A good friend and an expert of Himalayas, Manish Lakhani is planning a bicycling tour from Leh to Manali next month. He is looking for a handful of people to join him on the tour. Below are the tour details. If you would be interested, reach him for more details at manisholiday@gmail.com

Tour Details

This bicycle ride takes you through one of the most difficult and remote but picturesque terrain that you can ever access by road anywhere in India. It is amazing to see how Indian Army (BRO – Border Road Organization) builds and manages roads in this stark and remote terrain.  The  ride takes you to magnificent scenery over a series of 5000m+ passes, starting from lush green Kullu Valley over to high altitude deserts and stark mountains Ladakh.

Join us for one of the most challenging and wonderful bike ride on this planet.

Dates  – 1 June to 10 June 2012.
Start – Manali
Finish - Leh
Altitude – Start 2050m (Manali) / max 5350m (Taglang  La) / end 3505m (Leh)
Accommodation & Support Level – Full Camping  services, Jeep backup and support.
Distance – About  500 Kms.

Detailed Itinerary

Tweet

Share

Subscribe to India Travel Blog |  Email This Post | Leave a Comment

Related Posts

• Glimpses of Ladakh
• Images: Shanti Stupa, Leh, Ladakh
• Ladakh – Leh Cloudburst Distaster – Latest News, what happened and other details from the web
• Tso Moriri Lake I – Leh to Korzok
• Ladakh – Leh Town

Our next grand tour is to the mountain lands and the Buddhist monasteries of Lahaul and Spiti. I will be leading this tour to see and photograph the most beautiful places you can ever see in the Himalayas and to Buddhist monastic centers that are nearly a millennium old.

Dates: July 14th to 21st, 2012

Introduction

One of the still unexplored and insanely beautiful stretch of the Indian Himalayas, Lahaul and Spiti is a valley of stark landscapes and high snowy peaks stretching to the sky. Gurgling rivers and crystal clear lakes dot the highlands of Lahaul, while an ancient civilization has survived for nearly thousand years and has preserved its culture against the onslaught of modernity in Spiti. The faraway valley connected only through a narrow road that traverses through mountains over 10,000 feet high, this region offers vistas and heritage that can keep a travel photographer in a click-frenzy for months together.

Scroll down to see the day-by-day itinerary to know more details and get a glimpse of incredibleness of Lahaul and Spiti Region.

Tour Highlights

• Easy, short duration treks specifically helpful for photography
• Camping in the heart of the mountains, near the clear blue expanse of Chandratal Lake surrounded by high peaks.
• Drive through some of the most amazing landscapes in one of the remotest regions in the Indian Himalayas.
• See and photograph the views from high passes of Rohtang and Kunzum La
• Visit the Buddhist monasteries more than 800 years old that have followed an ancient tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.
• Visit to sights specifically chosen keeping photography opportunities in mind
• Expert help and advice with photographing culture and landscapes of Lahaul and Spiti
• Constant interaction and assistance on field by photography experts with an experience of travelling in Lahaul and Spiti
• Insights to nuances of travel and outdoor photography during the tour
• Image reviews by photography experts

See full details of the tour - Heart of the Himalayas – A Photography Trek + Tour of Lahaul and Spiti

Tweet

Share

Subscribe to India Travel Blog |  Email This Post | Leave a Comment

Related Posts

• Lahaul – driving to Batal
• Images – The Mountain Children of Indian Himalayas
• Workshop – Photographing Landscapes
• Beautiful India – Images of landscapes
• Lahaul and Spiti

I have had several requests all through last year to conduct photography-centric day-trips out of Bangalore. Here is the first of a series of them to come.

You will recognize a fragrance of heritage in every corner of Melukote. The old temples, the large Kalyani that has hosted several movie shoots, the smaller Raya Gopura that also has its beauty tested in the movies, a Sanskrit Academy, two ancient temples, a Vaishnava heritage that is preserved as good as it was a few centuries ago and several houses, temples and structures that have a stamp of past all over them — a quick glimpse of Melukote for you.

See full details of the event – photography in Melukote.

Tweet

Share

Subscribe to India Travel Blog |  Email This Post | Leave a Comment

Related Posts

• Landscapes of Munnar – A Photography Workshop
• People of Melukote
• Upcoming photography workshop and tours in January
• Photography Tours in November
• Varanasi Photography Tour – Ancient Traditions

This article was published in Trino Magazine, Dhaka. At the end of this story is a slideshow of images, presented at the Open Show, Bangalore.

A sense of excitement overtook me as soon as our pre-dawn flight took off from Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. I could see the first hills of the giant Himalayan Mountains once we were up in the sky, even before we left behind the crowded concrete boxes of Delhi. The sky above the jagged mountain ridges had already taken a gentle shade of orange, announcing the beginning of a beautiful day.

It was the third week of January and the air was nippy as we departed from Delhi. We were a small bunch of mountain-enthusiasts heading to Ladakh that day, ready to brave the super-freezing temperatures in Leh with a wish to walk side-by-side along the mountain people of Zanskar Region on a river that freezes during in the winter months.

Other than our tour leader Manish Lakhani who was a veteran of Zanskar, none of us had an exposure to cold and arid winters in Ladakh. But warned well in advance and armed with sufficient information, we had boarded the flight with down jackets, multiple layers of clothing and thick boots that could help us land in -20C weather.

As I looked out from my plane’s window nearly half-an-hour a later, first rays of sun were striking the mountain peaks while the valleys and glaciers were still in shade. Flying at a height of 10,000 meters over the mountains that stood higher than 6,000 meters, it appeared as if we were flying dangerously close to ground level. It almost felt as if we could open the windows, let a hand down and touch some of the snowy peaks right below.

It was a quick and sharp landing in Leh with a jolt of breaking in the runway that is tucked away between the mountains. Indus River, seen from the top, was all frozen but for a few cracks where its deep blue colours disturbed a white blanket. It was -13C in Leh, but with our layers of clothes and insulation, it did not seem harsh.

The first day’s camp after descending into the river and walking the first mile.

Two days later, we were struggling down a scree-slope nearly 60km from Leh as we descended into the Valley of Zanskar River. The river surface was frozen, but a strong current flowed underneath and kept us weary of encountering thin ice that could break and take us down. In places where the ice-shelf was broken, the deep-blue waters of Zanskar flowed invitingly, looking so beautiful that I would jump into it without much thinking, but for its forbiddingly frigid temperatures. The waters were so clear that every pebble was clearly visible even at a depth of ten feet.

The first ten minutes on the ice-shelf, it was as much falling on ice as it was walking. But in some time, we were getting used to our brittle chilkat shoes, got better at gauging the ice surface and managed to stay on two feet for longer periods. I myself prided in remaining literally infallible for a larger part of the trip until I came crashing in a relatively dangerous terrain on a steep slope.

Walking on the tiny strip of frozen Zanskar River, next to the blue flow.

For the next five days, we treaded over the frozen waters everyday, waking up to a miserably cold morning everyday and packing all our stuff with great pain using our numbing hands. Our spirits would lift the moment we were on the ice-shelf, or Chadar, as it is popularly called. Our bodies would warm up as we walked and our spirits dulled by the night’s dipping temperature would get uplifted by the brilliant mountainous landscapes and the gurgle of Zanskar’s flow.

All along the way, our tour leader Manish would chant one mantra that the ‘chadar is unpredictable and changes every hour’. We would see powdery snow along the path one moment which would morph into rock solid slippery ice a little later. Sometimes we would be walking on perfectly good ice covering the river, only to encounter after some time just a thin patch of good ice on which we had to tread dangerously. The hardest hour of the trek was when we were trapped for a day at the bottom of a gorge with a completely broken Chadar, leaving no choice but to spend the night close to the river and hope for things to get better next morning.

Where the ice was thin, we had to go over the slopes. It was more difficult at some places, and at one point in time we had to spend a night wherever we were, hoping for the ice to form next morning.

Just like the condition of ice varied, the scenery kept changing by the hour and by the day. Sometimes we would walk along a narrow valley that would suddenly open up widely at the confluence of streams. Waterfalls would appear occasionally along the way, which dumped their waters straight into the river in summer months but were completely frozen and stuck to the wall in these cold winters.

The bright sheet of snow and the blue waters were the only things that stayed constant with us all along. Sometimes emerging from a thick blanket of snow, the current carried tiny crystals of ice that floated on the river. My ‘aha’ moment of the trek came when I saw these crystal forming a bunch of crystal-lilies at a place where the water swirled at a corner, forming a small gathering of gently rotating discs of ice-crystals.

We encountered difficult times along the way when there was no ice in stretches and we had to find way through the slopes. These were the times when our infinitely agile and unbelievably strong Zanskari Porters came to our help. They would simply lift us on the shoulders and take us across shallow waters, so that we escaped the cold bite of the river. On precipitous slopes, they would climb up first, setup ropes and then belay us up carefully.

It is not just on the ice that our porters worked hard. They would march ahead and set our tents ready at the campsite before we arrived. On reaching a camp, we could always look forward to settling down in our comfortable tents with a hot cup of tea. Everything worked like a clock and we had things ready in our hands even before we needed it – be it something as important as a delicious dinner or a mug of hot water for freshening up in the morning. The porters and kitchen staff would pack the equipment and leave a campsite much after us in the morning, but would march ahead in no time to set things up for us at the next camp. Chadar Expedition would be much difficult without their heroics.

As we got closer to Padum, the valley widened and allowed us to walk over the slopes, leaving the river bed.

After six days of walking on the river, we reached the wide open valleys where civilization flourished once again and small villages dotted the mountain landscape. In here, for the first time during the trek, we left the river and walked along the slopes; we kept the tents folded and enjoyed the warm rooms in Zanskari Houses; we spread out from being huddled at the edge of the river and played soccer with the children in the villages. In two days that we spent in the open terrains of Padum, we forgot the ruggedness of the terrain and mingled with the smiling faces around us. But soon, it was time to go back. It was time to retrace the tough path on the ice within the confines of Zanskar’s steep mountains on either side of us.

Just like it used to be during the trek from Leh to the depths of Zanskar, Chadar kept changing and continued to throw challenges at us everyday on the way back. But time and again, our porters were there to lead from the front in the hour of difficulty. Weather gods too did their best and ensured that we had a smooth journey for a large part of our way back. It is thanks to the porters and good weather that we made it to Leh safely and in time to catch our flights home. As we took another quick flight over the mountain peaks enjoying the views below, we carried many fond memories – of smiling faces, enduring porters and breathtaking views that kept our company all through the expedition.

Below is a slideshow of images, presented at the Open Show, Bangalore on Chadar Trek.

Tweet

Share

Subscribe to India Travel Blog |  Email This Post | 7 Comments

Related Posts

• Sighting a Snow Leopard
• Chadar Trek – Walking on the Frozen Zanskar River – January 2011
• Cycling from Manali to Leh
• Images – The Mountain Children of Indian Himalayas
• Ladakh – Landscapes of the High Passes