Leh – Somtimes not much happens

1. – 7. September 2026

 

 

haven’t experienced much these past few days. Royal Enfield is definitely a huge winner in Ladakh tourism, and they are capitalizing on it well. Several of their more unusual motorcycles are on display in the pedestrian zone, and they are advertising their Himalayan Basecamp.

 

 

 

Furthermore, something happened that I never thought would actually happen. I submitted feedback to Flixbus back on August 19th. On September 1st, a reply arrived. I generally praised them, but criticized the fact that the conductor simply threw garbage out into the landscape. Their response:
Hello Nana,

Thank you for reaching out to us.

We are glad to hear that your overall trip was excellent. However, we sincerely apologize for the behavior of our conductor. Throwing rubbish onto the road or landscape is completely unacceptable and goes against our company policies. It is our duty to protect the environment and keep our routes clean.

We take your complaint very seriously. Your message has been forwarded to our on-ground operations team for an immediate internal investigation. We will take strict action against the staff member involved to ensure this does not happen again.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention and helping us maintain our service standards. We value you as our customer and hope to provide you with a completely clean and professional experience on your next journey.

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation. If you have any further questions regarding our booking network, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Kind Regards,
Shem from Flix.

 

I have no idea if anything will actually come of it, but I’m still glad I brought it up.

 

Someone recently mentioned that Leh/Ladakh actually looks relatively clean. But that’s only relative.

 

 

am mostly frustrating myself here with this new high-altitude asthma. It just refuses to actually improve. The smallest exertions (though I hate to even call them that—sometimes it’s actions as simple as going to the bathroom) leave me breathing heavily. And unlike with sports training, I don’t get the feeling here that it’s good to push my lungs any further. But all this resting is making me restless, too. So I walked toward the Shanti Stupa, but gave up early during the climb. Which was a shame, as it was quite lovely.

 

 

 

 

On my next attempt, I did make it to the top and was feeling optimistic. However, it didn’t last very long, and I was breathing heavily again shortly after. Up at Shanti Stupa, I was actually amazed at how crowded it was. I thought the Indian tourist season was over. Or maybe many are already here for the Ladakh Marathon, which really draws a lot of people. You see more and more people jogging around. I don’t even want to know how jam-packed it gets during peak season. And there are so many fond memories of the 1990s, when you’d sit here with just a handful of people and enjoy the silence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MYou can see: my breathing is really the number one topic I’m dealing with here. And this overwhelming urge to go for a real hike again. Because the weather right now is perfect—not as hot as in the summer, and despite a few clouds, it doesn’t look like rain either.

 

I then went up a hill in the south again with a view of Leh. And mused over how much everything has changed. In the past, Leh felt like a large village, but now it really looks like a city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the palace no longer looms so powerfully over everything, but almost seems inconspicuous.

 

 

 

I usually take photos in landscape, but every now and then I hold the camera (or phone) the other way around.

 

 

Not much has really happened these past few days—they are already blurring together in my memory.

 

 

Although, of course, there are and were beautiful moments as well. I have a kitchen in my room and am actually really enjoying cooking for myself. Plus, the art of finding dishes that don’t require too many ingredients or kitchen utensils. I sometimes went for a chat here or there, visited the beauty parlor, watched people in the pedestrian zone, and generally had quiet days. And I had time for two fairly customized travel inquiries coming up in October. It might sound silly, but I actually think I’m pretty good at what I do, with my knowledge, speed, and thorough research when filling gaps. It’s a shame India is becoming increasingly cumbersome and offering fewer travel incentives. You have to hunt for a lot of niches—though those usually manage to inspire me in the end anyway.

 

And that’s what I’ll be spending a bit more time doing over the next few days.