A somewhat breathless greeting from the Ladhaki capital, Leh. Had the most spectacular flight in this morning, seeing more mountains and glaciers than I had ever seen before. 7000m peaks stuck out through the cloud tops on the way up and I was a little nervous as we descended into the murk, aware of all the hills around us. Thank goodness for GPS, is all I can say - we popped out in a valley, with mountainsides rising above us just a couple of miles to each side. No full instrument approach here - not enough room for even a 5 mile final straight run-in - we had to overfly the airfield and loop around about 200 degrees, descending in the turn and only about 500ft above a scree slope that descended with us. We then flew through a gap that looked as if it had been blasted out of a small hill just shy of the airfield boundary before touching down onto a pretty uneven and very heavily sloping strip. Great sport!
The air here is blissfully clear of the humidity and choking fumes of Delhi and, at 06:30, it was a pleasant 16 degrees C. Now, just after midday, it is much hotter and on the short walk up the hill from the hotel I am feeling the effects of the altitude. Had a 2-hour nap when I got here and, even then, I found myself waking up a little short of breath. It will take a couple of days to acclimatise, but that's what we've planned for, so all should be OK.
Time to go off and do some exploring in the bazaar and grab some lunch. More tomorrow, when I should have met the rest of the group taking part in the trek. Jullay!
