and ... finally, leh

the final leg of my trip consisted of a week in the foothills of the himalays, in a tiny town called leh which is located in kashmir. to get there, we had to take another overnight train to delhi, where we hopped on a plane for the 1.5 hour flight up to leh. the train to delhi is typically like a 16 hour ride. the areas surrounding delhi were getting a lot of rain (monsoon season is just starting), so a couple times the train had to stop until the weather cleared. it turned into a 20 hour or so ride. by the time we arrived, we were starving, tired, grouchy (me), and in desperate need of showers and a proper, clean toilet! luckily i have friends there, and just as luckily they were home and seemed happy to accommodate us for the 10 hours until our flight. (memorable moment from that night ... i ate brains. some sort of animal brains. and i'm absolutely certain i'll never do it again.)

leh is almost the polar opposite of everywhere else in india i've been ... in pretty much every way. first off, it was COLD. secondly, it was clean (and beautiful)! third, the people there seem to care very little about making a quick buck, and instead are friendly, smiley, welcoming, gracious, and absolutely wonderful. they've got rosy cheeks and their faces light up when you pass in the streets and everyone merrily says hello and welcome. it was a shock to the system, physically and mentally.

once again we stayed in a guest house. the majority of accommocations in leh are in the form of guest houses. the family who runs each one usually lives in part of the ground floor, and rents out the remaining rooms. typically they'll cook for you and help you with laundy, etc. ours was incredible. we weren't provided with toilet paper or towels or toiletries, but we did have hot water on demand 24 hours a day (a real treat anywhere in india), great breakfast and tea anytime, soft, warm beds in a clean and new home ... for $4 per person per night!!

we did a lot of hiking and reading. the atmosphere is so clean and pure, that we all got sunburns right away. i used lots of sunblock and wore a shawl over my head, but somehow my nose still looked like rudolph's when i got home. ... and the rest of my skin was still white! we toured a monastery in a nearby village, which houses a few hundred monks. we rented mountain bikes and took a jeep up to the highest drivable pass in the world. the guys rode the bikes down the pass... i chickened out and rode in the jeep, which turned out to be an even more interesting experience. our jeep guide has a brother in the indian army who is posted at the top of the pass, meaning he lives there year-round. we gave the guys a 20 minute head start before we followed them down the hill, and i got to spend that time in a tiny army hut, with about 10 army dudes, drinking chai and trying to converse. sadly, they wouldn't let me take any pictures. mostly, they asked me about their english skills and laughed uproariously at my pathetic hindi.

leh was definitely the best part of the trip for me. it was incredibly peaceful and CHILL. no hassling, no overcharging, not a lot of staring, and no shady people. it might have had something to do with the fact that the tourist season hadn't quite kicked off yet. who knows? it was perfect ... and if we were all gonna get food poisoning on this trip (which we did!), this was the best place to do it.