On our way back to Leh from Tso Moriri we stopped at the Hemis monastery, which is the largest Buddhist monastery in the area. And the Thiksey (also written as Thiksay or Thikse) monastery, which is arguably the most beautiful. … More Ladakh: Praying at Thiksey Monastery
A day that began by combining two days of hiking into one morning ended with a grueling 8 hour rally across some of the most scenic countryside in the world. … More Ladakh: Rally to Tso Moriri and other high altitude lakes
Each day, we learned what the plan was for the next day – we didn’t know it in advance. So after climbing two reasonably tall passes, Stok La and Madok La, we were confronted with what Tsering (our guide) promised to be our hardest day yet: two consecutive mountain passes reaching our highest altitude of … More Ladakh part 3: Let them eat cake
It was on Madok La that the cumulative time at elevation began to affect me (Jesse), which led to poor sleep and appetite … More Ladakh part 2: Thin Air and Brown Water
After about 30 offers of black tea, it was time to get down to business. Our trekking guru/salesman, Javeed, looked us up and down and offered an alternate trek, billed as “challenging”. He waved his hand over some blank spaces on the map with no trail markings and our fate was decided. … More Ladakh part 1: Trek Roulette and Himalayan Narcolepsy
round the world in sixty days 