Time has gone by very quickly since I arrived in India. 3 months have almost passed already. Other than a day in Delhi my whole stay has been in Ladakh. Why have I stayed in Ladakh so long? I can't give a straight forward answer to that. I'm just not in a hurry to move on. I've been able to settle in with a Ladakhi family who have been extremely hospitable and the landscape here never gets dull to look at. I came before the tourist season began, and don't plan to leave until the tourist season ends. It was a different atmosphere when I first arrived. People weren't as pushy and desperate to make money. The Kashmiris also had not moved into town yet. I have nothing personal against the Kashmiris, many of them just have a personality disorder that is hard to see past. They are experts at selling all kinds of crap, but full of crap when it comes to sincerity.
My stay in Ladakh has been a bit strange to me. The last time I stayed for 3 months in a single place was when I volunteered in Kathmandu. There were many times that I wished I had been doing something more productive with my time like volunteering, studying the local language, being involved with anything. I don't regret the way I spent my time here, but look back at it and wonder what I've been doing. I've done lots of site seeing and other tourist activities, but these sort of things are becoming more empty to me the more I engage in them.
The past 3 months here have been a learning experience. The Ladakhi people who have not been changed by the Western invasion are great teachers. Their way of life and overall contentedness are great examples to try and emulate. A happy life is so difficult to find in the west. A life that is unconditionally happy that is. For many people here life is good and bad and there is no reason to be unhappy either way. Its just the way it is. I think this type of attitude is quickly fading here due to the rise in western influence, so I'm glad I got to see a diluted version of it before it is gone for good.
I'll be moving on soon. Not positive where yet. My attitude towards travelling is changing. I just don't think I fit the mold of a traditional backpacker or tourist. I like to get involved with a culture. Work with it if I can. This isn't possible while moving from place to place, taking photos, staying a night or two, then moving on to the next must see spot. There is nothing I must see. I'm not positive what I want to see either. There is still a part of me pulling me to jump on the tourist bandwagon and "see the world", but I don't want to see it this way. I hope this doesn't sound melancholy or down, because that's not how I feel at all. I'm happy to start understanding myself more even if it means limiting my travel experience. There is nothing for me to discover or seek in any certain place.
So what have I been up to recently? A couple of weeks ago I went to the Nubra Valley which is in the Northeastern most part of India on the border of Pakistan. A permit from the government is required to travel there since the Indo-Pak border is not the most stable place on earth. Travel within the valley is also limited to 5 different villages all within about 40 km of one another. I only made it to two of these villages since I was never able to figure out the local bus system. Sometimes I would get the time right, then after an hour or so of waiting would find out that I got the location wrong. After a couple of failed attempts, I decided to rely on my feet for travel. The main village is called Diskit and just 7 km through a beautiful desert is another village called Hunder. The sand dunes in the desert were a strange sight situated between the Himalaya mountains. There were even some camels. This valley used to be part of the old silk route so I guess these camels came down from Central Asia. They have two humps instead of one like the other camels they have here in India. There were two westerners there at the same time as me that bought some camels to trek through India. They were filming a documentary for the local tourist office. I won't be in the film, so you don't have to worry about checking it out.
The Nubra Valley is much different than the Indus Valley where I've been spending much of my time. There is much more greenery in Nubra and many more flowers. The villages are small and peaceful streams wind there way along the local streets. Most of the people are buddhist, but there is also a large muslim population. I spent some time with a local muslim boy who told me about the very few differences between the muslims and buddhists here. The culture, clothing, houses, and language are all the same. A major distinction is not evident. At least to the extent of my knowledge, they live together, completely accepting and tolerant of eachothers differences.
Like the rest of Ladakh there are plenty of Buddhist monasteries and old monuments to explore and wander around. On occasion the Dalai Lama will visit the valley and the local buddist population has built a large home for him to stay in. I got to look around his bedroom and bathroom which had been left just as he left them when he last came. Nothing particularly significant.
I had some more troubles with the bus service trying to leave the Nubra Valley. Everyone actually had troubles this day because the bus that was supposed to come never came because it was rerouted to support a large amount of locals travelling to the village of Tuk-Tok near the border where the Dalai Lama was going to fly in by helicopter for a few hours. Since no bus came I just started walking and hoped for the best. It eventually came. After a few km of walking and some hitchiking I made it to the main truck stop. I spent 7 hours here before I was able to get a ride. I probably could have jumped on something earlier, but I lack the aggresiveness that other people had in getting a lift. I also had no real reason to hurry. I spent the day eating local foods and watching small children dance to Ladakhi songs. A Korean man named Sin was also waiting and we kept eachother company with simple but pleasant conversation. I made friends with a local Nepali man and his family and he offered to let me stay with him if I never got a ride. I enjoyed my seven hours at the smelly truck stop.
By 5 O'clock most of the people that were waiting had either gotten a ride or given up trying. This is when my golden opportunity arrived in the form of a large cargo truck in which I got to stand up in the back all the way up the pass until the weather got too cold. It was fantastic standing in that truck. I could have sat since there were only a few other people in the back with me, but standing was much more fun. The truck rocking back and forth and the wind in my face. The himalaya mountains on both sides of me. Changing scenery. A great way to travel to the highest motorable roadway in the world called the Khardung La Pass. It goes up to about 18,330 ft. Or something like that. When the weather got too cold, an Israeli and I (the only passengers left) crammed into the cab of the truck with the drivers. We made it back to Leh around 8PM.
Sorry, but my energy has been completely drained. I'm going to be staying in a local meditation centre for the next 10 days or so, so you will have to wait to here about the Ladakh Festival and the Dalai Lama's 3 days of teachings I attended recently. I hope the wait doesn't kill any of you.
Thanks for reading.
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