Back in Leh.

Even though we were back from our trek we woke up at 6:30am. On our trek we had heard that the Dalai Lama was going to be speaking in Leh, so we headed off for the first day of the event. We found a taxi in town at 8:00am and shared it with 3 local Tibetan guys. The ride to the centre was hilarious! There were so many cars, buses etc. that the traffic was 3 lanes across not allowing anyone to come from the opposite direction. Our taxi driver was crazy and rear-ended two vehicles on the way...good thing we were moving slow! We had to get out and walk for the last bit, and our Tibetan guides walked us through the field of people to try and find the perfect spot to sit. They were such gentlemen that they even provided a plastic bag for me to sit on, and held an umbrella over me to keep the sun off of my face. In the general area the Tibetans translated some of the jokes, but we decided to walk to the tourist area for the English translation (and to be close enough to actually see him speak). The morning was too hot for us, so we left early and found a bus back to Leh. Once back we decided to take in some of the Ladakh Festival events and take in the local Polo game. The best part of the game was when a cow decided to take the field and run back and forth chasing the horses. I also decided to do some shopping in the Tibetan Refugee markets because the people of Leh were so nice and easy to deal with (unlike the pushy vendors in Delhi and Rajasthan).