"While waalking down one of the side streets we found a church with a small crowd outside, and who should walk out but the Dalai Lama. He shook hands with a few people, and gave the rest of us a friendly wave as he was driven off in a car. We found out later that he was on a once in seven years tour of the area, and for the next few days we were able to see much more of him, until we eventually found ourselves referring to his holiness as the Dalai Lama. Joking apart, I must say the two festivals we attended where he was present, were, for me, a moving experience.
After two nights at the Tibetan Hotel we decided to move to a smaller hotel which we had found nearer to the town, it was also a lot cheaper. After we had moved in we found out why. It was next door to the town's generator and at 6am it started up and kept up the most dreadful noise until shut-off at 11pm. Apart from that the hotel was ok, and as we were too busy with other things, we decided to stick it out for the rest of our five nights in Leh." - MH