Why is Ladakh so popular?

Ladakh is undoubtedly one of the most popular and beloved places in India. From the time you enter college and have your kids, I bet you would have heard the Ladakhi stories. I and Priya have always wanted to visit this arid place. A couple of times we ended up making the bookings. But could not make it to this rugged place until recently. This time everything seemed to be perfect and my brother Abhijeet, and my brother in law Gopi too were eager to join us. Although flying is one of the most preferred and popular choices we wanted to take a very long drive and Gopi wanted to ride an Enfield solo. Everything was set, the bike was rented, the car was geared up and we were all very excited to start the trip. Google maps are handy and very helpful for navigation and we followed this route from Gurgaon.

Continue reading

Hiking in Kashmir in bad winter weather

Betrayed by weather in Lidderwat, Kashmir

Lidderwat in the valley of Kashmir is amazingly colourful and beautiful in the summers but becomes a different terrain in the winters. I am continuing this story from my previous story: Winter whiteout in Lidderwat, Kashmir. When I, RiyazSafeen and others got here after 10 hours of hike in 6-7 ft of snow, we were dehydrated and exhausted. The weather had already got worse from bad and it had started to rain. Continue reading