Ladakh- Jullay from Mumbai

Ladakh had been a dream destination of mine for a long while. I finally got to make the trip about a month ago.

Ladakh is a serene, beautiful and almost unspoiled region. It is not a place to have wild parties- Leh city shuts at around 9-10 pm and barely any alcohol can be found anywhere. However, it is the perfect place to disconnect from the world and recharge. Phone connectivity is patchy (or non-existent in a lot of areas) and there is no internet on your phone (though some places have wifi).

Ladakh is famous for its trekking and river rafting. We were however recovering from a few hectic weeks (and are by nature lazy travelers) and hence, decided to drive around.

The first thing that you notice when you get out of Leh is that the mountains change colours. I saw pink mountains, orange mountains, green, blue and what we jokingly called tiger stipped hills. You drive along Indus river which was in full flow in August. Yaks graze in fields near the river and you can see some campers here and there.

On the way

The way to Tso Moriri is through the highest civil motorable pass in the world - Khardung La (though the claim is said to be disputes, the locals claim it is the highest pass). I was lucky enough that it snowed a day before I left for Tso Moriri. Making snowballs at 18,000 feet while the wind blows in your face was an unbelievable experience.

Snowballs at 18,000 feet

The lakes

Tso Moriri and Pangong Tso both are beautiful blue lakes surrounded by mountains. Pangong Tso was made famous of "Three Idiots" and hence, tends to be more crowed. Once you move away from the "Three Idiots" spot, you have the lake almost entirely to yourself.

The perfect way to spend an evening at a lake in Ladakh is to take a walk, find a rock and watch the sunset- which is what we did. We also got to watch an impromptu game of cricket at 10,000 feet.

Sunset at Tso Moriri

Pangong Tso

The camels

After having been to Tso Moriri already, I did not find Nubra valley very impressive. The drive itself was beautiful and we saw some pretty monasteries on the way.

However, as soon as I was ready to write-off the trip to Nubra, we saw a small desert with silver sand and the famous double humped camels which are not found anywhere else. A ride on the camel in Nubra valley is substantially expensive compare to a similar ride in Rajasthan, but perhaps the only extraordinary element of this place.

The sangam

A few kms out of Leh is the valley where Indus meets Zanskar river. The valley is beautiful and the distinct colours of the two rivers can be seen very clearly. It is also the hot spot for river rafting.

The sangam

Food and culture 

Ladakhi culture is substantially influenced by the Tibetan culture. While the food has become quite cosmopolitan due to tourism, you can see Tibetan influence in form of butter tea, momos, thukpas etc. Yak cheese and local berries are unique to this region and definitely worth trying.

I was in Ladakh only for ten days and could not see or do everything I wanted to. I don't know when, but I will be back- this time to with a bike to drive off the beaten track.

The days spent in the Blue City- Jodhpur

I recently did a trip of Rajasthan and Jodhpur turned out to be my favourite place. I will write about Jaipur and Jaisalmer some other day, but today is about Jodhpur. 

Old Jodhpur city is all about blue houses, havelis and dusty street. Majority of the houses are still painted blue, streets are narrow and traffic is insane. However, you can see the Mehrangarh fort from the terrace of almost all of these houses. There are of course newer parts of the city which are much better organised and developed. However, we mostly stuck to the old city.

Mehrangarh fort is the biggest attraction in the city and is an absolutely stunning example of Rajputana architecture. Mehrangarh, in the local language, means the "fort of the sun". It was originally built during the time of Rao Jodha, who established the city of Jodhpur after moving his capital from Mandore. Most of the structure that stands now was completed by the time of Maharaja Jaswant Singh of Marwar. It has a number of beautifully built palaces and like all other Rajasthani forts, a separate janana for the queens.

Mehrangarh Fort

Takhat Vilas, Meharangarh fort

The fort museum also holds a collection of artifacts, such as palenquins, armours, cannons and paintings from the Rajputana times. 

Close to the fort is Jaswant Thada, a memorial built for Maharaja Jaswant Singh II. The main memorial building is a beautiful marble structure. Since then, it has serves as the burial group for the rulers of Marwar and has a number of small marble cenotaphs. 

Entrance to Jaswant Thada

Main cenotaph, Jaswant Thada

Mandore, the old capital of Rao Jodha, is not visited much by tourist these days. However, remnants of the old fort are still there. Mandore Garden, a part of the old fort which contains various temple-like structures, built as memorials of Marwar kings. Most of these temples contain to idols and are built of red stones. While the garden looks a little worn-out, Mandore is a trip worth making on any given day. The drive to Mandore itself is beautiful and goes through a protected area. We saw a number of local animals and birds, including peacocks during the drive. 

Mandore Garden

Jodhpur is a brilliant city to shop. Sardar market is a great place to start with. Other than local artifacts and clothing, Jodhpur is famous for its antiques.  

The fun of shopping for antiques is in hunting. There are a number of antique shops in Jodhpur, pretty much one in every corner in and around Sardar market. A number of these shops carry fake but cheap antiques. If you are looking for real antiques, you will need to be very careful while browsing in these shops. Bargaining hard is recommended highly. Alternatively, there are a number of Rajasthan government showrooms in Jodhpur for antiques and artifacts.

Jodhpur is also a great place to eat. All sort of local cuisine can be found in various restaurants here. I would definitely recommend a dinner of Laal Maans (a Rajasthani mutton preparation) and Kair Sangri (a dish of desert beans) at Indique which has a brilliant view of the fort. Rajasthani thali at Gypsy and lunch at Balsamnad at Umaid Bhavan are also quite good.  

The only kill-joy in Jodhpur is public transport. If you do not have your own vehicle, taking taxis or auto-rickshaws to travel around the city can turn out to be expensive (much more expensive than Mumbai). It has nothing to do with the distance but the monopoly of the drivers. We found it easier and more cost efficient to hire a taxi or an auto for the entire day of duration through your hotel.

Enjoy your trip, bargain hard and try not to kill your auto-rickshaw driver.

Solo living/traveling for the first time

I have been recommending living alone or travelling alone to almost everyone for last some time. I learnt, not in an exactly subtle way, that it can change you as a person.

I have not lived at home for more than a decade and a half. I have wandered around the country for this long, first for studies and then for my job. Living away, without your parents, causes you to grow up fast. And yet, I don't think I grew up and understood myself till I landed in firangland (London to be precise) for 4 months in 2014 and realised that I hardly knew a soul there.

I moved to London for a secondment. Before that, wherever I had lived, there was extended family or a structured system of college and hostel or just friends. I had always traveled with friends or family. In London however, I knew some people - old friends that I had not met in years and looked forward to meeting. There was work, well structured system, good mentors and nice colleagues. Again some new, some I knew from before. And there was also a sense of immense loneliness. 

I had left my home, friends and hubby behind and first few days in a new office are always boring. I missed the cats. 

I felt lost for a while, and then slowly, one day at a time, I found myself.   

Since there wasn't always someone to join me, I traveled alone. First I went to the well known places (being an Indian girl and having been taught to tread carefully everywhere) and then I went to the not so well-known. I spent days walking in the parks and colourful markets of London and discovering.

I realised I was not shy.

I learnt that I liked crazy jewelry, food from almost everywhere, wine and cheese and street art. 

I made new friends who knew nothing about old me and never bothered suggesting that I should not do something, or that a thing or act is so unlike me. Without the preconceived notions of who I should be and what I should behave like, I learnt to go with the flow and just whatever pleased me. I lived for myself and learnt to be alone without being lonely.

Beyond that, I learnt to love myself, all over again. Hence, travel alone, live alone, at least once when no once can check on you or suggest that you should not do something or not be somewhere. 

Be new. Live a little again.

How I reached Tawang

This post has been in the making for a long while. I did a road trip to Tawang close to an year ago (in August, 2015) and never got around writing about it.

First off, August is not a great time to visit Arunachal. It pours heavily, making it almost impossible to travel by road. However, I was supposed to go to Dibrugarh for a family function and decided to take a chance. Our luck held and the weather did co-operate for the duration of our trip (heard it started pouring just after we left). 

We set off early morning from Dibrugarh via Tejpur to Tawang. It is almost a 17 hours drive which we decided to break in parts. We did the return journey in one stretch and would not recommend doing it.

The drive takes you through Kaziranga National Park which would make a great stop for at least a couple of days. Though the national park was shut, we had a great time driving along the greenery and even happened to see some one horned Rhinoceroses lazying in the sun. As I said, our luck was holding up!

Rhino spotted!

Entry point from Assam to Arunachal is Bhalukpong where you need to show your inner line permit (ILP) for entry into Arunachal. ILP can be obtained at Arunachal tourism officers in Delhi, Guwahati, Kolkata, Dibrugarh and a couple of other places and gives you access to most of the parts of Arunachal. However, to go to areas which are closer to the China border, you need to get a protected area permit which you can get in Tawang.

We stopped for the day at Bomdilla, a small sleepy town with a beautiful monastery. We stayed the night at the monastery guest house and woke-up to the view of the Himalayas. The monastery itself is quite big and schools a number of monks-in-training. Watching the naughty kids prepare for their exams would never lead you to believe that they would one day become calm and adult monks!

Bomdilla Monstery

We drove from Bomdilla to Tawang the next morning and spent a couple of days in Tawang. On the way, we saw snow-peaked mountains, red rivers and beautiful waterfalls. 

Somewhere along the way

Tawang is a well travelled area and tourist spots are quite well know. You will not want to miss spending time at Sela Pass (the highest motorable road in the world), Tawang monatery, Nuranang waterfalls, Ptso lake, Jaswant Garh war memorial etc. 

Just after Sela Pass

Nuranang waterfall

I will not go into the entire trip and every place we went to, or stopped at, but would suggest a few things in general. 

Arunachal is stunning and a little rough. You do not have places to stay every few KMs, nor are the roads the best. You will need to brave the cold, the fog and sometimes, the rain (braving the rain probably is not the brightest idea, since you know, hills and all). Hence, plan your trip, know that you have to get to a certain town by the nightfall in order to find a place to stay. Amenities are usually limited, but people are great and maggi and momos are plentiful. We stayed at this small place called Dolma cottage in Tawang where we had warm soupy noodles for dinner and woke up to the view of Himalayas. 

Beyond that, be flexible. You don't have to reach that one tourist destination in the next 10 minutes and spend only 30 minutes there. Stop and admire if something catches your attention. Stop and admire because the world hasn't felt this green or this cold in a while. Stop and admire just to remember the feeling of being there.   

I left Tawang close to an year ago, and I am not done admiring it yet.