To Ladakh

In the last two weeks or so now of my travels in India. I will be leaving for Ladakh in a few days time, and out of computer contact until I return to Europe - or perhaps Delhi.

Ladakh extends north of India, bordering the Tibetan Himalaya and sharing a similar culture and landscape. Tibetan Buddhism is the religion of the region, and Ladakhi is a Tibetan dialect, similar to the language I speak. Leh, the capital - a small village, really - is two twelve hour bus rides away from Manali, where I am now for a few days, north through Himachal Pradesh and into Jammu-Kashmir. Above the treeline, and sharing a mountainous desert landscape similar only to the Tibetan plateau - or perhaps, the moon.

After five weeks in the Dharamsala region, I came east yesterday to the small town of Vaishist to join a friend. Vaishist is well-known locally for its natural hot springs which run through the center of the village. The springs are harnessed into a small outdoor bath, and the water is drained and refilled each night at midnight, when the foreigners lurk out of the cafes and fill the baths. The water is sulfuric, hot and gorgeous. The Israelis bring cardamom coffee.

In the early afternoon, we follow a small sign to a waterfall. Glacial water pierces the cliffs and rages down into the river valley, forming small pools set amid glacial boulders. When water is involved, regardless of the country I am traveling in, I lose absolutely all sense of cultural modesty and propriety if there is the smallest semblance of privacy. Within a few minutes we were diving off boulders into the waterfall pools of frozen mountain water. And after midnight, into the hot springs.

My health is returning, I am eating properly again, and there are fresh river trout in town. Ah.