Hi all,
At last I made my Ladhak trip though not by road but by air. Took a direct Kingfisher Flight both ways. In air it was for one hour, that is not bad at all.
I landed in Leh on 24th August, 2011 and landed back in Delhi on 6th September 2011. The return flight was one hour late.
I had been trying to get some company of photographers, finding none I opted to travel alone. The group only helps in savings as the costs get divided and shared. In hind sight I feel it was good that I was alone as I could decide on spur of the moment my plans of travel, stay or stopping for meals. Besides there are greater chances of ending up with quite similar images like when I went with Babul Bhatt to Agra when his daughter commented that her father too had similar photos. There are merits and demerits of having a company or being alone.
Nazir the taxi owner cum driver was very good. I felt very safe in his Xylo by his driving. I had told him that I was in Ladhak specially for photography and was unlike any other tourist who try to make it destinations and back. So he was always alert to my requesting him to stop, that he did with out any complaints. He would also stop finding some thing interesting. He took me to shepherd areas. He also talked a guest house owner to accompany me to Turtuk village, as he knew the area and the people. He was in the Intelligence Corp, Pune during the 1971 war with Pakistan. This helped him in interaction with the people there. Later he joined the Forest Department that too helped him in developing contacts and also gave him an in depth knowledge about Ladhak's forest cover. I appreciate his presence in Turtuk village with me as I never felt I was intruding in to the privacy of the village people. This village being Muslim dominated, there were quite a few who did not want to be photographed, but still had many who had themselves photographed.
There were many children in the village. I had stopped on the way to buy some sweets (toffees). I bought a jar of coconut sweets that came in very handy. He and Nazir took the task of distributing the sweets in advance making many agreeable to get photographed. This also helped me to be free and shoot as no one realised my presence giving me ample opportunity to shoot.
The children had balloons that they were trying to blow air into them. I never realised these were given by some people already in the village. As we entered the village, I noticed there were 3 more photographers, one of them was a foreigner.
We did say a hello but never got to know each other as they too were busy distributing balloons and shooting. They were mostly crowded by the children who wanted more balloons all the time. I think they carried some other gifts as well.
The armed forces have established many schools within commutable distances between villages to bring education to all the sections of Ladhak. We all know Ladhak is very sparsely populated, where population is spread out in small clusters.
The tough terrains, very loose bonding of mountain soil, low Oxygen levels, very strong sun, extreme UV exposure for skin and with sparse vegetation in many regions of Ladhak our armed forces, various agencies developing and maintaining the roads for good travel, I like to say a special thanks to them
All these forces have people from various parts of the country who are roughing out there by giving their today for our present comforts, a secured today and for a better tomorrow. I have taken more pictures, which I shall be adding in the later posting. This is a small dedication to all of them.
I will be adding more impressions and images as I build up my Ladhak trip blog.
At last I made my Ladhak trip though not by road but by air. Took a direct Kingfisher Flight both ways. In air it was for one hour, that is not bad at all.
I landed in Leh on 24th August, 2011 and landed back in Delhi on 6th September 2011. The return flight was one hour late.
I had been trying to get some company of photographers, finding none I opted to travel alone. The group only helps in savings as the costs get divided and shared. In hind sight I feel it was good that I was alone as I could decide on spur of the moment my plans of travel, stay or stopping for meals. Besides there are greater chances of ending up with quite similar images like when I went with Babul Bhatt to Agra when his daughter commented that her father too had similar photos. There are merits and demerits of having a company or being alone.
Nazir the taxi owner cum driver was very good. I felt very safe in his Xylo by his driving. I had told him that I was in Ladhak specially for photography and was unlike any other tourist who try to make it destinations and back. So he was always alert to my requesting him to stop, that he did with out any complaints. He would also stop finding some thing interesting. He took me to shepherd areas. He also talked a guest house owner to accompany me to Turtuk village, as he knew the area and the people. He was in the Intelligence Corp, Pune during the 1971 war with Pakistan. This helped him in interaction with the people there. Later he joined the Forest Department that too helped him in developing contacts and also gave him an in depth knowledge about Ladhak's forest cover. I appreciate his presence in Turtuk village with me as I never felt I was intruding in to the privacy of the village people. This village being Muslim dominated, there were quite a few who did not want to be photographed, but still had many who had themselves photographed.
There were many children in the village. I had stopped on the way to buy some sweets (toffees). I bought a jar of coconut sweets that came in very handy. He and Nazir took the task of distributing the sweets in advance making many agreeable to get photographed. This also helped me to be free and shoot as no one realised my presence giving me ample opportunity to shoot.
We did say a hello but never got to know each other as they too were busy distributing balloons and shooting. They were mostly crowded by the children who wanted more balloons all the time. I think they carried some other gifts as well.
The armed forces have established many schools within commutable distances between villages to bring education to all the sections of Ladhak. We all know Ladhak is very sparsely populated, where population is spread out in small clusters.
The tough terrains, very loose bonding of mountain soil, low Oxygen levels, very strong sun, extreme UV exposure for skin and with sparse vegetation in many regions of Ladhak our armed forces, various agencies developing and maintaining the roads for good travel, I like to say a special thanks to them
All these forces have people from various parts of the country who are roughing out there by giving their today for our present comforts, a secured today and for a better tomorrow. I have taken more pictures, which I shall be adding in the later posting. This is a small dedication to all of them.
I will be adding more impressions and images as I build up my Ladhak trip blog.
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