Ladakh was the reason why i decided to take my bicycle with me to the Himalayas. The lure of cycling in the mountains with its crisp blue skies and snow capped peaks was too enticing to ignore. I had traveled Ladakh by motorcycle back in 2008, but this time i decided that a bicycle would be a better option. Going by cycle meant going slowly.. a 200km trip from, say, Leh to Pangong lake which can be done in a single day on a motor cycle would take 3 to 4 days on a bicycle. Which means stops in the smaller villages, seeing more sunrises & sunsets, more photo opportunities and more interaction with the local people. I had the one thing which i did not have in my other trips, the luxury of time.  

Then i thought that if i was going to be cycling in Ladakh then i might as well cycle TO Ladakh. I knew that i was in no shape to tackle the road but i had a get fit plan. It was brilliant. First spend a month in Rishikesh learning yoga, then spend the next month slowly making my way to Manali on my bicycle by which time i hoped to be fit enough to tackle the Manali-Leh road in early september. 

Ever since i was bitten by the travel bug, Ladakh was one place that i always wanted to go. The pictures i've been seeing from friends on Flickr were all stunning and it looked as if it was almost impossible to take a bad picture in Ladakh. So with all these high hopes i finally got a chance to travel to Ladakh for a couple of weeks during October 2008. And it didn't disappoint.

This was my first ever backpacking trip in India. I had traveled alone in China and Thailand before this but still i was a little nervous about traveling in my home country. Turns out all that nervousness was unwarranted and i ended up having a wonderful time. Here are some stories from that trip.

On my way back to India (after a 6 month stay in Beijing), i decided to have a stopover in Thailand and have a 15 day break. I would've preferred to have stayed longer, but the only visa i could get to Thailand on a short notice was a transit visa and it was limited to 15 days only. Never much of a beach person i went to Thailand with mixed expectations and came out refreshing and raring to be back.

For the Chinese New year holidays i decided to go to HuangShan. I was looking forward for a change of scenery from the usual tibetian mountains that im drawn to. And what better place than HuangShan to get a perfect taste of the Chinese mountain scenery. The Chinese people, and poets alike, never seem to tire of coming up with new ways to praise the HuangShan scenery. And all the photo's i've seen of the place seem to backup their claim. I was a bit circumspect about going there during winter but after a bit of research i found that the winter scenery is supposed to be the best with clear blue skies and the trees and mountains covered by snow. One day before i was due to leave it was snowing in Huangshan... I was excited...

Hitchhiking is a popular way of getting around Ladakh. The places are so remote and the public transportation options so minimal that people have no choice but to hitchhike. And for their part the vehicle drivers are always willing to stop and pickup anyone wanting to go in their direction. Sometimes for free and sometimes for a little fee.

Growing up, hitchhiking was a common practice. Especially during my college days where getting a lift basically made all the difference between arriving in time for class or arriving late and having to miss the entire morning session. I gave up the practice after leaving college and never once hitchhiked during all my travels.

But all that changed when i visited Ladakh last year (2010). I used to take the local buses to visit the villages around Leh and hitchhike on the way back to Leh. There was no other option as the buses were few and far between and sometimes do not run after 5 in the evening. I was a bit hesitant at first, but slowly got into the groove and ended up meeting quite a few interesting characters.