Ladakh is often referred to as "Little Tibet". It is certainly culturally more intact than neighbouring Tibet. It is in the far north of India, bordered by Pakistan and China. The Ladakh range is sandwiched between the Himalayan and Karokoram mountains. Although junior to its impressive neighbouring ranges, it is no slouch either with peaks reaching 7,500m. “Ladakh” itself means “Land of High Passes”; we can attest to that. The mountain desert is accessible by air only during the winter months. The main road link to Srinagar shuts down in November. Winter temperatures in Leh are comparable to Alberta, bloody cold, especially without central heating.

We landed in Delhi and picked up our friendship with Dipak and Madhu where we left off 23 years earlier. Glenn shuttled back and forth to the airport, collecting cousin Wayne and his nephew Nick who joined us on our elevated trip.

Ladakh is laid back. When we arrived at the Leh airport, we had to step out of the terminal and look for a taxi driver. At 3600m, we took it easy the first few days. The shops were full of goods, hotels & restaurants were open. We didn't see any evidence of the August flash floods until our 4^th or 5^th day in Ladakh. Flash floods have shaped the Ladakhi environment and the local people have built their traditional villages, town and monasteries on high ground, well above flood plains. We began to sense a huge divergence between perception and reality. Ladakh was suffering from a second disaster; the media reports had inadvertently driven the tourists away. On the upside, we were well appreciated and every momo (dumpling) and beer that we consumed was a boost to the local economy. Despite our best efforts, many of the tourist businesses closed early for the season due to lack of business.

Leh is a bit like a smaller version of Kathmandu 30 or 40 years ago. The population swelled for a visit for His Holiness the Dalai Lama while we were there. We waited hours for his arrival at the Jokhang (central temple) and participated in the celebrity event. The Dalai Lama then lead a puja (prayers) on a school field to a peaceful crowd of ~ 15,000 – a great atmosphere.

Trek 1 – was expeditionary in nature. The four of us and a Belgian couple arranged for a full meal deal trek with guide/cook, ponies, pony men, bed tea in the mornings, three meals and afternoon tea. The crew was originally from Tibet and our guide spoke pretty good English (Urgen Tsehang, if you need a guide while you are in Ladakh, we recommend you give him a call at 9906-999-544). It cost us about $20/day each (agencies in Leh charge three times that). Wayne dubbed it the Ladakhi Haute Route because it passes over three ~ 5,000m passes (Stok, Matho and Shang La). Most of our camps were near 4,000m and we had one night at 4,700m. The air was thin, our crew was great and the customers mostly got along over the 8 days.

Trek 2 – The Markha trek is the most popular walk in Ladakh, normally undertaken as a supported trek, but a network of home stays make it a fine independent walk. The home stays are in small settlements with mattresses (beds in some of them), pit dirt toilets and simple meals of rice, lentils and cabbage. The Markha valley had some flood damage which scared the trekkers away, so the locals were sure happy to see us. We felt an obligation to stop at every small tea shop for a cuppa. A cold night at the 4,700m goat and yak pasture of Nimaling and crossing over the Konmaru pass with skiff of snow was fresh to say the least.

Trek 3 – Was perhaps the most interesting because of its varied scenery, two high passes, it's less trekked, we had sketchy information about home-stays, in short, it was an adventure (Lamayuru to Alchi via Konzke La and Stakspi La). At our first (basic) home stay, we played a little pick-up cricket and Glenn was twice bowled out by a young monk, half his height. Sheila dug into the “donkey money” account and hired a pony for the 1,100m grunt up Stakspi La but walked down the 1,800m descent into Alchi. Her pony man capitalized on the opportunity to make a series of mobile phone calls at the pass and then returned home (there is no cell coverage in his village of Sumdah-Choon).

Trek 4 – was a more relaxing, shorter lower level walk (the “Sham” trek) through several very attractive villages. The home stays were (relatively) opulent, though at one place we picked up a flea circus, leaving us scratching bites non-stop for a couple of days. We caught a short three hour bus ride back to Leh; some of the other passengers smelled like yak butter while propane canisters rolled around on the roof, but we found it pretty comfortable and humorous.

The Ladakhi grand finale (for Glenn) was a trip to Kandung La, officially listed as 5,600m, but actually 'only' 5,400m for a bike ride down to Leh at 3,500m. It was a novel way to end our Ladakh trip.