India and Nepal

Hi There,

Instead of a diving trip late last year I went on 2 month trip to India and Nepal. I started in Nepal and went on a hiking trip into the Annapurna Sanctuary followed by a few days around Pokhara and Kathmandu. From there I went to India with two main area travelled in Ladahk in the very most northern parts of India and Rajasthan. I also did the tourist thing and visited Agra and Varanasi. I hope that you enjoy the photos as much as I did taking them .

India

http://mattiovaska.com/gallery/138959

Nepal

http://mattiovaska.com/gallery/138939

Matti

You are the only other person that I know who has spent time in Ladakh. I loved my time there and relished in the intertwining of the Ladakhi and Tibetan cultures. When I was there in 89, it was a bad time for Ladakh and it was under martial law. The Kashmiris were descending on the town of Leh and taking over many of the businesses. This was causing many problems and throat slashings of Kashmiris were happening. I hope things were more settled when you were there. It is a hard place to get into, but so worth the effort!!

We were stuck on the Zogi La pass in mudslides. We spent some time in Kargil (which was bombed in war later that year) and Dras. In retrospect, it was a very interesting experience....at the time, not so much.

We were also in Nepal during a time of a blockade between India and Nepal, so many things like gasoline were in very short supply. Our excursions were limited as a result. No rafting on the Sun Kosi.....

You have beautiful photos that brought back wonderful memories. Thanks for posting.

Definietly none of those issues and very easy to travel around these days, due to limited time I flew into Leh which gave more time around Ladahk. Nubra valley was spectacular and I was within 10klms of the disputed border with Pakistan. Definietly large military presence in the area which means the roads are quite well maintained. So different from the rest of India that I travelled through ie Rajasthan.