julleh leh!

no, i don't typically use exclamation points. so, on choice occasions, they are only to represent true emotion. i've been in lahakh for a week and i think i am in love. now, don't get me wrong. i love india. but ladakh is like the non-india. the people are incredibly kind. while the kashmiri store owners still want to gouge the hell out of you, there is a shanti shanti (peacefullness) here.

part of this peace derives from the large buddhist and, specifically, tibetan buddhist population. i've been reading up on the trials of the tibetans over the past decades and i have become just another tourist with a "free tibet" sticker on a nalgene. today i went to a huge celebration for the dalai lama's birthday. since his birthday is a holiday, whole families gathered to dance, sing, eat and celebrate their long-repressed culture. i have always advocated that tibetans are the most beautiful old people and babies and the following pictures certainly add weight to my argument.

leh is a sort of capital for all the kinds of tourists. now, of course we all travel for different purposes and in different ways. there are the experience junkies that range from trekkers to wannabe cultural anthropologists to mountain climbers. and there are the hippies, constantly in search of a "good" deal and the partiers who can't get enough at home so are forced to go aboad. leh has it all. this means a few things. outstanding people watching. fabulous coffee and food you can't get in most of india. the main purpose of this blog was to include pictures. however, since leh is the tourist capital i speak of, the internet connection is not capable of uploading photos right now. so, you can wait with baited breath, my friends, cause it's like nothing you ever knew existed. it (like most beautiful things) took my breath away and continues to almost daily. but that's mawkish me.