|| altitude \\ cold

The past few days in Leh have been perfect. Two days ago we drove south east and visited two monestary, Hemis and Thiksay. Yesterday we went west and down into the Indus River valley, where the Indus and Zanskar meet. The rivers are two completley different colors and the view is absolutely stunning. It compares to the few times I have been to the Grand Canyon.

Thiksay Monestary.

Where the Indus and Zanskar meet. 

 

Since the 22nd we have been above 3000m, about 10k feet. Here in Ladakh the altitude is closer to 3800m, 12,000 feet or so. I love it. I haven't stayed this high since I went camping at about 12,500ft on Colorado with Kevin. The air is very dry, which suits me. I much more like dry than humid. On the first day I had a slight headache, but I drank about 4 liters of water and haven't had an issue since. Will has had a headache the entire trip, we figured his limit is below 3500m, as he did not have an issue in Srinagar, which is about 3000-3100m.

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I love the mountain culture surrounding Ladakh in northern Jammu-Kashmir. Everyone is healthy and very nice. There is very little crime in this area, I think due to the hard nature of everything. To survive the nasty, long winters the town has to often help each other out. The road we are taking tomorrow from Leh to Srinagar (450km, 12 hour fangerous drive) is closed usually starting in mid-November and opens again in April. Even the airport closes for a few weeks at least every winter. Winter is around the corner, with the nights falling below 0c currently. With that comes frozen pipes and frequent power outages...and cold rooms at night without heat. 

The shower only gets lukewarm and I have to say that is the only thing I miss about home so get-warm showers. Not so much the wa water, but being warm when drying off is a big help when it's only 12c out. Shower in the middle of the day when it's warmest so you can go out into the sun and get warm after!

My view as I write this couldn't be better. 

Tomorrow we take the long and dangerous car ride to Srinagar. I'm very excited and will have plenty of footage and pictures from that drive.