Even when you are out of the aircraft, the temperature and air pressure do not change in Leh. At an average altitude of 16000 ft, you don't expect anything less. It was twenty degrees when I landed at the small airport surrounded from all sides by barren rocky giant of hills. And they say that's the hottest you can get there. Cool!

A twenty four hours time is recommended to tourists to adjust to the thin air that prevails at this exotic place. But I was too excited to wait to explore the city. So when everyone else was busy crashing in the hotel room (mind you, we had an early morning flight for which we had left for the Delhi airport at three in the morning), I, the birthday-boy, took bath and came out in the streets to witness the beauty around. Though the temperature is so low, you wont feel too cold here because of the bright sun shining all through the day. Only when you find some shade, you realize the real temperature. It's quite an experience.


I walked a lot, sight seeeing before I found an old stable which had just one white pony. These two little kids, came to me and asked to take thier snaps. And they were so happy to see themselves in the LCD screen of the camera. Their smile made my day.

The picture above is the view of the barren mountains seen from inside the stable. And here is the white pony for you.


Nothing much happened that first day. Later in the evening, when everyone else got up, energized, we roamed in the nearby Leh Bazaar. We went to some tour and travel outlets to enquire about sigh-seeing and stuffs like that. And then we realized that most of the places worth visiting were far off and the taxi fares were exorbitant. It was kind of discouraging because we were running on low budget. There are good hotels in Leh which are cheap and it's not too difficult to find a budget-restaurant either. In fact we found a dhaba which served us for most of the time we were in the town of Leh. By the way Leh is the biggest district in the Ladakh region, the second biggest being Kargil.

Unable to decide, how to spend the remaining four days, we planned for the next day. Will post that tomorrow! Have a nice time.