Week 15 – Japan – Takayama to Hiroshima

On Monday morning we caught the train from Takayama to Kyoto. Even though it was raining the scenery was still beautiful – mountains, rivers, forests and rice paddies flew by. The rivers were narrow and fast flowing sometimes, other times wide and smooth. Some of the rice paddies had tall golden rice as opposed to the seedlings we had seen before. We changed to a Shinkansen at Nagoya and arrived at Kyoto at 1.15 pm. Unfortunately the tourist office recommended a smart looking hotel around the corner from the station but it only had two nights vacancy and we needed three to complete the six nights in Kyoto. Keith wandered around in the rain and eventually found the Chita Guest Inn nearby and we checked in. Then we went for a long walk around the area checking out all the yakitori bars with their red lanterns outside.

The next morning we decided to do the Lonely Planet walking tour of Southern Higashiyama. The walk started near an old noodle shop and pharmacy and we walked up a gentle hill past shops selling beautiful pottery and ceramics. At the top of the hill was the ancient temple of Kiyomizu-dera. We left the temple via a busy street lined with souvenir shops and sweet shops and walked down a flight of stairs to Ishibei-koji, a quaint cobblestone alley lined with traditional Japanese Inns and restaurants. We retraced our steps and arrived back at the busy street where we bought some small gifts for Keith's relatives in South Africa. Our walk finished at the Maruyam-Koen park.

Afterwards, we decided to walk to Central Kyoto towards the Imperial Palace Park. On the way we walked along Ponto Cho, a narrow alley next to the river with traditional wooden buildings and hanging lanterns. Then we walked through a shopping arcade on Teramachi Dori to the Nishiki Markets where we saw fresh fish, dried fish products, fresh fruit and vegetables and an assortment of pickled vegetables. The Imperial Palace Park was planted with a variety of trees and there were lots of lovely green lawns and wide paths. There were a lot of cyclists and quite a few people walking their plump manicured pooches.

On Wednesday we decided to do a day trip to Nara and caught the train there. We decided to do the Nara-koen walking tour as the park contained most of Nara's most important sites. It was raining lightly as we walked through town towards Nara-koen Park which was home to over one thousand deer. At the park we saw the five storey pagoda, some deer biscuit sellers and a Japanese girl being pursued by several hungry deer. We bought some deer biscuits and took a couple of photographs of Keith feeding the deer. Then we walked to Yoshikien Garden, a beautiful Japanese garden filled with lush moss in addition to the usual pools, trees, shaped shrubs and stones. We went the wrong way on exiting and saw a couple of large bull frogs in a pool. We arrived at the Nandai-mon gate to the Todai-ji temple which was flanked by two 800 year old wooden carvings of Nio guardians with ferocious expressions on their faces. Unfortunately they were protected by chicken wire which made photography difficult but they were very lifelike and extremely large. In the Todai-ji complex was the Daibatsu-den Hall (the biggest wooden structure in the world) which contained the Great Buddha (Daibatsu) a massive bronze and gold 16 metre high statue surrounded by small golden Buddhas. The Daibatsu is one of the largest bronze figures in the world. Behind the statue was a large wooden column with a small hole in the bottom. Apparently those who can squeeze through the hole (which is the same size as one of the Great Buddha's nostrils) are assured of enlightenment. There was a long noisy queue of kids and adults eager to try this path to enlightenment – who said Buddhism wasn't any fun?

After leaving the Todai-ji complex, we walked to the Nigatsu-do Hall where we enjoyed the views of Nara and the Daibatsu-den Hall from the verandah. We stopped for a cup of roasted green tea at the free rest house before following a path lined with stone lantern sculptures through the woods to the Kasuga Taisha Shrine. It was raining again when we left the shrine and we paid a hurried visit to the Wakamiya-jinja shrine before continuing on our walk. As we left we were surrounded by hungry deer seeking handouts and we decided to feed the rest of the deer biscuits to them. One eager doe was convinced that Keith still had some biscuits hidden away and nipped him in the belly to encourage him to give up the rest of them. At the end of our walking tour we headed back to the station to catch our train back to Kyoto.

On Thursday morning we caught a train from Kyoto station to Hanzono station on the Sagano line. We got off and marched up the hill and it took us quite a while to reach Ninna-ji Temple which was the start of the walking tour. Our final destination on the walking tour was the Kinkaku-ji Temple (Golden Pavilion). The main feature inside the complex was the magnificent Golden Temple with delightful lake and islands in front of it. The upper two levels glowed with gold and it seemed to float on the water. The surrounding gardens also offered plenty of photo opportunities. We left and walked for ages downhill to reach Enmaji station where we caught the train to Sagano Arashiyama station further on down the line to begin the second walking tour. We walked through the suburb which was like a small village and reached a temple complex. We got some photos outside including a great shot of a bull frog in a lotus pond. We saw a shop making tofu from soy beans with a pipe emitting clouds of steam from the shop front. We walked through a bamboo forest which was beautiful and then climbed up a short way in a park to get fantastic views down a valley and the river below. Then we wandered the rest of the walking tour admiring the flowers, dogs, vegetable gardens and surrounding forested mountains. We wandered into another temple complex and took photos of Buddha statues, giant red flowers and temple buildings before we caught the train back to central Kyoto as it was getting dark.

After breakfast on Friday, we decided to take a look at the ultra modern Kyoto Station building. We rode the escalators up to the Sky Garden on the eleventh floor and then went back down to the tenth floor where we took a walk along the aerial walkway. We took a short walk to the north of the station to the Higashi Hongan-ji Temple. The two main buildings in this complex were the impressive Goei-do Main Hall (one of the world's largest wooden structures) and the Amida-do Hall. At the Goei-do Main Hall there were some monks chanting – we sat and enjoyed this for a while before visiting the Amida-do Hall. The Amida-do Hall was being restored and the exterior was engulfed by scaffolding so it was difficult to see what it looked like. Just to the left of the entrance to Amida-do we found a glass cabinet containing an enormous greasy dusty- looking coil of rope made from human hair. This hair was donated by temple devotees to make ropes used in the temple construction as ordinary rope was of inferior quality!!

After we left the temple we walked to the Nijojo Castle. We decided not to go in because it wasn't a notable castle and we had plans to visit Himeiji Castle – which is Japan's best castle. From there we walked to the Path of Philosophy in the Northern Higashiyama area. The path ran alongside a tree lined canal where we saw tame Mallard ducks and large carp. It was lined with shops and cafes and ended at the Ginkaku-ji Temple (Silver pavilion). This temple was modelled after the Kinkaku-ji Temple but plans to cover it in silver never materialised due to the untimely demise of its founder. Like the Kinkaku-ji Temple the grounds of the temple were filled with lovely trees and covered in various types of moss. However there was also a Ginshaden sand garden featuring a large cone shaped structure (Mt Fuji perhaps?). We really loved it because it was totally different from anything that we had ever seen before.

After our visit to the temple we headed back into the centre of town towards Gion, the Geisha distict where we planned to do some Geisha spotting. Keith caught a brief glimpse of some in a taxi but we were too late to catch a good look at them. At that point we bumped into Ellie and Natalie from London and it was while we were talking that we spotted some Geishas at a pedestrian crossing.

On Saturday we caught the train to Osaka. At Osaka we walked towards Osaka Castle through Nakanoshima Island which was located in the middle of the river. It had some museums, lush green lawns and a rose garden at one end. We walked around Osaka Castle which was surrounded by parks and gardens, gigantic stone walls and had an outer and an inner moat (part of which was dry). We walked into the grounds and across the moat through the Otemon Gate and past the Shudokan (a martial arts training hall) where we watched some young boys wearing protective head and chest gear training with a staff. Afterwards we walked around the castle and then out of the South exit of the castle towards Dotombori in the Minami (South) area of Osaka. We found ourselves on Shinsaibashi-suji – an extremely long covered shopping street/arcade. It was really crowded and full of Japanese girls and boys with big hair and we found ourselves swept along in a sea of people. We saw two identically-dressed young girls singing in the street – we think it was some sort of Karaoke advertisement. When we reached the river we turned and walked back to the station where we caught the train back to Kyoto.

The next morning we headed to Kyoto Station to catch the Shinkansen to Shin-osaka. We transferred to another Shinkansen which took us to Hiroshima and we arrived and found our hostel around the corner very easily. We walked to the Hiroshima Peace Park along Hondori Avenue – yet another shopping arcade. We went to the Peace Memorial Museum which had a very good exhibit of Hiroshima before and after the bombing. Out of a population of 350,000, 140,000 people had died by the end of 1945! The display explained the science behind nuclear bombs, showed the damage caused by the blast and subsequent radiation and it showed the proliferation of nuclear weapons around the world. The most moving displays were the remnants of children's clothing and toys. After we left the museum we walked to the A-bomb dome – the remains a building on the banks of the river.

Week 14 – Japan – Tokyo to Takayama

The alarm went off at 7.30 am on Monday morning and we closed up our backpacks and walked to Asakusa station. From there we went by metro to Ueno Station to catch our Shinkansen (bullet train) to Utsonomiya. On the platform we found signs indicating where you should stand for each carriage. The train turned up exactly on time and sure enough our carriage door was precisely in front of where we standing. A little over 40 minutes later we arrived at Utsonomiya and then transferred to a local train to Nikko. At the Nikko Tourist Information Office we found out that the Toshugu Grand Festival was on. Today was the first day with the Yabusame ritual (horseback archery) and on the second day (tomorrow), there would be a procession of 1,000 warriors (samurai). We checked into our hostel (it was brand new and we were the first occupants of the double room) and then we rushed off to the Toshugu Temple to watch the horseback archery. We got there just in time to see the beautifully dressed archers riding up to the temple. On the approach to the temple, three targets had been set up and the archers took it in turns to gallop along the 200 metre approach to the temple and fire at the targets. The gallops were over in a matter of seconds – almost before we had time register them.

The next morning we headed to the temple complex to watch the Hyakumono-zoroe Sennin Gyoretsu (Parade of One-Thousand Warriors). The procession was made up of one thousand men dressed as samurai warriors which was preceded by three portable shrines. There were several different types of warriors in distinctive costumes and bearing different types of weapons – some were wearing helmets and chain mail, others were carrying long bows, others were carrying long spears and others were carrying swords. This procession was a re-enactment of the transferring of Tokugawa Ieyasu's remains to Nikko. After the procession we went to the information centre to take part in a free guided tour organised by the Nikko Tourist Association. The tour guide was Japanese and he led us along the route of the procession explaining the history and origins of the ceremony. After the tour we went to the ticket office to buy a combined ticket to the Nikko shrines and temples. We went to the Toshugu Shrine and arrived just in time to see the procession of samurais returning. As the warriors arrived at the Toshugu Shrine, they piled up their weapons in front of a store house and then ducked off to the side to smoke, disrobe, eat lunch, go to the toilet etc etc. At the back of the procession, the three shrines returned. These were carried by 50 people and looked really heavy (apparently they were 1,200 kgs) and you could see the shrine carriers struggling to carry the shrines up the steep flights of stairs.

Outside the Toshugu shrine, we saw the famous carving of the three monkeys in "see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, speak-no-evil" pose at the Sacred Stable (Shinkyusha). After visiting all of the shrines and temples, we walked to the Kanmangafuchi Abyss. This was a really pleasant walk along the riverside with some lovely scenery. Just before we reached the gorge, we walked past about 70 stone Buddha statues. We walked back into town a slightly different way passing through an old cemetery in the forest on the way.

We had another early start on Wednesday morning because we were catching a series of trains to Tsuruoka. We actually arrived at Tsuruoka two hours late (very surprising for Japan) because there was a technical problem with the train in front of us. At Tsuruoka we checked into a Japanese style room with tatami mats and mattresses on the floor. The hotel didn't accept credit cards so we went out to look for an ATM. This turned out to be much harder than we expected as none of the ATMs that we found seemed to accept international credit cards or Mastercard. It was also raining a little which made walking around unpleasant. We knew that there was an ATM that accepted international cards at the post office but we didn't know where it was. We asked quite a few people for directions – sales clerks and school kids – but no one seemed to speak any English. At one stage a man walking his dog stopped to ask us if we needed any help. We explained our predicament and he pointed us in the direction of a small post office branch but when we got there it was closed and the ATM was on the inside. Then the man who was walking his dog (Akitoshi Hosoi) pulled up in a car beside us and insisted on taking us to the main post office which was open. We were able to withdraw some money from the ATM and when we came outside Akitoshi was waiting for us and he drove us back to our hotel. Unfortunately, Akitoshi couldn't speak much English so we couldn't really converse with him. Anyway we thanked him profusely, wrote down our name and address and gave him a key ring that we had acquired in India.

On Thursday morning, we woke up feeling like we had slept out on the road with our heads on the kerb. The mattress was really thin and the pillow felt like it had been filled with sand. As it was raining we were in no rush and we took our time getting ready and having breakfast. After breakfast, we headed to the Tourist Information Office next to the station to find out about getting to Dewa Sanzan – Trio of Sacred Mountains. It turned out that there was a bus leaving for Mount Haguro in 20 minutes, so we dashed back to the hotel to brush our teeth and grab our day pack with jumpers, snacks, and Lonely Planet. At the bus stop we met Michiko from Tokyo who told us she had come to Tsuruoka to pray at her parents' graveside. She was also going to Mount Haguro to eat at a special vegetarian restaurant run by monks. The bus ride to Mount Haguro was really beautiful. Everything looked really green and fresh. We drove past water filled rice paddies and mist filled forests of conifers. We got off the bus at the top of the hill and we found ourselves walking down the hill with Michiko. We walked along a narrow wooden boardwalk, stony paths and slippery muddy leaf filled tracks – we were both wearing sandals which was not great. We saw herons nesting in trees next to a frog filled lake and some piles of snow but hardly any people!. At one stage we walked past a large complex of around 10 shrines. Before entering the complex, Michiko showed us how to wash our hands, rinse our mouths and then wash the scoop at the water trough at the entrance. Our favourite shrine was surrounded on all sides by shoes and Japanese wooden sandals (geta). Michiko said that this shrine was dedicated to travellers, who need good shoes – which was very appropriate for us! Just before we left the shrine Michiko went to the shrine shop and when we asked she showed us her purchases. She had purchased what looked like two tiny little masks (one was a black crow and one was a red long nosed face) which were actually sake cups. The large shrine was impressively thatched with a massive wooden structure in front housing a metal bell. At the restaurant we said our goodbyes to Michiko, and much to our embarrassment she presented us with the cups! We continued our walk down Mount Haguro, past the 5-storeyed pagoda and the 1,400 year old cedar tree with a rope tied around it. We saw a beautiful waterfall with a picturesque little red bridge across a flowing stream next to it. At Haguro Centre, the bottom of the hill, we saw that the next bus wasn't due for another hour, so after a toilet stop and a quick look around, we decided to start walking to Tsuruoka. Fifteen minutes later reason kicked in. We worked out that our bus trip from Tsuruoka to Mount Haguro had taken at least forty minutes so the journey would be a minimum of forty kilometres! We decided that we should keep our eyes open for a bus stop. We were very relieved to find one and very relieved when the bus turned up a short time later. The bus dropped us off at the station and we went back to the hotel to drop off our stuff before going out to look for somewhere to eat.

On Friday morning, we woke early because of the sunlight shining through the screens – Japan really is the land of the rising sun! Keith went out and bought tangelos, grapes and cherry tomatoes for breakfast and the shop owner threw in a tray of strawberries for free. How unbelievable! We caught a series of trains from Tsurukoa to Niigata, to Takasaki, to Nagano, to Nagiso. From there we shared a taxi to Tsumago with some Dutch tourists. We saw more great scenery with the early trains running along the coast for the first time. Everywhere we saw the Japanese working on their rice paddies or vegetable gardens. The later trains wound up into the mountains after Matsumoto and we saw more forests of bamboo waving in the wind and treed mountains capped by snow. When we got to Tsumago we went to the Tourist Information Centre and organised to stay around the corner in a Hatago (historic inn) – Sakamoto-ya. Tsumago –juku is an old post town and looks like a museum with the old style picturesque wood and plaster houses of the Edo period preserved where elsewhere most was destroyed by fire over the years. It used to be on the important highway between Kyoto and Tokyo (Edo). It looked like the set from an old Akira Kurosawa samurai film. The main street was lined with shops – mainly selling souvenirs and sweets. We felt like we had stepped back in time because the main street was closed to traffic and at dusk the street was only lit by a few small lanterns. After our walk around town and along the river we went back to the inn where we sat on little stools on wooden slats and scooped hot water over ourselves from a wooden bath. Afterwards we climbed up the steep stairs to our tatami-matted "lounge" and ate our dinner. Because we were the only guests in the inn for the evening we had the use of an additional sleeping room which was separated from the lounge by sliding doors. Normally because of limited space the lounge doubles up as a sleeping room as the low table and cushions can be pushed to one side and the bedding can be pulled out of a cupboard at night time.

After breakfast the next morning, we packed up and dropped our bags off at the Tourist Office to be transferred to the Magome Tourist Office. We strolled through the village and began the 7.6 kilometre hike along the historic Nakasan-do Road up the Magome pass to Magome-juku. Most of the walk was along the Araragi River. We walked past beautiful white plaster and brown wooden houses with sculpted bonsai and colourful flower gardens, pine and bamboo forests, vegetable gardens, a trout farm, waterfalls and newly planted rice paddies. There was water everywhere and there were several points at which we could fill up our water bottles with fresh mountain spring water. A lot of the houses had water features with water running into flower filled containers near the front door. We saw a dead elephant shrew and a small bright orange snake. We arrived at Magome-juku at 1.00 pm hungry and eager for lunch. After lunch we went to the Tourist Office to collect our bags and we found out that the next bus for Nakatsugawa Station left in seven minutes so we had to rush down the hill to the bus stop. At the train station we found out how to get to Takayama and boarded the first train. After a couple of changes we arrived at Takayama. At Takayama Station we went straight to the Tourist Information Office to get directions to our hostel. It turned out to be a couple of blocks away so it was an easy five minute walk – a big relief because we were tired from our morning hike.

On Sunday morning it was raining pretty heavily when we woke up so we decided to treat it as a rest day. We borrowed umbrellas from the hostel and went to the "food festival" which took up a whole street a block away from the hostel. We tried some pretty odd tasting fishy products, rice crackers, prawn crackers, fish crackers, saki, mochi (pounded rice balls filled with red bean paste – azuki) and some strange nuts. After that we went to the supermarket and bought some food to cook in the kitchen. It was really good to cook for ourselves for a change.

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Week 13 – India – Delhi to Japan - Tokyo

On Monday morning we caught a rickshaw to the Qutb Minar mosque complex which contained buildings dating from the beginning of Islamic rule in India set in beautifully manicured gardens. We saw the exquisitely carved red sandstone arch of the Alai Darwaza Gateway with the tomb of Imam Zamin behind it. The Qutb Minar itself was a 73 metre tall tapering tower of victory. It was made of red sandstone and marble and was five storeys high with each storey marked by an elaborately carved balcony. It was decorated with carved floral motifs and carved Persian calligraphy. Beneath the Qutb Minar was the Quwwat-ul-Islam Masjid – the first mosque to be built in India. In the courtyard of the mosque was a 7 metre tall Iron Pillar. There is some mystery about how it was made as the iron is of exceptional purity and scientists have been unable to determine how the pillar could have been cast using the technology available at that time. Also in the complex was the 27 metre tall Alai Minar, an incomplete tower of victory. This was planned to be twice as tall as the Qutb Minar but after the death of Ala-ud-din, construction ceased. We fed the squirrels with salted peanuts while we there. They were so tame that they took the food from our hands and even climbed up onto our legs.

Afterwards, we caught a rickshaw to Tughlaqabad. This was a massive fort of which little remained but kilometres of crumbling walls. It was still impressive for its size and the atmospherics of the ruins. We saw some hobbled donkeys inside, some huge tanks, and views over slums from the walls.

Then we negotiated with a rickshaw to take us to the Janpath Markets. Just as we were about to set off another rickshaw turned up – this one driven by a Sikh. He tried to get us to go with him and when we insisted that we were going with the original driver he lost his temper and gave him a slap! An altercation ensued with onlookers adding their two cents worth. At one stage one of the onlookers picked up a large concrete paver to pitch at the Sikh. Eventually we managed to defuse the situation and get going.

At Janpath there were permanent shopfronts selling the usual tourist stuff – leather slippers, bangles, silk scarves, pashminas etc. However the best deals were at the market style stalls where Suzie bought some cotton shirts. We walked to Connaught Place for dinner and then walked back to the hotel.

We had a slow start to Tuesday as it was our last day in India. We spent some time in the room surfing the net and catching up with our photos. It was after 11 am before we left the hotel. We went to the metro station only to find it in chaos because the x-ray machine had broken down. All bags were being manually checked which meant that the queue was enormous. We caught the metro to Rajiv Chowk (Connaught Place) and went to the Post Office to post our India Lonely Planet home. We had lunch at Connaught Place before returning to the hotel to check out and head to the airport for our flight to Japan.

We couldn't believe how clean the plane was when we got on our JAL flight!! We had a really enjoyable Japanese meal before going to sleep.

Our flight arrived at Narita Airport on Wednesday morning and after collecting our baggage and going through customs we went to the Tourist Information Desk at the airport. We bought a ticket for the Keisei Line into Tokyo and purchased four two day passes for the Metro. We caught the Kesei line train to Ueno and from there the metro to Asakusa. The metro was full of commuters who seemed to be either sleeping or nodding off to sleep – even while standing. At Asakusa we found our hotel with a bit of difficulty. We had a "semi-double" – the bed was only 120 cm wide!! It was tiny but it was clean and it had its own bathroom. After checking in we wandered into a nearby ramen noodle shop. Huge pots of stock were boiling and we went with the half tonkotsu (pork bone)/half fish stock. It was delivered with bamboo shoots, seaweed, al dente ramen noodles and spring onions. The stock was rich and flavoursome and after the overnight flight and no sleep we really needed something to pick us up. After our ramen we caught the Metro to the Tsukiji Fish Markets. Unfortunately, it was late afternoon by the time we got there and the place was deserted. We walked around Ginza for a couple of hours after that. At one stage we walked past a pet grooming place where we saw a little white toy poodle getting a finishing touch of hair spray to its grooming session. It was getting pretty cold and windy so we decided to catch the metro back to Asakusa and head back to the hotel. This time we were the ones that were falling asleep on the metro.

On Thursday morning we got off to a late start because we were both so exhausted. It was after 10 am before we left the hotel and we started off by walking around Asakusa to see if we could find somewhere to have breakfast. Most of the cafes/restaurants on our side of the river were open only for lunch and dinner so we crossed over the bridge and after a little walking around found a kind of fast food restaurant that served rice dishes. We ordered a couple of set meals - thin slices of meat and onion served on rice with a raw egg and miso soup. After this hearty brunch, we set off for the Asakusa station to catch a metro to Tokyo station. At Tokyo station we began our walking tour of the Imperial Palace Gardens and Kitanomaru Park. The Imperial Palace was a short walk from the Tokyo station. The palace was surrounded by moats and massive stone walls. We crossed over a moat to the impressive Imperial Palace Palace Plaza and then walked around the palace grounds through the Otemon Gate to the beautifully manicured Imperial Palace East Gardens. We left the gardens and walked on through Kitanomaru Park to the Yasakuni Shrine which was a memorial to the Japanese war dead. There were some good statues in stone and bronze and a steady stream of Japanese coming to pay their respects at the shrine. Bowing, point bent arms forward, one clap, bowing again and dropping a coin into the donation box seemed to be the protocol.

We finished our walking tour at this point and decided to catch the metro to Shinjuku Station. It was dusk when we arrived at Shinjuku and the area immediately surrounding the station was a mass of neon lights and signs – department stores, restaurants and bars, hotels and electronics shops. We walked around for a while trying to decide where to eat before settling on a small ramen shop where we ordered a couple of variations on the tonkotsu miso ramen theme. Then we wandered around Shinjuku for a while watching the takoyaki (octopus ball) makers, young girls with outrageous hair and clothes, and shark-like young men in shiny suits and pointy shoes in Kabukicho (red light district). Suzie thought we were looking at a hairdresser's with a large advertisement featuring many girls with different hairstyles – however it wasn't a hairdresser! We saw a man bedding down in the metro with cardboard boxes and we had seen a few elderly homeless during the day. It seemed more disturbing here amidst such wealth than India where poverty was all around.

After breakfast on Friday morning we headed for Asakusa Railway Station which was the start of our Asakusa walking tour on the first day of the Sanja Matsuri Festival of Asakusa Shrine. As we crossed the bridge a young sumo on a buckling bicycle passed us. We started the walking tour from the station and almost immediately it was obvious that today was a special festival day as the road was lined with red rickshaws and muscular young Japanese men in ninja (habi) shoes who pulled them. We took a corner through Kaminarimon Gate and entered a large open air arcade lined with stalls on both sides. They sold a bewildering array of sweets, gifts and hot foods – chocolate dipped bananas, okonomiyaki, takoyaki, yakisoba, candy floss, macaroons, hamburgers, pots of stew and yakitori. Often the product was being manufactured on site eg octopus balls assembled and cooked in front of your eyes. We bought kintsuba, a chestnut fudge to try and ate heaps of samples.

We saw Sensoji Temple at the end of the arcade with huge Gobi dogs at each side and a metal drum of incense smoke. The impressive Five Storey Pagoda was next door and lovely Japanese gardens surrounded it with rocks, writing, little shrines, water, sculptured plants and trees. We saw many Japanese dressed in traditional clothes, and some who were involved in the procession in specific outfits eg girls dressed in a stork outfit.

Continuing on the walk we stopped at a barber in Nishisando Arcade and Keith had a haircut. The haircut was good despite the communication problems!

Then we walked to Sengen Shrine, and then continued to Matsuchiyama Shoden Temple. After this we walked along the Sumida River and ended back at Asakusa Station. We headed back to the mini hotel room and did a load of washing at the coin laundry in the basement. It was the only thing cheaper in Japan than India!

On Saturday morning, we set the alarm for 7.00 am so that we could visit the Tsukiji Fish Markets while it was at its best. We caught the metro to Tsukiji and walked a couple of blocks to the Tsukiji Markets, passing busy ramen, sushi, tea, seaweed and pickled vegetable stalls on the way. The markets were a hive of activity and we had to make a concerted effort to keep out of the way of the forklifts and the men clad in rubber boots and aprons running down the aisles. We saw large frozen blocks of tuna and swordfish being cut with band saws and fresh fish being carved with extremely long knives - some of the knives looked at least one metre long. We also saw prawns, seaweed, caviar, salmon, giant octopi, puffer fish (fugu), squid, crayfish, shell fish and giant buckets of live wriggling eels. We spent a good hour walking around the market and taking pictures and then we headed back to the food stalls where we had some delicious fresh sushi for breakfast – raw tuna, raw salmon and cooked salmon. After breakfast we caught the metro to the Kagurazaka stop which was the start of a Lonely Planet walking tour. We walked along a sloping one way avenue (Kagurazaka-dori) that was lined with cafes and beautiful shops selling flowers, exquisitely decorated cakes, porcelain and dinnerware. We spent some time in a Kimono shop admiring the lovely fabrics – but left empty handed. We saw quite a few ladies walking along beautifully dressed in traditional kimonos. There were an extraordinary number of French cafes in the area. Initially we tried to stick to the Lonely Planet walking tour but we kept getting lost along the winding lanes and after trying to retrace our steps we gave up and just walked along Kagurazaka-dori Avenue.

We strolled back to the Kagurazaka metro station and caught the metro to Shinjuku to begin another walking tour. We walked around the department stores and clubs of Kabuchiko and on to the central office tower area where we ascended a government building to the observatory on the 45^th floor and saw a Tokyo sunset – for free.

The next morning we headed for Asakusa Station to have a look at the Sanja Matsuri Festival on its final day. As we walked towards the temple we began passing bare legged men dressed in what appeared to be very short thigh length cotton yukata (belted dressing gowns) and a kind of cotton G-string with a modesty pouch at the front. Directly in front of the temple we saw a big group of festival participants dressed in the cotton yukata (the ladies had trousers on) and a daschund also dressed in a cotton yukata. As we walked towards the temple we saw the big portable shrine. This was carried on four long wooden poles by about 40 people who seemed to be bouncing the shrine in time to a rhythmic grunting and clapping. From time to time a yukata dressed participant in the crowd would relieve a shrine carrier. Directly in front of the shrine were two men who were dressed only in the cotton G-strings. Many of the clothed participants were drinking and some had passed out in the street.

When the crowd got too much for us, we headed off to breakfast at a nearby noodle stall and had udon noodles. Afterwards we caught the metro to Shibuya to the start of another walking tour. The main focus of this walking tour was the Meijijingu Shrine which was dedicated to the Emperor Meiji (great-grandfather of the current emperor) and Empress Shoken. The shrine was set in a beautiful garden and the literature and signage made a big deal of how esteemed the Emperor and Empress were. We saw a traditional Japanese Shinto wedding going on while we were at the temple. The outfits were very formal and beautiful – priests, bride and groom and families. We walked out of the gardens and into Harajuku, an area of young fashion featuring many Japanese girls dressed in maid outfits!!! Then we headed off to another walking tour around Tokyo Bay. We walked for ages simply to get to the starting point of the walk. We were walking through reclaimed land and out into Tokyo Bay. We found the station we needed and set off through a promenade with some beautiful flowers and over a huge smooth pedestrian bridge. Then we walked through a commercial area with some amazing high rise buildings, one shaped like the bottom half of an H and another with an enormous sphere situated near the top of the high rise. Eventually we got down to the water at an artificial beach, where we had great views of the sunset. We got onto the Rainbow Bridge, a colossus suspension bridge, and walked over the bay to Tokyo central on the other side. The views were jaw dropping and the bridge took us quite a while to walk over. On the other side was an area with canals and some ducks. We jumped onto a metro and headed back to Asukasa and our hotel where the festivities had died down, but were still going.

Week 12 – India - Leh to Delhi

On Monday morning Cath from Melbourne arrived to join our day trip to the monasteries. Our first stop was Shey Palace with the Holy Fish Pond and large 11^th century carvings of the Five Buddhas of Meditation at the base of the rocky outcrop. We climbed up the path to the Gompa on top which had beautiful views over the surrounding countryside and a large Buddha set into the floor. Then we drove to Thiksey which was much larger. This was a complex of whitewashed Tibetan style buildings topped by the Gompa on the crest of the hill. We saw the monastery museum with masks, a musical instrument carved from a human thigh bone, a bowl from a human skull and other ornamental dress items carved from human bone. There were a number of prayer halls and a small rooftop library containing ancient writings wrapped in silk and held between two pieces of wood. We drove to Chemday after that – another beautiful monastery in a spectacular setting high above the Indus River valley. The main prayer hall was closed and we could hear the monks chanting inside. We explored the monastery on our own climbing up on the roof and saw some stuffed Ibex. Our next stop was Hemis Gompa, the largest and richest of the Ladakh monasteries. When we arrived there was a crowd of excited rosy cheeked little boy monks waiting outside. They were all wearing crimson robes and carrying overnight bags and sleeping bags. The youngest monk there was 4 years old!! We talked to them and they told us that they were going to Leh for a festival that was to take place over the next few days. As we watched a small bus arrived and the little boys swarmed on to the bus. There were bags flying everywhere as they tossed them onto the roof racks. Amazingly they all seemed to fit on to the bus! We walked around the courtyard which was decorated with brightly coloured murals and then visited the museum. There were ornamental dress items made from silver and turquoise, belts made from carved elephant bones, silk wall hangings, musical instruments and various vessels made from porcelain and beaten copper. We visited the main prayer hall and then climbed up to the roof where we again enjoyed spectacular views of the surrounding mountains. Our last stop for the day was Stakna Gompa where a monk showed us three vividly painted prayer halls.

On the whole the monasteries (gompas) seemed to be in a set format. They were usually perched upon a hill or ridge next to the accompanying village with spectacular views over the valley. The upper part consisted of prayer halls and assembly halls with the monks' dwellings spilling down the hillside.

The next morning we were joined by Ken from Osaka for our day trip to Somgum, Likir and Alchi. We set off for the Likir Gompa stopping at Somgum where the Zanskar and the Indus Rivers meet – one green and one brown. We drove up the valley with extensive stone walls and saw the large golden Buddha next to the Gompa. We visited the small museum first and then visited the three prayer halls. We climbed up to the roof to take in the views and then walked down back to the car past the golden Buddha. Outside the monastery we saw groups of little donkeys ferrying loads up and down supervised by two women. Then we drove to the Alchi Choksor Temple complex. Unlike the other sites we had visited, this was set in the middle of a village on the side of a valley. We walked downhill to the temple complex past some women wearing some extraordinary wimple shaped hats. The 11^th century temples were completely covered inside with painted murals of the 1000 Buddhas with different scenes in between. One of the temples contained two large statues of the Buddha with detailed painted thighs. The quality and condition of some of the murals was extraordinary. After viewing the temples we had some pots of tea in a garden restaurant. It was very peaceful and green with only the sound of running water. We drove back to Leh stopping for some photos of the mountains on the way.

On Wednesday, we set the alarm for 5.30 am so we could be ready to meet our driver at 6.00 am. We drove to the Leh airport and passed security before waiting for the 8am flight. We flew over what seemed to be endless Himalayan mountains covered in snow. The snow eventually disappeared as we hit the foothills and then the plain and at 9.30am we landed at Delhi airport. We caught a bus to the New Delhi Railway Station and traffic was pretty bad on the way. The smog was terrible but Delhi was fairly green with many cassia trees with sprays of yellow flowers. Once we were deposited by the railway station, we dodged the rickshaws and walked through the station to the Ajanta Hotel on the other side where we checked in. We walked to Connaught Place which was only ten minutes away. Connaught Place was a serious mess of dust, noise and construction work but as we had been pre warned it didn't seem so bad! Although it was dusty, polluted and resembled a construction site, Delhi in general seemed quite manageable, partly because we had heard a lot of negative stories and partly because it was not a particularly hot day – felt like only 35 degrees when the heatwave had produced 45 degree days a couple of weeks before. We thought that we had chosen a quiet hotel – however later in the evening a drum band made a huge racket in the street together with a crowd of colourfully dressed people milling around a white horse but they moved on eventually!

On Thursday morning, we went to the New Delhi Metro station where we caught the metro to Chandni Chowk. We walked to the Red Fort from here. We entered the Red Fort at the Lahore Gate and walked through Chatta Chowk (a covered bazaar). Then we turned off to the adjacent fortifications of Selimgarh. We walked past a lot of large English style buildings which were being renovated. There were lots of beautiful big trees and birds. We saw a grey hornbill and some loud cuckoos. We walked back to the Red Fort complex to the red sandstone Naubat Khana (drum house). Then we saw the red sandstone Diwan-i-Am (Hall of Public Audiences). The white marble Emperor's alcove was exquisitely decorated with Pietre Dure. Then we went to the Diwan-i-Khaz (Hall of Private Audiences) and hamams made of white marble. There were a series of beautiful marble and red sandstone buildings and pavilions with lots of green lawns and trees in between which made it a pleasure to walk around. Unfortunately the Moti Masjid (Pearl Mosque) was closed and all the pools and fountains were empty. After we left the Red Fort we walked to the Jama Masjid. This was a massive red sandstone mosque similar to the one that we had seen at Fatehpur Sikri except that the large minarets were made from red sandstone with white marble vertical stripes culminating in a tulip shape just below the top. Afterwards we walked in a light shower through the Chawari Bazaar to the Metro station. There was spaghetti like wiring along the road, occasional goats and cows, and incredible traffic comprised mostly of motorbikes, pedal rickshaws and auto rickshaws. We caught the Metro to New Delhi railway station and went back to the hotel for a shower and a rest. Just before we went to bed – the drummers turned up again and drummed for what seemed like hours!!

On Friday we caught the metro to Central Secretariat station. We walked along Rajpath, a very new looking avenue with lush green parks and shrubs to the Central Secretariat and Parliament House buildings. These were monumental sandstone colonial buildings at one end of a large avenue facing India Gate at the other end of the avenue. India Gate reminded us of the Arc de Triomphe and Rajpath of the Champs Elysees. We walked along the avenue to India Gate, a 42 metre high gateway surrounded by green lawns and a couple of fountains. One of the fountains was empty whilst the other was full of water – and kids were bathing in it! It was constructed as a memorial to the 90,000 Indian soldiers who died in World War I. Under the archway was the eternal flame and a colourful uniformed soldier.

From there we walked to Safdarjung's tomb. The layout was very similar to the Taj Mahal at Agra and the Bibi-qa-Maqbara at Aurangabad. We entered the complex through an ornate gateway which was decorated with painted flower designs. There was a pool (empty) directly in front and centre of the mausoleum with sculpted trees and gardens on either side. The mausoleum (like the Taj Mahal and the Bibi-qa-Maqbara) had four minarets (one on each corner) and a central white marble dome.

We caught a rickshaw to Hauz Khas Village (in South Delhi) to have lunch with Sarah (who we had met in Hyderabad). We spent a couple of hours catching up with Sarah and after coffee we went our separate ways. We had a brief look in the Cotton Curio shop which had a lot of Indian style clothing made with modern cotton prints. Then we walked around Hauz Khas Village and then to Hauz Khas enclave on the main road in search of a supermarket. We gave up and managed to catch a bus to the Central Secretariat metro station. We jumped on the metro to New Delhi railway station. Unfortunately the metro was slightly delayed which meant that more and more people got on. By the time we got to New Delhi stop, it was really difficult to get off and we had to force ourselves through the crowd. Back at the hotel the drummers had started up again. Sarah had told us that this was a wedding – apparently the white horse we saw on the first day was a dead giveaway.

The next morning we caught a Metro and then a bus to Purana Qila (Old Fort). Before we went into Purana Qila we walked through a red sandstone gateway directly opposite the Purana Qila which led to the Khair-ul-Manazil. This was a mosque that was built by Akbar's wet nurse. There were a few coloured tiles remaining and a functioning well in the courtyard but otherwise the mosque was a crumbling ruin. Purana Qila was surrounded by massive walls and bastions. We entered the fort through an impressive gateway and tried to walk around the gardens, which was a bit difficult as there was a lot of construction/restoration work going on. We visited the Qila-i-Khuna Masjid. This was a red sandstone and white marble mosque which was decorated with geometric patterns in pietra dura and carved marble calligraphy. It was amazingly beautiful and way better than we had expected. The other building in the fort was the Sher Mandal, a two storey red sandstone and white marble octagonal pavilion.

As we had not been to any national parks in India we decided that we would visit the Zoo which was right next door. We spent about three hours there and the highlights were the Indian rhinos with their jacketed skin, the hippos who put on a display of rolling and yawning in the water, the white tiger, the jaguars, the gaur (Indian buffalo), the gharial (fish-eating crocodile) and the giant Indian hornbill.

After the Zoo we caught a bus to Humayun's tomb. The tomb had a large bulbous dome and was constructed from a combination of red sandstone and marble. It was reminiscent of the Taj Mahal also in that it was buit upon a large platform. It was surrounded by formal gardens, fountains, waterways and other beautiful tombs including the one of his favourite barber. We walked around the grounds for a while and then caught a bus to Rajiv Chowk/Connaught Place. The bus didn't actually stop – it just slowed down and we had to run and jump onto the still moving bus. We had had dinner at Connaught Place and then caught a rickshaw back to the hotel. After walking around in the heat all day, we couldn't face the walk back to the hotel!

On Sunday morning we caught a rickshaw to the National Museum on Janpath Road. There were a couple of good sections on the ground floor containing bronze and stone sculptures and miniature paintings. Quite a few of the sections were closed and on the whole we found it a little disappointing for a national museum. Keith was feeling feverish so we caught a rickshaw back to the hotel.

In the afternoon, the drummers returned - bringing them a huge sound system which they used to blast the area with rock/dance music. This seemed to be part of the extended wedding festivities and the music and dancing went on for hours and hours – well into the early hours of the morning!

Keith's photo in the Lonely Planet Travel Mosaic

Keith took this photo when our bus from Bikaner to the Rat Temple at Deshnok stopped at a railway crossing. He jumped off the bus and disappeared behind a wall and just managed to capture this great moment. If he wins this competition, the prize is a round the world trip for two!!

Week 11 – India – Srinagar to Leh

On Monday morning we got up early for our day trip to Naranag. We drove past green rice fields and then the Sindh River and turned off at Kagan to head up the Naranag Valley. We climbed gradually at first on a decent road with houses and small farms. As we climbed we could see the river below, houses and terraced fields on the opposite side of the valley and the conifer trees appeared in a dark green band. Below was the lighter green and gold of the deciduous trees and above was the rock and snow above the tree line. We passed a small village with houses with wooden "tile" roofs and a section lifted open to let out the smoke of the cooking fire. The track got really rough and the houses and terrace fields ended. The road ended at a ruined Hindu temple with spectacular views of mountains on either side and also further down the valley. We walked along a well defined path with 12 year old Nawaz as our guide. We saw a couple of locals and a few shaggy goats. The water in the river was very clear and clean and was running fast. We saw a few monkeys but they were very wary and scampered off despite our offer of a banana. There were beautiful flowers in bloom and the trees were all coming out in fresh foliage. We could understand why the locals describe it as heaven on earth. We came across small glaciers melting into the river. These were at the base of gullies in the mountain with waterfalls flowing down from melting snow. They disappeared under the ice into the river. We came to a split in the valley with a solid bridge where Nawaz told us there was a big problem. He told us we needed to go back to the temple! When we wanted to continue he said he was sick! We told him to go back to the temple and continued on our own - another Indian tourist scam. We took the bridge and headed along the track on the right hand valley. The scenery was truly beautiful and we saw no-one for hours. We crossed the river on a couple of small bridges made with wood and tied with bark and flexible new growth branches. The wood pieces moved as you walked on them but it was pretty safe. Massive rock walls rose up in some places and we came across a group of vultures feeding on a dead goat. We saw many structures with earthen roofs that must house shepherds and stock in the winter time but all was quiet and deserted. We passed a landslide in one spot where the path had collapsed into the river below. We also walked on one section which was built out from the cliff with a basic wooden walk way. We had to cross a couple of small glaciers which were surprisingly easy to walk on although it was a bit worrying to see some sections collapsed as the ice melted. The valley seemed to go on forever and we could see bigger mountains ahead covered in snow. Below the conifer line, some places looked like alpine meadows – just green grass. On the way back we bumped into a few local women who had been gathering green spinach in the forest. One showed us a strange mushroom she had collected. She had henna coloured fingernails and large gold jewellery on either nostril. The older lady had very long hair tied behind her with assorted bric a brac tied onto the end. We drove back to Srinagar after arguing with the guide's father about the payment (as usual). It was beautiful all the way with the apple and cherry tree orchards, yellow mustard seed terrace fields and dark spiky conifers full of cones.

We spent most of Tuesday walking around town looking at carpets in various stores before going back to the Government Emporium to check that we still liked the carpets that we had previously selected.

It was raining on Wednesday morning so we were at a bit of a loss. Our hotel owner on hearing that we were interested in carpets organised for us to visit his "nephew" Saboor's warehouse. Saboor showed us a tool with a magnifying glass used for counting knots per square inch (KPSI). He showed us how to tell the difference between a real silk carpet and a rayon carpet by using a needle to remove a strand from a knot and then burning it. The silk thread smelled like burning hair while the rayon thread smelled like burning paper. We spent the next few hours looking at a series of carpets. When none of the carpets that he showed us were suitable, Saboor made a few frantic calls on his mobile to line up some more carpets for us to view and then he took us in his car to a couple of other showrooms, where again we saw carpets that weren't quite right. After seeing all of the Saboor's carpets which were substantially cheaper, we decided that we should go back to the Government Emporium to see if we could negotiate with them further. We borrowed Saboor's knot counting tool and used it to count the knots on the carpets at the emporium where we found that the carpets we were interested in were not 676 knots per square inch but 576. This did give us more leverage with the Emporium and they did drop their price but it was still higher than Saboor's price. Saboor then took us to the showroom of a weaver who supplied the Emporium. We had tea with cakes and biscuits and half an hour later, four of the carpets that we had been shown at the Emporium were delivered and shown to us. Unfortunately the ones that we wanted were not there because the Emporium wanted to hold them for us and would only release them when we left Srinagar! We agreed that we would trust Saboor to obtain the carpets on our behalf.

On Thursday morning we went to Saboor's showroom to finalise our carpet purchase. After finalising the paperwork, Saboor took us for a drive through the old city stopping at a couple of places so that we could see the whole carpet making process. Our first stop was the weavers, where we saw two weavers knotting furiously on large primitive looking looms. The ivory coloured silk warp appeared to be strung across two large wooden logs and the weavers were using coloured skeins of silk for the knots. Saboor stopped outside a house where there were two large uncut carpets hung over a fence to dry. Inside the courtyard we saw a big stone bath filled with water and detergent next to a flat concrete surface. Two men were washing a carpet. One man would tip buckets of water from the bath over the uncut carpet while the other man used a metal scraper to scrub and push the water out of the carpet. Finally, we saw the cutting process which begins when the carpet is partly dry. This was done by hand using a specially shaped pair of scissors. You could see the detailed pattern emerging when the blotchy looking pile was cut. When this is complete the carpet is hung again to dry out properly and then there is a second cut which further brings out the detail.

In the afternoon, we decided to go for a walk and headed off up the hill to the Hindu temple on the top. It was a steep track with some beautiful sprays of flowers and the view becoming progressively better. We could see down onto the town and Dal Gate, the long stretch of water with houseboats on one side and the Boulevard on the other. The track led up to an army point on top and then around to the temple behind. It was built from stone with the obligatory lingam, Brahmin, copper cobra etc. The place was alive with Indian tourists enjoying the views over Dal Lake and across to the mountains all around. We walked back down via the winding road and the trees and flowers were exceptional. When we reached the bottom we continued walking right around the lake to the Mughal Garden Nishat Bagh. This took us almost two hours and when we got there we were tired. On the way we saw great views of the lake and the mountains. The lake seemed to have a problem with weed and many people were occupied with fishing out the weed and filling up trucks to take it away. We saw some ducks, geese, fishermen in small boats cooking food and smoking hookahs. On the other side of the road we saw waterways filled with small canoes and plots of land full of vegetables growing.

The Mughal Garden was very pretty with terraced flower gardens and waterways with the mountains providing a scenic backdrop. We were pretty exhausted and spent most of our time there sitting front of the waterways near the entrance watching large buses decanting hordes of Indian tourists. When it started to get cold, we caught a rickshaw back into town to have dinner.

At 7.00 am on Friday morning we left for Kargil in a Sumo (jeep). We followed the same route that we took to Narinag but instead of turning off at Kagan we continued straight on to Sonamarg. We saw the small local horses/ponies trotting around on and off the road. The mountains were typical Kashmir with armies of conifers marching up the steep slopes. We stopped at Sonamarg for a cup of tea. On the way to Drass we drove through the Zoji La pass which zig zagged precariously up the mountain with a sheer drop on one side. There was lots of melting ice and in parts the road was carved through glaciers. Just after we got through the pass, our jeep lost a wheel, but luckily we were able to continue on with a spare. Our driver Bilal was convinced that the jeep had been sabotaged??? We went through an army checkpoint where Keith was busted taking a photo. We had to present our passports and fill out a form and the other passengers had to produce their ID cards. The scenery had completely changed from a lush green to a dry brown rock with hardly any vegetation. We saw a ground cover of tiny yellow flowers growing straight out of the earth. We followed the Suru river with some tributaries that came from Pakistan. Occasionally we came to sections which were terraced. We saw green poplars and apricot trees in blossom. We went through a couple more checkpoints and arrived at Kargil at 2.30 pm.

The next morning we walked around to the taxi stand to arrange a vehicle to Leh. The landscape was incredible with huge mountains but very little water so they were mostly decomposed stone of varying hues of brown, green and purple. In the valleys was far less water but still there were some terraced fields and some poplar and fruit trees. However the land seemed much poorer. The villages started to display the Buddhist prayer flags and ruined stupas appeared by the roadside. There were bundles of sticks, tree trunks skinned of bark and animal fodder stored on roofs. We saw yaks for the first time, beautiful partridge, goats and crows. We stopped at Mulbekh to see a 1000 year old gompa (monastery) with a great Buddha carving in the rock. We arrived in Leh at 3-30pm – and it was very cold and windy. Leh looked like a beautiful small town with the gompa high above and interesting Tibetan arts and crafts. We went to a pharmacy where for the princely sum of AUD 7.74, we purchased 100 Doxycyclin (anti-malaria) tablets, 20 paracetamol tablets, 20 ciprofloxacin (antibiotic for stomach bugs) tablets and 16 strepsils – all without a prescription!

On Sunday morning we walked to the main bazaar to check out flights to Dehli. To our horror, we found the cheapest flight was on the 5^th May for Rs 5,257 – thereafter the price doubled. We decided to change our plans and use the next couple of days for day trips. On the way to the travel agent, we went past a wheat field that was being manually ploughed with the help of two sturdy yaks. We booked a trip to Somgum (the confluence of Indus and Zanskar rivers) and Alchi, and another trip to the monasteries at Shey, Thiksey, Hemis, Chemday and Stakna. We decided to make the most of the sunshine and climb up to the Leh Palace and the Tsemo (Victory) Fort. We walked back through the main bazaar and took the path behind the Jama Masjid. It only took about 5 to 10 minutes to climb up through some stone alleyways past some mud brick houses to the Leh Palace. We walked around the building and then found the trail up the hillside to the fort. This was a little more challenging as the ground was loose and it was a little steeper. We had to keep stopping to rest – probably because of the altitude. The 360° views from the fort were magnificent. We were surrounded by snow capped mountains and could see the Leh valley below. We met three Indian army soldiers who helped us up the rickety ladders to the top of the white washed ruins. We came down a different route and walked past some bakers who were making the Ladakhi roti (flat crispy bread) using a tandoor oven by sticking the dough rounds to the side. We spent the rest of the afternoon catching up with our diary and photos.