they have a food called “tsampa”, which is just flour of this particular grain. You put a spoonful of flour in your mouth and then, before you choke, quickly drink some butter tea. It’s not unpleasant.

you know how to make a trip through Ladakh even more moonlike? Do it at night, under a full moon. Really neat.

as a whole, going from Leh to Srinagar is less excruciating than going from Manali to Leh, though it is still no picnic. Keep your bladder relatively empty. And yeah, the all-nightness of it is kind of lame. But I think the trip from 4pm to 8am is about all you can do, unless you book your own car or figure out some sharing thing well in advance. I met some great friendly Kashmiris named Javaid and… something else… who refused to let me pay for my tea.