For my graduation/ birthday present, I headed off to Northern India to discover a world I had never seen before. The trip was led by two famous photographers: Ami Vitale (http://www.amivitale.com/) and Lana Slezic (http://www.lanaslezic.com/). Before I embarked on my journey, my group leader sent an information packet which told us to follow his magical formula:
" Take a deep breath of the fresh mountain air, then another, and another. Close your eyes and gently start to push all thoughts of 'real life' from your mind. Thoughts of work left undone, items forgotten at home, worries about the altitude, all slowly leaving you. Take another deep breath and go inside and look at the tremendous beauty that surrounds you. It is time indeed, to let loose your mind, and let the Himalayas engulf you with their magical peace. "
And with his words, I did exactly that. I tried to totally immerse myself in the Ladakh/Baltistan culture so that I could listen to people's stories and eventually share them with the rest of you. We spent the first few days in Leh, Ladakh, adjusting to the altitude, getting to know each other, and also exploring the new area around us. Ladakh, known as the 'land of high passes', is a region of Jammu and Kashmir that lies between the Kunlun mountain range and the main Great Himalayas. The general population consists of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent. The largest town in Ladakh is Leh- which is where we spent our altitude adjusting days, visiting the Leh Palace, Thiskey monastery and Hemis monastery.
I found an entry of my diary which describes how I felt traveling to the most magical place we visited on my trip (Turtuk).
"Today was probably the best day of the trip so far. So much went on.. hectic.. adventurous, but nonetheless.. amazzinnng. We woke up early to drive about 5 hours through the beautiful mountains of Ladakh. The winding roads meandered through snowy mountains…fresh air blew into the car.. I was chilly but it really was serene. We stopped at the highest peak (18,000 ft) to drink chai tea, eat Maggi noodles, and write on our prayer flags and tie them to the mountain. I wrote down all the special people in my life, made a short prayer and then descended. We were only meant to stop for 15-20 minutes because of the high altitude, but we ended up staying over an hour. By that point I felt a huge headache coming and I was a bit short of breath. I eventually fell asleep on the ride down to the next pit stop.. and by that point my head was throbbing and I felt pretty bad.
Luckily this trip is so well organized and everyone is ready to help. I had everyone peering into my car asking how they could help! Then Eric- the medic came and helped me.. he set me up with an oxygen tank which I inhaled for about 15 minutes. Ami came and took photos of me! Anyways.. after 15 minutes of oxygen I felt so so much better and was ready for the trip again!
We then drove to Hunder (which is where I am right now). We were going to ride camels on the sand dunes this afternoon, but we were all so exhausted that we are going to do it on the way back to Leh. Tomorrow we leave early for Baltistan- which is an area that has never ever been photographed! We don't really know what we'll find there, but Ami advised me to first explore, find a place and become part of the architecture.. then things will come around me.. and I will become part of the action. She also advised me to meet a family and ask them about their daily routine and offer to help them. It's all about building the trust."
Anyways, so Turtuk was amazing. I can't exactly describe how incredible it was, but I have never felt so happy and calm in one place before. For three days I wandered around the village, meeting the locals, sipping tea with them and listening to their life stories. I befriended sisters called Rashida and Hamida who were around my age. Surprisingly their English was very good and we were able to talk about everything. I was invited to their house for dinner one night and they locked one of the rooms so their six other siblings couldn't get into the room and we told each other our secrets, goals, boy stories, favorite music etc. It was such a special moment for me because I realized that despite our huge cultural differences, we were actually more similar than different. One of the sisters reached for my hand and placed her ring on my finger. This really was one of the most memorable moments of the trip. The second most memorable moment was on the same evening…. I had forgotten to tell my group that I would be having dinner with the villagers, and so by 10pm when I still had not arrived at the campsite, the group sent out a search team to look for me. I have never been so embarrassed in my life… I came back to the campsite in tears and couldn't believe how immature I had been!
So for the rest of the time in Turtuk I remained low profile and just spent time with Rashida and Hamida. I helped them weed the garden and wash the younger siblings. I also walked around the village during the day and met other families, took photos and played with the local children. I hope one day I can go back.
We departed Turtuk which was very sad, but I still had many other things to look forward to. We headed back to Hunder where at sunset, we rode camels in the sand dunes!
The next day we drove to Pangong lake at an altitude of 14,000 ft and extends from India to Tibet. The color of the lake (which you can see in the photos) was the most intense blue I have ever seen. In the late afternoon we all peer pressured each other to swim in the freezing lake! It was so cold, but so refreshing, and worth being able to say that I swam in Pangong lake! We slept in tents by the lake and enjoyed a starry night.
Early the next morning we headed to Shachkul Monastery Mask Dance Festival. At first I honestly felt like I was in just another one of those monasteries, but we tried our luck in the afternoon and everything got so much better. I made friends with the head monk who invited me back stage to the costume/mask dressing room. The room was extremely chaotic with monks wrapping themselves in exquisite robes, practicing dance steps and adjusting colorful masks to their faces. The lighting was difficult to photograph, but with the help of Ami and Lana I was able to learn how to use the light to capture the magnificent moment. I also spent the following day in this dressing room, snapping away and laughing with the monks!
After the festival we headed back to Leh, blasting summer tunes and taking in the scenery of mustard fields, archaic pagodas, and crowds of colorful people. This was such a wonderful gift from my parents and I will never forget the incredible friends I made on the trip. Thanks for reading :)
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