Nubra Valley, high and north

We signed up for a 3-day jeep trek to the Nubra Valley. Joining us were an English couple, Margarita & Jim, and three Irish newly-minted doctors. What a wonderful group!
Our two vehicles drove over the Khardung-La, the Highest Motorable Road In The World, as the many signs announce. Yes indeed, 18000 feet is high and literally breathtaking. Of course, Chris and I had to clamber up the rocks to get even higher -- that's when I really noticed the breathlessness of the altitude!
And it started snowing! By the time we left, an inch of snow was on the ground, and our lowland gringos wearing flipflops and shorts were quite uncomfortable!

The road on either side of the pass, above 17000 feet, is a constant shifting landslide. Army crews are out every day to repair the nightly damage from rockfall and new streams of water. But this is the only road connection to Nubra Valley. Amazing.
The valley is mostly at 3500 meter altitude, and has several oases with long-established (since 1400s) monsteries. We visited two big monsteries, Diskit and Samstemling, where the Dalai Lama was due to visit later in the year.

The remoteness and peacefulness of the landscape is so remarkable. Our last night was at a Ladakhi farmhouse, with really fresh-picked vegetables for dinner and breakfast. The host even got us some locally-brewed wheat-beer (tastes fresh, but not exactly delicious). As we arrived, some army trucks drove by, announcing via loudspeakers about a band-concert to be held in the community center that evening. We walked uphill later, paid our 30 rupees entrance fee, and joined the entire community -- about 250 people -- in a dirt courtyard, watching a rock band lit by two 100-watt bulbs, playing a mix of bollywood and english rock songs, with an occasional Ladakhi song. Several little boys climbed onto the stage and started danging around, to the amusement of all. The band was part of the local militia group, the Ladakh Rangers.
Then, back over the pass -- this time the sky was clear -- and down down down to 3500 meter level of Leh.

Leh and environs

"This is not India!" Chris exclaims several times as we walk the dusty streets of Leh, capital of the Ladakh autonomous region of the state of Jammu & Kashmir. Culturally and geographically, Leh is closer to Tibet (Buddhist) than to either Jammu (Hindu) or Kashmir (Muslim). The Indian Army is prominently present, though evidently benign. The Army is responsible for road and air connections to the rest of the country.
The region is extremely arid -- it is the only part of India untouched by monsoon rains. So the brown and gray desert coloring is predominant, except for the occasional oasis burst of green.
This is also a popular tourist destination -- we saw more Europeans here than anywhere else in India.
We walked around town, climbed up to the old fortress and monastery, wheezed in the altitude -- 3500 meters! Chris wanted to trek up to Mt. Stok Kangri, at 5900 meters; after several days of seeking a group, I finally nixed the idea, worried about the high altitude. Instead, we rented a motorcycle for a day and drove out west through the truly barren moonscape. Another day we took a rafting trip down the very swift and cold Zanskar River -- I say cold, because we flipped over, and spent the next hour shivering!
But it is certainly worth the effort to get here, and stay here, for a unique and memorable locale.

Delhi at Midnight, on to Leh

Long delays on the Mahananda Express, from Hasimara to Delhi. During an unexplained 3-hour stop in a town, we got a close-up view of village life: drying rice, washing clothes, drawing water from a community well, shooing away the goats, boiling teapots, chatting with neighbors, all within inches of the railroad tracks.
36 boring hours later, we arrived at Old Delhi Station, at midnight. Our connecting train had departed already, so we got a (partial) refund on that ticket. We had planned to train up to Chandigarh, then get a busride up to Leh: three days long. We already held a plane ticket returning us to Delhi on the 19th. We were dreading yet more long hours in a vehicle...

I called AirDeccan: "Yes sir, we have tickets to Leh, departing at 5am".
We booked 2 beds in the Retiring Room -- a cavernous room in the station with about twenty cots and a few men sleeping. Room temperature there equaled body temperature -- several ceiling fans made it almost bearable. But it was remarkably clean.

Three hours later, we grabbed a taxi to the airport, purchased 2 tickets (oh, the price now is a bit higher...), walked through security (they confiscated my favorite Swiss Army Knife) and boarded the half-empty plane, no problem.
An hour later we landed at The Highest Airport In The World, at 3500meters altitude.

Be careful of the altitude!

Departing Bhutan, Returning to India

After saying goodbye to the California group, we stayed the night at the Pedling Hotel, planning to take the bus to the border -- RainbowTours nicely took me to the bus station very early, but all tickets were sold out! We arranged for a share-taxi: 6 hours in a cramped miniminivan, down to the tropical town of Phuentsoling and the GreenVillE (pronounce the E) Hotel for a last bit of Bhutanese hospitality. The hotel arranged for an Indian taxi to pick us up in the morning and take us across the border to the train station.
The next morning at 6:30, the Bhutanese police were smartly dressed and waiting efficiently at the border crossing, to stamp our passports. No guards on the India side, but we had to get our passports stamped properly, so we trudged down the street to the ramshackle bungalow of India Immigration. The guard on duty was pleasant, and the bungalow was open, but the passport official was "out for a walk". Thirty sweaty minutes later, he strolled in, stamped our documents. The taxi drove quickly to Hasimara, getting us to the station 5 minutes before the train arrived, on time. Whew!
Here is a slideshow of some Bhutan pics [note that lots of pictures are in GooglePhotos, at http://picasaweb.google.com/jotlaptop/200707Bhutan

Trekking in Bhutan

We joined a group of students from Vanguard College and Azusa Pacific University, on a trek in the Phobjikha Valley for three days -- wonderful and physically-fit time! We celebrated July Fourth at a campsite near a babbling brook in a very remote valley in Bhutan. Pack horses carried all our gear, and guides set up the tents and cooked great Bhutanese food: boiled ferns, pork, vegetables, rice. The monsoon weather cooperated, with rain mostly at night. We hiked over 2 mountain passes, over 10000 feet in altitude; yesterday we slipped and slided down a steep muddy path over 3000 feet down to the river, where the bus was waiting to take us back to the capital city. A wonderful cooperative group, led by Rainbow Tours.

Politics in Bhutan

For any student of politics, this is an exciting time to be in Bhutan. The royally-appointed legislature, started in 1953, is now officially dissolved. Government ministers are now stepping down, to form political parties that will present candidates for legislative elections this fall and next spring. So far the Bhutan National Party has already merged with the Bhutan People's United Party, and the BPUP is hoping the All People's Party will consent to merge as well, leaving them to contest the election with the People's Democratic Party. Nobody will admit to any ideological differences between the parties, but it seems that the PDP is more rural-oriented, while the BPUP and APP have their power base in the capital. The parties are explicitly personality-centered at this beginning point.
We met with relatives of my students, who are involved in the process. Our official host, the Minister of Bilateral Affairs Mr. Wangdi, invited us to a luncheon with Bhutan's ambassador to Bangladesh. Ambassador Tsiltrum yesterday resigned his post, in order to head the BPUP! I would have loved to chat more, and eavesdrop on the many conversations!
Earlier today, Mr.Wangdi graciously gave us a tour of the Foreign Ministry, and the legislative assembly hall, stunningly decorated -- this room will be remodeled to become the Lower House in the new regime.

On to Bhutan, Paro, Thimphu

Postings are less frequent now, with slower internet connections available -- that also means that I will have to add photos later, too. We made it across the border, with a few hours of visa delays -- no problems, just lots of time in the sweltering heat of the border town of Phuentsoling. And yes, there is a great contrast between the orderly relatively clean Bhutan side, and the raucous muddy muddle of the Indian side. We immediately encountered a friendly gentleman who assisted us in finding the right building and office to get our passport visa stamped. But then we had a long delay in getting a share-taxi to Paro, and a 6-hour drive through narrow, winding, and steep mountain roads in the dark and rain and construction.
Bhutan's roads in this area are all under construction-- they are racing to complete road-widening projects before 2008, so it's a massive project, bigger than any I have ever seen...and it makes the drive even scarier than usual.

Paro is a wonderful valley and town, quite traditional but also well setup for tourism. We stayed in a humble inn, that was fine except that it locked up tight from 11pm to 8am...that was a problem when we tried getting out for an early taxi ride up to the most prominent tourist site: the Tiger's Nest Monastery.
We made it out, and up the road, and up and up and up the trail for stunning views of a stunning monastery (pictures to come). We made it back in the afternoon and caught a share-taxi to the capital city of Thimphu, again through a 100km road construction zone.

Thimphu is lively, vibrant, much more cosmopolitan than Paro -- maybe half the people here wear national dress. We met with students and parents and relatives and politicians -- more on the Bhutan political scene in a later posting.

Chris just came down with a stomach bug, which has quieted our activities today -- fortunately, visiting a student's house was helpful: he caught a nap, and had some home-made tea remedy....that, and some Cipro, is making him feel better already!
He needs to get all better tomorrow, so that we can depart for our trek on Tuesday morning in good health!