Manali to Leh June 08

[thl]

Just finish processing my photos for the trip with fellow csers in June. Had over 300 photos. So I will be posting my fav in 600x400 size and others in thumbnail (with a link to the 600x400 size). Most are portraits and landscapes. Need to brush up skill in still-life and street shots in future. Had some IR photos and a few attempts at star trail. Photos are usually adjusted using levels + curves (coupled with reduction in saturation when necessary) + unsharp mask. Photos might appear too sharp for some of your likings.

This is my first attempt in cs 'travel-blogging'. This is half the series. Likely to post the other half on the same thread early next week. C&C are welcomed.

Trip is as follows:
Delhi-Manali-Keylong-Sarchu-Leh-Rizong-Leh-Pangong Tso-Leh-Nubra Valley-Leh.


1) AT MANALI

Our lodging Apple View is very far away from the town. Have to climb a slope with our backpacks in order to reach the place. Most of us were grumbling as we walk. But the owner is nice and once of the fellow traveller 'adores' the owner's daughter.

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Owner & daughter
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They have 2 dogs and a cow
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Saw a young girl playing with her daughter/sister while struggling to Apple View.
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[thl]

After resting for the night, decided to tour the town in the morning. Saw an old lady sitting on a rock along the path looking at the stream.
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Took an IR shot of a shack along the way
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As we walk along the road, saw a priest asking the people from the neighbourhood for donation.
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A lady at the balcony was looking at the priest and smiling to us.
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Pass by a school and ‘sneak’ in to take some photos. The teachers were very nice to let us
Take photos from the side although students were obviously distracted.
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[thl]

One of the students.
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Saw another priest asking for donations. Dare not take shots through view finder in case he gets angry. Had to rely on my Zigview to take from waist position.
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Saw a young girl carrying a sack. She stood still for me to take photo. After that she asked to see the photo.
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An old lady walked past some shops.
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Saw some men chatting in a shop selling gas tank. The men gladly allowed their photos to be taken.
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[thl]

The old man’s grandchild waved to us before we left.
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It was drizzling and we sat outside a mama shop for more than half an hour. We were chatting and relaxing. Took a photo of the shop owner.
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While waiting outside the shop, saw a boy from the neighboring house looking at passer bys.
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Despite the drizzle, still saw some ladies carrying straws up the slope.
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A man with his grandchild came into the store to buy ice-cream. They gladly allowed their photos to be taken.
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[thl]

Rain stopped and we proceed Manu temple. On the way saw a little girl playing with a coke bottle.
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The wooden background looks nice, so I took another shot from the front
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A little boy staying opposite was curious as to what I was doing.
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The boy was called back into his house by his mother and his brother came out.
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Did not manage to take any nice picture of the temple. Lighting wasn’t good outside (so I have either over expose sky or under expose temple) and we are not allowed to take photos inside.

Was trying to take some IR shots and saw a lady carrying hay (or straw?, don’t know the diff)
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[thl]

On the way out, saw an old lady talking to some younger ladies. She was combing her hair but pics turn out slightly blur. Only manage to have her side profile.
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Another IR attempt on a house.
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Didn’t have any nice shot at Hadimba. Saw another priest talking to people around the temple (might be also asking for donation). Follow him around for quite a while before I manage to get him smiling to someone.
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Suppose to go to the Tibetan colony but on reaching there found nothing interesting. The auto-rickshaw driver brought us to a Tibetan monastery instead. Saw a lady chanting and only managed a back view.
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No rickshaw outside the monastery. So on our way out to the main road, we saw some workers transport sands (for road/house building). They use the ‘passing baton’ method, using the heads to transfer the container.
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[thl]

At dusk, we all decided to take a night shot of the house the owner and his family stays in.
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[thl]

2) TO KEYLONG (though Rohtang Pass 4000m)

Just after we leave the town, we came across a river. We decided to stop and take some pictures.
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A boy came near the jeep and some of us started snapping away
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After a short while, we get excited when a herd of sheep passed by.
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[thl]

Reach a small village to take our lunch. Saw some horses behind the ‘restaurant’ and slowly I walked towards the horses. Took some colour and IR photos.
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2 men saw me taking photos of the horses and shouted at me to take their photos too. One guy take off his shirt to show his muscle and his friend said “He is the strongest man here”.
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[thl]

As the jeep proceeds, we started to see more and more snow/ice. They look dirty and the water from the melting snow makes the road muddy.
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Saw many women stationed along the road renting out the winter clothing.
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Many people like to take short trip from Manali to Rohtang Pass to enjoy some snow activies.

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[thl]

A fruit/tidbit seller saw us and game posed for us.
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The place is so crowded. We left after taking some photos. Luckily after the Pass, traffic becomes almost non existence, unlike the initial part whereby we spend about 30 min in a traffic jam.

Landscape started to change with nice ice-cap mountain.
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Saw a small waterfall and we were all excited. Immediately set my camera to smallest aperture (F22) and took a test shot. Shutter Speed is around 1/6 – 1/10 sec (no problem with my VR lens). Water flow is fast enough for some silky effect.
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Took one shot using IR camera.
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While looking for some nice angle, saw 2 shepherds enjoying the scenery.
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[thl]

Along the way, saw a few water streams rushing down the mountains cutting across the road.
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Saw another herd of sheep and took some colour and IR photos.

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The shepherd posed for us.
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[thl]

Snow-capped mountain just before Keylong.
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Attempted a star trail at Keylong. Photo is severely under exposed and patches appear when I increase the brightness in post-processing.

 

[thl]

3) TO SARCHU

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[thl]

Along the way, the jeep have to stop at police post to get our passports check. In one of the stops, we saw a group of children about 100m just before the stop. Few of us immediately backtrack to see if there are any chances of taking some of their photos.

Attention is immediately drawn to a very outgoing girl who keep on posing in front of the camera.
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But my focus quickly change to 2 siblings who were seated quietly beside her. She reminded me of Little Red Riding Hood.
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I was so excited when she started to sit and look at me with those innocent eyes. My camera started to click non-stop.
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The younger sibling.
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He took his chewing gum out and started playing with it.
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[thl]

Another group of about 6 children seated a few metres away were initially not keen on letting us took their photos. However after finding that they were left out for the 10+ min, they decided to let us took their photos.
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Saw 2 siblings going to school on my way back to the jeep.
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[thl]

At another stop, saw a man sitting outside a provision store and find the background quite interesting.
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Took some colour and IR sceneries along the way.
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[thl]

Landscape started to change as we ascend to higher altitude.
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Took some IR photos of the ice-capped mountain.
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There is a lake partially frozen.
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Finally reach Sarchu. The sky is so blue and there are few clouds.
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Wanted to take star trail but wife and me were not feeling well. AMS had started to creep in. It was cold at night but luckily the sleeping bag and thick blankets keep my body warm.

 

[thl]

4) TO LEH

Just outside Sarchu, saw some interesting landscape.

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In IR. The sky look so dark at high altitude.
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Just before reaching Leh, we stop by the road side to take photos of Thiksey (?) monastery.
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[thl]

5) IN LEH

A few of us decided to go main bazaar area in the morning. The place is not as busy and crowed as I expect. Apparently, most shops open after 10am.

Took some photos along the street.

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Many women were seated around the area with water containers. They were waiting for container truck to supply (drinking?) water.
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Saw a boy crying on his mother’s shoulder.
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One of the building on the main street
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