Tibetan women in traditional dress
The road trip to Leh
Chai and dal is always available even in the most isolated locations
Hemis Festival, the crowd waits for the religious event that only takes place every 5years, and for the scroll to unravel that happens only every 12years! Talk about being in the right place at the right time.
Hemis Festival
Young monk
I wonder what lies in the years of these wrinkles, what stories there are to tell? There is something so beautiful and intriguing in the natural aging process.
In the midday sun fully clothed and unmoved by its heat
Cup of tea, cup of Chai
Amidst the prayer flags
Hemis festival
Now that's a chai tent!
The streets of Leh
The flowers amongst the dust
The crew at the start of our 6 day hike through the valleys and mountains, heat and snow
Chai break
Always good banter with the English
What if this was your backyard!?
An isolated walk through the mountains to arrive at hospital homestays along the way for where we could get a basic dal meal, and mattress in a cold house. No shower for a week after walking long days, luckily we had an icy stream to bathe in along the way.
The perfect place to contemplate life, or nothing at all
The homely bathroom
A break with a view. We do this hike once, where as these donkeys and their horsemen do this hike weekly to get supplies between villages
Seriously asked these horsemen if we could pay for their donkeys to take us up the mountain, the altitude made this day a slug!
Cosy homestay room
Home made paneer cheese, hand curned
Mountain yaks wonder why we are in their home
The slow trudge against the altitude and mountain climb was well worth this view at the top, the natural streaks of colour were mesmerising
The crew
Cyndal and I walk in time, happy to be on the other side of the climb
Lunch break
River crossing that we found out we didn't actually have to cross
Barley fields in bloom
The village in the middle of nowhere. It's a long 12 hour hike back into town if you forgot the milk!
Another homestay, fresh and handmade momos for dinner
Chai on the roof of the homestay to take in the amazing view and fresh cold air
By this stage I was definitely missing the ocean, my gills were dry!
The kitchen sink, these ladies doing the washing up
Yes we did! We dared to swim in this glacier mountain top lake and yes it was absolutely ice cold but felt amazing. An icy breath to break the altitude breath.
Together at the right place at the right time, adventure buddies
Too cold outside, its a good thing we got this awesome tent and I travel with Faery tales to read good night stories while it starts to snow outside
To really camp in the middle of nowhere!
We woke up to our tent in the icy snow, worried we might not be able to hike the last day out of there
as we had one more high mountain to pass in conditions we were very much unequipped for
The last day, charlotte hiking in the altitude and snow. We all struggled just to take one step in front of the other but slowly slowly
The otherside of the snow valley, we were blessed with colours so rich and warm!
A lunch break on the valley trail, the mountains actually purple in colour
