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Ladakh - Planning The Trip

Over 2000 Km by road, in around 10 days. Stunning landscapes, wonderful people. That sums up our Ladakh trip. But how did it actually work? How did we make it happen? Read on to find out!  Leh, the capital of Ladakh , is accessible by air and road. Flying into Leh is the easiest, and time-saving option, while the road is the time consuming one, but with the added advantage of driving past some of the most beautiful landscapes in our country. Each option has much to recommend it, and we chose the road for just one reason – altitude sickness. Altitude sickness was one of my biggest concerns, since I suffer from motion-sickness. Yes, I do travel a lot, but that is despite my condition, and, over the years, have learnt how to handle it. I struggled with it when we visited Nathu-La in Sikkim, and wondered if I would be able to manage a week at the even higher altitudes that we would encounter in Ladakh. This was the reason we stuck to a basic plan, of only 9 days in Ladakh, thoug...
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Birds From my Window - White Breasted Water Hen

Now that the monsoons are finally here, our regular monsoon visitor is back too.. the White Breasted Water Hen.



This lone bird seems to appear and disappear with the monsoons each year, and I have often wondered where it goes off during the dry months. It is quite a shy bird too, which scuttles into the bushes at the slightest disturbance. It is called पाण कोंबड़ी in Marathi, and appears to be a common bird, though I have only seen it in the monsoons! 

I live in Mumbai, in a colony lucky enough to still have plenty of trees and open spaces. The best part of living here are the birds I see from my window, every single day. "Birds from my Window" is a series, where I regularly feature photos of birds I see from my home. To see all the posts in this series, click here. 

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Comments

  1. UnknownJuly 13, 2014 at 9:40 PM

    A very unusal and a beautiful bird. Thanks for sharing.

    Do read my blog http://samreenahmed13.blogspot.in/?m=1

    ReplyDelete
  2. BikramJuly 14, 2014 at 2:56 PM

    beautiful picture of the bird .. so what other birds do you get to see

    Bikram's

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anuradha ShankarJuly 16, 2014 at 8:13 AM

      Thank you, Bikram! and I am lucky that way! I get to see a whole lot of birds, right from my window. In fact, I have a series on the blog about them, called... Birds from my Window!!!

      Delete
  3. Sankara SubramanianJuly 14, 2014 at 11:46 PM

    WOW! I thought white breasted water hens are seen only in forests and near large swamps and reservoirs. What kind of a house do you live in? :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anuradha ShankarJuly 16, 2014 at 8:15 AM

      I thought so too, but apparently, they are quite common near all water bodies... and my house stands on what used to be, at one time, salt pans. and there are still quite a few marshy areas behind our colony.. and yes, i am very much in the centre of Mumbai :D the next time u are in Mumbai, come over to my place. Maybe i can show you some of our avian visitors!

      Delete

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