Northern India travelogue

Hello guys. Here's a short (well, 26-pages sort of short) travelogue of our 2 month trip to North India in 2005. We had a great time - India is a colorful, beautiful, and extremely tasty place (I just loved the food! Every meal was brilliant). Of course, India can also be a tad noisy, and dirty and smelly. All those long-distance buses can be bothersome, too. But you can also find quiet places and go trekking in the mountains to escape the noisy cities. In short - We loved India! So here we go...

Michal has written a wonderful diary of our trip. It's in Hebrew, and really worth a read if you wanna get a feel on India.

Trip outline

Ladakh [Page 1] - Manali & Hampta Pass trek [Page 5] - Chandra Tal [Page 10] - Dharamshala/McLoad [Page 12] - Pakistan Border, Wagah [Page 13] - Amritzar [Page 14] - Shimla/Rishikesh/Manali [Page 15] - Nagar to Jari trek [Page 17] - Rishikesh [Page 22] - Corbett NP [Page 23] - Nainital [Page 24] - Taj Mahal [Page 25] - Delhi [Page 26]

Landing in Leh

We decided to land directly in Leh, avoiding Delhi (which we were told is a horribly city). Ladakh is located in the Tibetan plateau - so it's really high. The whole area is rather desert like (because the rains stop at the Himalayas). Every village is a little oasis of green fields and small streams. The people are really nice, it's not really India, come to think of it.
Julley Julley..

Leh itself is about 3,500m high... So we had 2 rough days, adjusting to the altitude. We stayed in the Oriental guest house - one of the best guest-houses we had in this trip. Homely and friendly, and with great family cooking each night. Highly recommended!

Walking around the 'city'

After our first two days of doing nothing, except lying in bed and trying to make more red blood cells, we ventured into the city.

We had our first encounter with a Buddhist praying wheel, and with the Israeli influence - we actually got excited by seeing a Hebrew sign (advertising a Fallafel joint in Delhi). Later we found out the Hebrew is the third most written language in India...

Climbing the Shanti Stupa

When we felt strong enough, we climbed the Shanti Stupa. A Stupa is a religious monument (not to be confused with a Gompa which is a Buddhist monastery). The 157 stairs were not easy to climb in that altitude...