As Good As Ti-Bets

Tried doing some word play on “As Good As It Gets” – I know, I know, it’s a reach.

Alas I’ve reached my final day (barring any flight delays!) in Leh. To sum it up – it’s a beautiful village full of wanted and unwanted tourists. Although the backpacker scene has brought respectful trekkers looking for a place to start off from when touring the Himalayas, there are ample I’m-A-Hippie-And-Want-To-Live-In-A-Village types which unfortunately bring a bad name to Western tourists. The Israeli backpacker / post-IDF scene here is huge – evidently Israel has began sending Rabbis to the area to talk to those who have found a home in Leh into coming back to Israel!

The sights and experiences in and around this place are awe-inspiring. Many snaps and videos I’ve taken can come only out of one’s imagination or a Planet Earth episode (which often are the same thing). I’ve gained great respect for those trekkers that manage 3-4+ week long treks in the fluctuating weather, food, and most of all, high altitude. It was frightening at times to run upstairs to my room or run around the bend to take a leak and having to wait for a few minutes to catch my breath. One doesn’t realize until the morning that even though it’s not hot per se, you still need proper hydration due to the altitude and very dry mountain air.

On Thursday, my buddies and I got to visit the Thiksey Monastery, a serene looking collection of dozens of dorms, temples, meditation halls, and schools where hundreds of Tibetan refugee monks, well, do their monk thing. It was nice to walk around and witness monks in their element, explore the prayer halls, marvel at the statues of Buddha, etc. It’s quite a beautiful setting, built into the side of a hill with vistas over the lush Indus River and valley.

I was quite perturbed, however, by both the lack of respect from other tourists and the amount of intrusion the monks had to tolerate. There were a few “photographers” that were climbing on walls to get 2 feet closer to a mountain that was miles away, trying to get monk children in training to line up for pictures, taking pictures and video of monks in daily activities, etc. It seems to be a double edged sword for these monks – they receive glorious funding from tourists for upkeep but also have to deal with the lack of respect many show towards their way of life.

The last few days in Leh were very relaxing. The 5 of us buddies that went to the lake a few days back got together to have dinners, hang out at the hippie spots, etc. Although traveling alone, I’ve been very lucky to have found really good–hearted and smart people that (whether they like it or not) can handle my idiocy. Mymy and Jason – can’t wait until we reunite in Albania at some point in life, and C.D., try making it out to the States soon enough. Karan, you are the funniest cynic I know, can’t wait to hang out on the east coast.