Leh

Leh was absolutely beautiful. As someone who's lived in a sea-level city for my whole life, seeing the mountains was breathtaking. They stretched so far into the sky that clouds rested on their peaks. New York has skyscrapers, but the dizzying heights combined with the wide-open views was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. When we got high enough, we could see the entire valley. However, we had to take it easy for the first few days while we acclimated to the altitude. I was surprised that the height didn't seem to affect me very much; I had been worried about the possible health conditions, but I felt fine the whole time.

Going to the markets was a lot of fun! The distance wasn't too far, and it was nice to see the route by foot instead of from a car. However, Leh is not the most walkable city -- there were no clearly delineated pedestrian sections of the roads, and every few minutes we'd hear honking behind us to let us know we had to back up against the buildings on either side to make room for cars. The market itself had a few streets closed off to vehicles, which was nice. The shops had a ton of variety: jewelry, assorted trinkets, and of course, pashmina! I got a good amount of souvenir shopping done for people back home, though I had to spend quite a bit of time searching through piles of shawls, each more gorgeous than the last, for the perfect pick.

We visited some Buddhist monasteries and got to see how the monks lived. I can't imagine choosing a life of spirituality as a child, and I'm curious to know how someone would go about making that decision. The temples had incredible art and the monks were very friendly. We got to try butter tea, which was interesting even if it's not something I'd drink usually. The concept of salty beverages seems odd to me, but it's fairly common in this part of the world.

The nature in Leh was awe-inspiring. I've never been a very outdoorsy person, but I really wanted to try hiking some of the mountains surrounding the valley. We didn't get the chance to do so, but we were able to climb up a bit when we visited some of the temples and palaces. Getting to see the Indus River, the birth of so many civilizations, was amazing; we could even see the source of the river high in the mountains! I definitely plan to do some more hiking and outdoors activities when I go back home.

Agra

The Taj Mahal is India's most famous monument. Some big landmarks like that are overrated and end up being pretty underwhelming in person, but it definitely lived up to everything I'd heard. Of course I knew the story about how it's Shah Jahan's tribute to his wife, but I learned a lot more about the history and architecture. I think it's pretty interesting that the Taj Mahal, an Islamic-style building created by a Muslim emperor, is the most iconic landmark in India, a majority Hindu country.