Hege's Adventures in Mumbai: Fantastic India

The last weeks have really comprised of the differences this beautiful country has to offer. It started off with some interesting and enjoyable social events in connection with some maritime and oil events happening here. The Norwegian embassy invited Norwegian companies working within the sector here in India to the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel for a formal night with meeting and greeting which was great fun! Met many of our clients as well as other Norwegians who were here for the exibition. Innovation Norway also had an advertising video playing in the background which almost made me miss home... The next day was an informal gathering which we also attended, met some of the same people here and it was also fun! But we had to leave early from the event as we were flying to Goa the next day after half day in the office and had yet not even started packing because of all these great events that took up our time ;) In Goa we actually had another event to attend that evening, dinner and entertainment at the Oil Spill Conference also arranged by the Norwegian Embassy.... So 3 days in a row with meeting and greeting events within the business sector I work within was just such a great experience! Though also a bit tiring.. But hey, we were now at Goa, which is like paradise :)

Taj Holiday Village Goa = paradise!!

Which to have for lunch?

Wonderful loooong beaches...

So we stayed in Goa as I was to attend a management meeting at the Taj Holiday Village, fantastic place to stay as it was more of a small village feel with many smaller cottages... Really enjoyed it! After some days at the Taj in the North of Goa, we moved to the South and checked into another hotel. Also this was a nice location with a fantastic beach. Just loved Goa, going from Mumbai to Goa is like two different worlds! Just amazing to relax, sunbath, be able to wear "short" dresses again and just chill by the pool....

We stopped at one of the local beach shacks and asked for a beer, which apparently was the ONLY thing they had there so lucky with that one ;)

Ice-cream bicycle man, what a life :)

Ahh, life is good at Goa

After Goa, we went back to Mumbai to work for a short week, before heading up to the far north Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh. Again this is something totally different then Mumbai, and Goa for that matter...The season there ends in September so we were a bit late, but this would be our only chance to travel there as it is not season again before May/June. The region has a very interesting history and only became a part of India as late as in 1947. The population is very much influenced by tibetians and actually the local language, Ladakhi, is based on tibetian. It is very much a strategic area for India, boarding both to Pakistan and China and there is quite heavy military activity there.

In Ladakh we ended up staying at a homestay kind of accommodation as the hotels were actually closed for the winter. We stayed at a so-called 4 star A-hotel, but it really ended up being a room at the end of the hotel the family stayed, eating the same food as them and getting served our meals in their living area. We really got to experience it the way locals live. It was however a bit cold up there in the North, around 10 degrees...Outside AND inside... People keep saying that as a Norwegain they guess i am used to the cold...Well, when we are outside we wear proper warm clothing and inside we actually have heating...

Fantastic landscape of Ladakh...You can see the road we drive on along the mountain side.

The landscape of Ladakh was amazing...Kind of moonlike...Leh, which is the main city and where we stayed has an altitude of 3500 meters. And the highest we travelled was to Khardung La Pass, which is the worlds highest motorable road at 5359 meters altitude. We were trying to drink as much water as possible as well as avoiding alcohol and coffee in order to prevent altitude sickness. Our guide also got us some tablets that were suppose to help. And I was pleasantly surprised over my body actually coping ok with the altitude :) Off course, I got short of breath quite fast when walking up stairs and such, but did not otherwise feel sick at all! Thank you my body for that ;)

Lunch the local way in the living room

Khardung La Pass: we reached the top!!! By car ;)

Other things we experienced in Ladakh was lots of fantastic budist monestries as well as the Pangong Lake, which lies in the boarder between India and China. I find it difficult to describe by words or pictures the beauty of this part of the world, it is just too great. I think the only way to really grasp it is to see it for yourself.