100 days of travel

Heading from Leh towards Kardungla 21 st April 2017 I awoke to a clear morning and views of the mountains, which rapidly disappeared under cloud. As I was packing up (and doing a bit of blog uploading as wifi was working on my laptop in the morning), Rigu knocks on my door to say that while he said we would leave at 8:30am, it would be better to leave at 8am.   I am bemused at the advance notice.   It was, at that time, about 7:55am. Preparing to put the chains on I complete formalities at the hotel, including a check in form that wanted to know what colour my grandmother painted her toenails on her wedding night (well, almost) and I was offered the front seat in the car to better enjoy the views – good, I was hoping for that and was going to ask if it were not offered. 30 minutes out of town we encountered the snowline and the amount of snow on the road increases gradually as we get higher, as does the amount of snow falling. The first ...

20 th  April 2017 Hemis monastery Awoke to rain!    Just before my wakeup tea – thankfully black tea with sugar provided by way of teabags and hot (ish) water.    Hopefully it started off boiling but the journey from kitchen to my room has it cooled despite the thermos jug. Running hot water is provided in the bathroom only in the mornings and evenings – heated by wood heating – obviously I was showering too early for it to be more than tepid.    Despite the notice forbidding washing of clothes, (conservation of water in this incredibly dry land is essential) I had run the hot water tap into the provided bucket until it became less that outside ambient temperature and decided that good use of that water would be to rinse out socks and undies before using the water to flush the loo.    Shades of failure of water supply to my house in Bhutan. Flagstones in the monastery courtyard: all natural colours in the stone Breakfas...

The western Himalayas from the plane   19 April 2017 Waking to a 2:30am alarm definitely is not my idea of the perfect start to the day.   My concerns that my driver would not be on time were relieved when he was 10 minutes early (even though I was not yet ready). The temperature outside is still very warm – though not the oven-like of the previous afternoon.   Dogs have finally decided that continuous barking is not required. Stok Khangri (6150m) from my hotel room The drive to the airport did have less traffic and was way faster then the trip from the airport 2 days ago but it still had a sufficient number of hair raising moments.   While police were in evidence everywhere – from driving down the wrong side of the road to road checkpoints at several locations, there was none to match that of Monday night’s journey when we were following a covered ute seeming overloaded with young men with legs sticking out the back.   I noted somethi...

The view from the second floor of the White House Hotel 18 April 2017 Magnu-Ka Tilla, the Tibetan Quarter, or the Tibetan Refugee Camp in Delhi , as the gated sign announces it, is the location of White House Hotel, my home for 2 (well, 1.5 actually) nights. Despite the fact that it was established in 1960 and consists of buildings as substantial as one might expect in this part of the world, it is still referred to as a camp, both on the sign and in its official address.   One can only hope that is terminology imposed by the residents, viewing it as temporary, rather than the authorities hoping it might just be transient. Trip advisor suggests that as an area it’s a much gentler introduction to India than other parts of Delhi.   All I can say is that’s a relief.   It is a community of narrow streets, and while bicycles (with or without trailers) and motorbikes are not completely absent, pedestrians are far more numerous in the areas narrow lanes. Stre...

17 April 2017 An early start had me on the 8am flight out of Hobart, which was reasonably uneventful but I was aware of the 75 minute connection time in Melbourne.  I started to hear my name being paged as I got to the international terminal.  No real panic about the plane being ready to leave, they just wanted to ensure my travel documents for India were in order; then I got to sit and wait in the gate lounge. The flight from Melbourne to Singapore was OK, 2 and a half movies occupied some of the time.  Lion is definitely a bit of a tear jerker and Florence Foster Jenkins was OK.  Passengers provided some light entertainment. There was a delightful moment when, after a visit to the toilet, I was attempting a few stretches in the galley space, and a gentleman decided I needed some tai chi lessons. A 40 minute connection time in Singapore was cut a little short by a slightly late arrival but the arrival and departure gates being relati...