Barkhal

Up since 5am as booked on an 8.30am flight. Plane departed 4.5 hours later. Sounds OK but...the airport at Leh has no passenger facilities - only the lucky few were able to sit on baggage trolleys or even find a spot on the floors - and while we were there the airport continued to receive plane loads of people for another nine flights. Outbound flights must wait for flights to get into the airport and the bad weather conditions - snow and poor visibility at Leh - were exacerbated by congestion problems at Delhi + the fact that there'd been no flights into or out of Leh for the past 48 hours. And, did I forget to mention that the security hand luggage checks (which are in timeslots) and boarding calls, cannot be heard so everyone rushes forward and is likely told no, so you have to find another waiting spot, somewhere.

With hundreds of people crammed into a very small tin type shed, the close quarters were a very interesting study in individual and crowd behaviour. Fortunately, at different times, some kind people took notice of Ray's seniority and offered him a seat of some kind.

Anyway, we eventually departed and were relieved to be leaving Ladakh and its travelling challenges, even though we so loved Ladakh.

Early to bed tonight as we have a train to catch at 6am!Read more