Ladakh from the air...
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First sighting of the Ladakh ranges |
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Monasteries in and around
Leh...
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A window and incense stick holders frame the surrounding mountains |
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Misc.
pictures around Leh
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Snow-capped peaks viewed from our hotel room |
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The Sindhu (Indian name for Indus) ghats |
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Giant poplar trees in our hotel garden |
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A giant prayer wheel, Leh |
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A visit to the Hanle
observatory (7 hours south-east of Leh, on the
Tibetan
plateau), which houses the highest telescope in the world...
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Much of Ladakh is desert, with less than 2 days of rain a year |
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Prayer flags in the desert |
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Clouds draw lines in the desert |
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Hillsides show evidence of erosion under molten snow |
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A 400 year old monastery on the outskirts of Hanle |
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The observatory, dwarfed by snow-covered peaks |
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A bank of solar panels provide power to the Indian Institute of Astrophysics guest house |
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A local on horseback ponders a gamma-ray telescope |
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The Hanle observatory housing the two metre optical telescope |
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I rued my decision to leave behind my tripod in Bangalore. Inspite of my attempts to hold the camera still against a car, the 25 second exposure produces a shaky photograph. |
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Uncle spots a black-necked crane |
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Pit-stop for bird-spotting |
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Red hills, green hills, white peaks |
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Trying to shoot some Tibetan wild ass. |
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Pangong-Tso
lake, the world's highest motor-able road and
Changla
pass (17,800 feet)...
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Standing on Changla pass on a sunny May afternoon; temperature hovers around zero. |
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Winter temperatures in Leh town drop to -40 Celcius and down to -60 in neighbouring Kargil |
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Our trusty steed, the Mahindra Scorpio. |
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The Pangong-Tso lake |
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This 120 km long salt-water lake straddles the border between India and Tibet, where it is rumoured to be patrolled by Chinese subs. The salt water is presumably seawater trapped during the collision of the tectonic plates that led to the birth of the Himalayas. |
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The lake changes colour as the passage of clouds affords varying amounts of sunlight to be reflected off its surface |
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Posing against a backdrop of the lake and the surrounding mountains. |
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The vessel in the foreground is an Indian army patrol-boat. |
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Home | Ladakh | New Delhi | The Sunderbans | Durga Puja | Walhalla | Lake Mountain | Cape Patterson | Monselvat and Indian night | Colac | Great Ocean Road trip | Black and white | Melbourne and surrounds | Bhutan | Easter Weekend and Phillip Island Trip | Bangalore Airshow
