Nubra Valley

Last week I visited the Nubra Valley, which is in northern Jammu and Kashmir, near the Chinese border. I visited with the 4 Dutch girls and we stayed for 3 days. The valley consists of 5 very small towns. We walked, hitchhiked, and took local buses to get from town to town.

The Nubra Valley was one of the most wonderful places I have been. The valley was beautiful. It had diverse landscapes, ranging from desserts to forests, surrounded by bare, towering Himalayan mountains. The quaint towns seemed to have more donkeys, cows, goats, and yaks, then they did people.

The people that lived in the Nubra Valley were very charming. Everyone you would see on the street would cheerfully say 'Joolay!' (which means hello, goodbye, thank you, and please in Ladkhi) as you walked by them. The local kids, who were adorable, shyly requested high fives. The fact the valley has electric power only 3 hours a day, little outside communication, and limited food choices, was easily overshadowed by the amazing landscape and people.

Below are some pictures (w/ captions) of my trip to the Nubra Valley:

The bus we took to the Nubra Valley.



On the bus.



Eating dinner at our guest house.



Hot spring up in the mountains. The water must have been at least 110 degrees.



Teacup lake. A lake in a rocky hill, next to the river bed.





Views from the Diskit Gompa.









Other photos from the valley.













Waiting for the bus in Diskit.



The jeep ride back to Leh.



Khardung La - The highest motorable road in the world @ 18380 feet.