LADAKH PHOTOS
next step the next step
photo dump Ladakh
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two nights left of my six weeks wandering the region
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an astounding place
where i quickly ran out of words for ...
dramatic majestic grand
harsh bleak stark
boulder rock stone scree
sumptuous ebullient verdure verdant green
deep steep plunging
etc
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so i’ll let the photos do the talking
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and Ladakh is really not like India
at all
much more Tibetan
much more like the Upper Mustang Valley in Nepal
or, Tibet, i guess
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enjoy the photos
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and its two nights left of my six months in India
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Kathmandu Saturday
one of my very favourite cities upon this Earth
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in other news
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hitch-hiking has been great in this region
and the best way to get around
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super-easy
no waits over thirty minutes
except the biggest day of the Shia Muslim’s Muharram Festival
when there was zero traffic
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faster than the bus
where there aren’t many buses anyhow
because there aren’t many inhabitants
because this remote area is pretty empty
and it ain’t easy to find out when the bus is
because maybe the folk you ask don’t understand you
or , very possibly, you don’t understand them
... and anyhow i often ain’t been quite sure where i want to end up
and have happily thrown myself upon the winds of chance
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done in your own time
as you have long enough
and don’t mind being stuck on a roadside
with an utterly fabulous striking view
for maybe two minutes, maybe thirty
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safe
EVEN YOUNG LOCAL WOMEN HITCH-HIKE IN THIS REGION
which certainly don’t happen in most of India
where many young women are intimidated by the streets
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cheap
like free
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the best way to meet local folk
me i used to hitch-hike masses
back in my Twenties
and it was a great and rewarding way to meet folk i would never meet in any other way
and it still is
i’ve been crammed in cars full of chatty nuns and monks
while my lifts’ English has tended to be excellent
so i’ve met two doctors, an engineer, a crypto-whizzkid, two teachers, three IT guys, plus a civil servant in the Education Ministry, and another... and more
who have given me more of a sense of, an education about, this region than any other source
where one thing i’ve learnt is...
THEY DON’T LIKE RULE FROM DELHI
they’re a Union Territory not a State
which means rule from down South
and the folks i’ve met want Ladakh to be a State
yet they don’t expect this to happen while the BJP are in power
and the BJP ain’t losing power any time soon
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fun
laughs with the lift
gorgeous roadsides
even when there’s been zero traffic its been an all-surrounding pleasure
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and liberating
it gives a great sense of freedom to throw oneself on the winds of fate
to be governed by a roll of the random dice
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and you get there anyhow
wherever it is
sooner or later
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andnuncomplicated
in Lamaruyu, in Mulbekh, in Kargil, in Brakoo, in Rangdum
you walk out your door and you simply start
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in other news
i’ve introduced that ubiquitous Canadian joke to a few
“here we have two seasons
winter and construction”
and the Ladakhis they like that joke a lot