The trip from Singapore to Leh was eventful to say the least. I managed to get sick half way and if any of you readers have ever been through Delhi International Airport then you know it’s not an easy or pleasant experience at the best of times. Delhi was tiring before we even got off the plane since everybody decided to jump up and start rushing for the exits as soon as we touched down. This sense of unnecessary urgency continued into the airport with porters accosting us and WHO employees yelling incomprehensible questions at the general populous.
When we finally got out of Delhi the flight was much calmer as everybody travelling on to Leh seemed so much more relaxed. The landing in Leh is the exciting part of the journey as you suddenly drop through the clouds and into the Himalayas. The Leh valley is totally obscured by the mountains around it so there is no view of it until you begin a very sharp decent into the airport. The Himalayan mountains are unbelievably majestic and barren which serves to accentuate the beautifully green and lush Leh valley when you suddenly drop into it.
Upon arriving in Leh airport you couldn’t imagine a starker contrast with the Delhi International Airport. For one thing it was about 25o C cooler, but the main difference is the attitude of everybody from the moment you step off the plane. We really noticed the difference when we got inside the terminal building. Visitors have to report to a foreign registration desk and by the time we had reached this point I was really not feeling good. Seeing this, the officials kindly told me to sit down and directed the questions to Joss. When Joss told them I was sick they kindly asked us to inform our host Mr. Tundup (principal of Lamdon School and very well known in the area). I always expect staff at such desks to move you on as quickly as possible but they talked to us and helped Joss fill out the forms like there was all the time in the world. Everything in the airport everything seemed unbelievably calm and placid compared to the usual chaos expected of any airport.
We were met at the airport by a driver and taken straight to Mr. Tundup’s house. As well as being the principal of Lamdon School, Mr. Tundup runs a small guesthouse (left) above his house where he lives with his wife, daughter and niece. We dutifully told our host I had been ill on the flight over and they immediately got a doctor to come to the house and examine me. He gave me some broad-spectrum antibiotics and a few days later I was absolutely fine!
Our first dinner at Mr. Tundup’s house was a lot of fun as Bill Kite, the UWCSEA Ladakh-trip organiser in Leh, came over with some of his staff. It was especially nice because one of the staff members he brought with him had been a guide on the Ladakh trip I went on in 2005. We had a great home-cooked dinner of rice, dahl, potatoes and veg and Bill told us all about the dentistry project he has been pioneering at schools around Ladakh. After dinner Joss and I went to bed totally exhausted despite having slept all day. We spent the next few days, on Mr. Tundup’s orders, taking it very easy so as to acclimatize well to the altitude (12,000 ft) and did a little gentle exploring of Leh. Although most of the shops and restaurants are closed at the moment since the tourist season hasn’t started yet, there are still several establishments that are open anyway. We had some great lunches at a place called the Wok Tibetan including a great dumpling called a momo – filled with spinach and cheese - that people repeatedly told us to try. Momos actually look a lot like dumplings you get in Singapore but they taste totally different because the dough is made of wheat rather than rice. We also had some amazing apricot juice since apricots are one of the major crops here and 
also one of the only local sweet foods. After several attempts we found the Leh polo ground which had two games of cricket going on. We were a little less successful finding the Buddhist mani walls and finding the path up to the palace. Although they seemed to be marked clearly on the map, I think we need to get detailed directions from our host.
Leh is a really nice town with a lot of character about it. We are staying in an area in the north-west of Leh called Chanspa which is very peaceful and has fantastic views of the mountains and plots of land which are busily being plowed by dzo – a mix between a cow and a yak – for the wheat to be sown. The centre of town is about ten minute’s walk downhill. There are two major streets which are lined with shops and small 
eateries with strings of prayer flags overhead like Christmas lights. There are also several smaller shopping alleys branching off Leh Main Market street. To the east of the main town, below the palace, is the old town which looks exactly like it sounds – small one-storey mud and stone buildings on either side of a narrow zig-zagging cobblestone pavement. The whole town seems really lovely, with the hustle and bustle around the high street and the quiet areas like Chanspa all ringed in by immense, snow-capped mountains.
Everybody here is just as friendly as in Chamcar Bei, always smiling at us and saying “Ju-le!” which is one of the only Ladakhi words we have picked up so far. Ju-le is a good word to know since it can mean hello, goodbye, please or thank you. We have invested in a few books for learning the Ladakhi language but it seems to be much harder than Khmer. We provoked huge amounts of laughter in Mr. Tundup and his family over dinner one evening when we spoke the only phrases we have learnt so far:
Joss: For how much will you give me these cauliflowers per kilo?
Tom: They cost three rupees per kilo!
I don’t know if it was the accents or the shock of us trying and tripping over our tongues but we all spent a few minutes laughing afterward.
Mr. Tundup also gave us the grand tour of Lamdon School where we will be teaching. We knew the school would be far better established than CLC but the size was still shocking. There are 1300 students! Still more surprising was the hostel in which the boys from faraway villages stay. The girls recently had a new hostel built so they are about six to a room but the boys live in tiny rooms with up to 12 of them jammed into tiny bunk beds. Thankfully a new, bigger boys hostel is undergoing construction and should be ready by this September. Despite the confined living quarters the school is really quite impressive. They have teachers from India and Nepal as well as local Ladakhi teachers. It’s situated just outside Leh – to the north-east – and is about 30 minutes’ walk from Mr. Tundup’s house and 20 minutes from the centre of town. In the morning we walked there with Mr Tundup, along paths weaving between houses and beside streams and plots of land ready for plowing. We watched the senior children’s morning assembly which was totally organized by students and included prayers, singing, poetry reading, news headlines and a short play. It was great to watch the teachers sit back and let the older students take initiative. The school also offers several extra-curricular activities such as a budding music department and sports such as cricket, football and basketball. Although most of our work will be done after school hours helping the students with their English in the hostels, we are both looking forward to working in a school that is so well-established. It was a great experience in Cambodia helping to develop education from scratch but it will be nice to just jump straight in here.
Mr. Tundup has made it clear that our schedules will be totally flexible so that if we want to go on a couple of treks that is absolutely fine. He also told us that we can spend a few weeks working at one or two of Lamdon’s satellite schools and living in a rural household in a more remote village which we are both eager to do.
We’ve been making the most of our cold-weather clothes as the climate is taking a bit of getting used to, especially at night. Having said that, we had a little sleet at about midday yesterday! However, the sun is much too strong for anything to settle on the ground and it seems to be warming up slowly so hopefully the weather will be a bit more temperate by the time we decide to do some trekking!
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