Reclination....

                            Although the month of October has begun, sunshine in Leh is at its brightening best. I have chosen ‘sun-basking’, munching nuts, drinking lots of warm water and avoiding having tablets like disprins or ‘Dimox’ as a part of my acclimatization here along with 72 hour complete rest recommended by all those who have faced the pangs and roughness of the weather here in Leh. 

                                  The wrath of initial altitude sickness comes often uninvited and can only be kicked off by proper rest and warm food. Giving a try to meditation with some breathing exercises will surely help alternatively as it will enhance our oxygen intake in a proper way. Not to forget dabbing my face with a sunscreen lotion with a higher SPF something like 45 or even 50 even in this month makes me imagine the ‘tanning’ problems tourists face during the peak summers here. Nevertheless the sunshine is soothing and neutralizes well with the cool breeze which have of late become the expected guests for the time being.

Leh...A shopper's paradise!

  A visually small market is abundantly loaded with attractive shops ranging anything from exquisite antiques hailing from the nearby country Tibet to the much in demand 'Pashmina wool' from Kashmir.

  I couldn't take my eyes off an antique brass piece of the 'sleeping Buddha' which comes in innumerous shapes, sizes moulded in metals like copper, brass ( also blended with green granite), as also the horns of Yaks. beaded necklaces, wrist bands of black pearls, rings looking royal with a single large Jade stone (or even 'Lapislazuli') studded inside it are bound to be one of the inevitable shopping souveniers in the Leh market. Traditional stones like 'Turquoise' are seen smartly blended with white pearls and corals.

  As I walked past the stalls, I tried to be at my bargaining best. As the winters couldn't wait to leap here most of the Ladhakhis and Kashmiris were on the verge of closing their shops and move to profit yeilding places like Goa and Delhi where tourism begins to soar higher. Yet, a ten minute chat with one of the sellers ('Tashi' was his name) updated my information on the 'genuinity' on black pearls ( or any kinds of pearls for that instance!!). He used a small fire to prove his pearls were 'real'. Bringing fire close to them didn't change or deskin them in any way or even get charred.
Now that was an intelligent selling by Tashi as I finally shed some weight off my pockets by carefully and cleverly picking up a three-stringed pearl necklace with a wrist band after an effortful bargaining.