The city of Kashi is filled with temples, big and small, old and new. There are temples at every corner, and you never know where you will stumble upon a small shrine. There are idols beneath what remains of trees (there are hardly any trees any more within the core area of the city), there are saffron covered forms resembling deities which seem attached to walls, an especially incongruous sight when the idol itself appears to be old, while the wall is evidently new…. And there are surprisingly large temples rising from what appear to be a bunch of houses. The city is sometimes colloquially said to be as old as time, and some of the shrines and temples are said to date back to times unknown, at least the deity itself, if not the structure. Not much remains of the ancient structures anyway. The city has seen more than its fair share of good and bad times. It has seen the heights of grandeur, and the lows brought about by destruction. The city that exists today has grown so haphaza...
Our original plan at Nubra was to enjoy the sand dunes and relax. We took one look at the crowds and changed our mind! Of course, it helped that we had a destination in mind – one that had been suggested by many people we had talked to, over the past few days – Turtuk! The village of Turtuk, about 200 km from Leh, lies in the region of Baltistan. This is one of the few villages of the region under Indian control. The rest of Baltistan is part of Pakistan. The village lies about 2.5km from the Line of Control, and is the farthest visitors are allowed to go. Changing our plans meant that we would have a long day ahead. We were on the road at 5 AM, with the dawn to ourselves, not a soul on the road! We did startle a pair of foxes which ran across the road. They probably wondered why humans were out on the road so early! Watching the mountains change as the day broke made the early start worthwhile. There was a flip side, though. We reached Turtuk at 7:15 AM, only to find everyth...