and a big Punjabi Singh (who vomitted through the
window a couple of times just by sticking his head out. Haha.) Took
quite a few photos along the way, caught some sleep from time to time.
But the view was really breathtaking, and travelling at an average
altitude of 2000-3000m was really cool. There were a few prominent
passes that we crossed, such as the Rohtang la pass (3900m) and the
2nd highest pass in the world: Latang la pass at about 5300m. Lonely
planet and other guidebooks say that this is one trip that one should
try to do while in India.
I think this river leads to the Ganges...
Himalayas?? but its damn cool!
2 british girls cycling from Manali to Leh. Amazing...10 days!
This road is about 4000m above sea level...
Nice headband eh? I lost it on the return journey 
So finally reached Leh at about 930pm and we were clueless about where to sleep for the night. Talked to the Nepalese and they tried to help us get a taxi (no auto rickshaws in Leh cos it’s too hilly for tuk tuks). We walked around the guest houses near the bus stand but it all seemed shady and in the end, we
asked if the 3 aussies wanted to share a cab to the city centre for
Rs20 each and soon we found ourselves at the city centre looking for a
place to sleep. Asked around for Atisha Guest House which was
recommended by Stephan and alas they only had a room which Mariana and
I took. The other 3 australians went off to look for a room nearby.
And on the way to the city centre, the driver told us that the Dalai
Lama would be here the following day at 7pm and this sort of got me
excited! I didn’t see him in his hometown at Mcleod Ganj and perhaps I
can see him this time! And it was good to sleep on a proper bed.
Breakfast!
The next day was a Sunday and we woke up to have a nice American breakfast before heading to explore the town. And we saw the Australian couple as we were leaving the eatery/bakery. Plan was to walk around and then catch Dalai Lama at 7pm. Did quite a bit of shopping at the Tibetian refugee markets which was located in small pockets all over the town.
And we found out that Dalai Lama had already arrived in town at 7am!
Omg. So wasted. But it was ok, knowing that he is in the same town as me was good enough! Haha.
Typical Tibetian Market in Leh
The shop where we spent 1 hour
The most ‘exciting’ part of the day was probably the 1hour haggling session at a certain shawl shop. Mariana wanted to buy the hybrid 50% pushmina 50% silk shawl for Rs600 a piece but they guys in the shop wouldn’t let it go at that price and we just ended up talking and they bought chai for us. Interesting long talk we had and in the end, they relented at Rs 700 a piece which Mariana bought 2 instead of the original 3 pieces she wanted. Pretty decent
price I felt, but could have been a little lower cos they were quite
quick into agreeing to our price. But what is done is done, happy with
the buy can already la. Haha.
lunch of pizza and momos
Had pizzas and momos (dumplings) for lunch at 3pm and continued to walk around the shops and asked around for some prices of water rafting which was one of the activities we planned. Prices ranged from Rs1300 to Rs 1600 for the more challenging Zanskar river which will bring us from Chilling to Nimo town in about 3hours in the river. Prices were a little steep we felt but we were still open to changes in the plan. In the evening, went to use Internet and called home via Skype which was very rare cos the
Internet cafe owners removed it as it took up too much bandwidth
according to them. Call home was good, as it was national day, the following monday was a holiday. Talked for 15mins before heading off for dinner.
On the way out of the cafe, Mariana spotted a poster promoting a meditation and chakra singing course on the day after tomorrow and that seemed to help make things fall into place. Cos since 11th morning would be spent doing the course and 12th would be spent at the Women’s Alliance centre, it only left 10th to be spent water rafting. So we quickly went to Tsokar hotel where Mariana used her Internet to ask if the owner used the same agency that I aimed at while we were scouting for prices earlier in the day. And it turned
out that it was! Yeah!! Cos then we didn’t have to make our way down
to the agency itself. Made payment and was excited that we had things
planned out and things were falling in place nicely. Had a huge dinner-
chicken sizzler which consisted of rice, veg and chicken popcorn
pieces on a hot plate. Was nice and good carbo loading for the water
rafting the following day.
Sights around Leh
Day 2 started with packing cos we decided to check out and move to a new place after the rafting. So since there was no point paying for half a day more just to keep the luggage, we just brought everything along. And waited outside Tsokar hotel for the transport to come. It was a jeep and in it were 2 Isrealis. Then we got on and soon after, 3 more Indian guys got on. So I guess that made up our rafting group! The drive to the start point, Chilling, took about an hour but it was good to see another side of Ladakh.
another side of Leh
The Zanskar river- the one we were going to conquer!
The launch point for boats
On reaching, we changed and slapped on sunblock. The 3 Indian guys and I
took turns to inflate the float and the structure of the boat is very
interesting as the sides were 4 individual sections and so were the
inner seats. So I guess if any side was deflated, there would be the
other sides! Our pumping duties were soon taken over by our driver
‘kama’ from Tibet and one guy who I guessed was the assistant at the
launch site cos he was constantly spraying water to cool the boats
down.
In wetsuit and lifejacket!
Got into our wetsuits (I managed to squeeze into a size ‘S’ but could hardly breathe!) and life jackets which were strapped tightly too! The Indian guys were very nice and they helped us take a lot of photos with their Sony prosumer cam. Next came the briefing on rafting and the safety briefing. My raft guide was called Kushal and he looks like a dark Malay la. Haha. His actions also quite Malay probably that’s why got some resemblence. Haha. It was about 11+am I think and we grabbed our sticks and set off! There were 2 new additions to the boat from another vehicle. Martin and his wife from UK. They were like 60+ years old (Martin had a bad knee too) and were definitely living the life since they were doing a sport like water rafting. I wonder
how many couples at this age would do such extreme sports! 
the raft crew
First part was relatively ok, we practiced the commands a little: “forward”,
“back paddle”, “stop”, “left forward right back” and so on.
Played with a little small rapids first as warm up I guess and we were told
to “lock your legs” to get ready for the “Chilling rapid”. It really looked quite fierce from afar and was our first major rapid. We listened to his commands, “forward faster and harder” etc and then suddenly, a huge wave hit the boat on the right side where I was sitting. I saw the person in front of me fall off the seat towards the left and next moment I knew, I was in the water! Things happened so quickly that I only remembered that I hit something pretty hard which was probably the boat. And I was underwater for a while, at least 5
seconds I believe and I just waited to float up while holding on tight
to my paddle. And when I reached the surface, I was quite far away
from the boat and was being swayed around by some of the waves after
the rapid. So since I couldn’t go back I looked around for the safety
kayak and I went towards him, grabbed the back of his kayak and he
paddled (I was told to kick) to the nearest boat which was the one
that had all Indian guys except for 2 caucasians in front. 2 of them
pulled me up from the water. Nice people, and I sat in the centre of
the boat while the guides coordinated my return to my original boat. I
waited a while before the 2 boats joined and I jumped, ok not jump,
but more of slided back into my boat. Haha. Unglam, but who cares.
Safety more impt..haha. Back in the boat, i realised that I had a cut
on my left hand index finger but still had to row.
After a while, I was told to change my back seat with the guy in front and I guess this was the start of more adventure! 
meeting waves head on was
certainly quite fun and coordinating my strokes with the right side
and the people behind me was quite a challenge! But seeing waves come
head and conquering them was quite an exciting part! Took a 15min
break where I tried to warm myself up with the hot stones at the
shore. It was really very cold and I was shivering quite badly.
Zanskar river water is really cold and icy! Rest of the journey after
the break was ok, a huge part was just like admiring the sights
(mountains overlooking the river; very grand) and there was a period
of time where people could swim in the river. A few people jumped in
for a swim. Interesting! I had my own fair share of the swim already
after falling into the river. After a few more encounters with rocks
and rapids, we saw our ending point and we got off to dry ourselves
while the crew packed up the boat.
We survived the Zanskar!
Feeling 'tight', cold, hungry and happy!!
Lunch buffet!
Then they brought us to a guest house nearby for a buffet lunch of rice, daal and vegetable curry where I think I ate about 2bowls of rice. Had hot tea there too! The Indian guys were heading off to Delhi and we said our goodbyes then while the rest of us headed back to town. On the return journey, we stopped by a place called ‘Magnetic hill’ and on this road there is a strong magnetic that can pull a car upslope. Our driver cut off the
engine and the car magically moved upwards. Nice natural phenomena!
wonders of nature.
Magnetic hill... nice phenomenon!
We decided to drop off at Changspa cos that was where the meditation place was held and find a guest house nearby. Before that, we had a snack of Choco banana pie and apple crumble pie!
PIES
Oriental styled room
Walked around and asked for prices and finally settled at Mona Lisa guest house which was near the Elements meditation centre. Room was oriental styled and nice! The owners had a cute small dog that barked non stop whenever it saw us. Settled in, showered and rested for a while after a tiring day in the sun.
Dinner was at a nice al fresco place called World Peace cafe and I had Mexican food- Chilly corncan with rice. Not too bad, just a little spicy that’s all and boy was it filling! During this time, talked about BGRs and learned more about Mariana’s relationships! Haha. It’s nice to be a noob and learn from other people. Very interesting talk to see how other people view love. Haha.
Day 3&4 coming right up!
World peace cafe...Nice place to chill and talk!
