Kerala + Ladakh – Afterthoughts

11. January 2026

 

 

Kerala and Ladakh — what a combination! I already wrote that in the blog post “Before the Trip,” and looking back now I can say: yes, it really is a special combination. From the very bottom to the very top, from quite warm to quite cold — but also from kind people to kind people.
From Kerala I had new things to report: for the first time I did a proper Ayurveda treatment, discovered the mountain landscape, and explored a few other places around Thiruvananthapuram. What was wonderful:

• The Ayurveda treatment really cured me! After one month of continuous illness, I then stayed properly stable for a full month
• to have discovered a resort that I can truly recommend
• to meet my colleague Sreejith – he knows so much about Kerala and what there is to discover, and he is simply a pleasant, inspiring, and fine person
• to know that Kerala has more good hill destinations where one can escape the heat
• to learn that Kerala offers a higher living standard

 

It was only ten days, but they were definitely worth it for me. Still, Kerala will probably never become a place that truly captures my heart on a personal level—too warm, too green, too… well, it’s not easy to put into words. It doesn’t really move me in a deep way. But for short visits it’s very good, and I can recommend it to my clients with a very clear conscience.

 

 

And then it was pretty much headlong into Ladakh: 3,500 meters altitude, sub-zero temperatures, mountains, silence—and a group along with me. What I still find difficult for the blog is writing about places I’ve been to so many times already. There’s so little that is genuinely new to discover—and I need that sense of novelty to really feel inspired to write. Not writing at all doesn’t feel right either, though; I do want to share what we experienced, show my photos, and convey an overall impression. But compared to blog posts from places that are new to me, I myself find my writing here less exciting. I have fewer wide-eyed moments of wonder—but I still take great pleasure in simply being there.

 

 

Since I already have so many photos from Ladakh, I focused more on collecting video footage instead. The problem is: I don’t really know yet what I want to do with it. It took time for me to develop a “visual language” for photography, and at some point I also found my own way of writing—now I need to learn filmmaking as well. I do find some of the sequences quite nice, but I’m still missing a sense of intention: what exactly I want to convey, and how. So for now I’m filming and waiting for an insight to emerge. And if it doesn’t—well, that’s fine too.

 

 

There are, of course, other forms of creative expression as well. I feel somewhat in search of something. However, a group trip is not the right time for that 🙂

 

So, this group trip. Compared to the previous one, this was very different. For one thing, I know the area well – and for another, I had designed it myself. As a result, it reflected much more how I like to convey a place: it was far more focused, without rushing from one impression to the next. I had the impression that it was received quite well.

 

 

What stressed me the whole time, on the other hand, was that we couldn’t carry out the program as announced, because quite a few things fell through that couldn’t have been anticipated beforehand. That somehow gave me a constant bad conscience, and I wasn’t relaxed about it at all. I felt in a state of continuous tension, and when I look in the mirror or at some photos, I can actually see my shoulders constantly pulled up. On top of that, I was unsure to what extent I was meeting Damir’s expectations of what a tour leader should be, or not. It was ‘my trip’, yes, but at the same time I was traveling on behalf of someone else. And because of the criticism of the previous trip and my doubts about what Western tour leadership is ‘supposed’ to look like, I felt like I was constantly treading water. How much information do I give? How much do I hand over to the local guide? I couldn’t resolve that on this trip – and I’m also not sure what that means for the future. Maybe there isn’t one. I know how I want to lead trips – but if the expectations placed on me are different, that becomes difficult. Am I speaking in riddles here? Very concretely, it’s mainly about how dominant I am as a tour leader: do I do almost everything myself (as my predecessor on the Northeast India trip apparently did), give all the information, lead people here and there, and see the local guide merely as background support? Or – as I would rather do it – do I see myself more as someone who complements, contextualizes, adds extra information, and works in the background to create possibilities for experience? And see a group trip simply as a way of traveling together and experiencing things together.

 

 

But of course there were also many beautiful moments. I basically liked the group (even though two couples and five solo travelers aren’t the easiest combination), and I still find Ladakh itself wonderful.

 

What was new was that we had such an incredibly comfortable, warm hotel. The central heating felt just like at home, and my usual winter experience here – constantly wearing a hat and thermal underwear – was no longer necessary. Even during the day it was often so warm that I didn’t need either a hat or a down jacket. I’ve never experienced winter here this comfortably before. In the past, I would always feel a bit relieved once I was back on a warm plane – this time, I could have stayed ‘forever.

 

 

Ladakh simply hasn’t lost any of its fascination for me. I enjoy and marvel at the mountain world, I really love the company of the people, and I still want to experience more there and spend more time there. My mind has already opened up again with so many ideas of what I’d like to do there in the future.

 

 

And so I left Ladakh with the wonderful feeling that I absolutely must return again soon!