LADAKH

view of Leh city

The Himalayan kingdom of Ladakh is one of the most remote regions of India, and lies embedded in the mountain world of the Karakoram in the north-west, the Himalayas in the south-west, and the Trans-Himalayas at its core. The Indus, rising in the interior of the Tibet, flows through the centre of Ladakh, going further on to the western part of Pakistan. Ladakh is a high-altitude desert and temperatures, which can reach as low as -45 C in winter, are the most extreme here.

What to discover

The remote and inhospitable land of Ladakh has always fascinated city-dwellers with its images of a stark and barren landscape juxtaposed alongside lush green fields, monasteries precariously perched on mountain tops, and an intriguing blend of cultures. Leh, the present capital of Ladakh, was once the central meeting-point for trade caravans from Central Asia and the plains of India.

Religious ceremonies, monastic festivals, and oracles who have the power to heal as well as divine are regular features of the Ladkhi landscape. Crafts such as metal-work, painting, weaving, and wood-carving are widely found in the region; archery and polo are the traditional sports there. One of the most visible features of Ladakh's rich cultural heritage are its ancient monasteries. Most of these are built on sheer cliffs and are still actively functioning. This is truly one of the last few places where one can experience Tibetan Buddhism being practiced in its original form.

Geography

In geological terms, this is a young land, formed only a few million years ago by the buckling and folding of the earth's crust as the Indian sub-continent pushed with irresistible force against the immovable mass of Asia. Its basic contours, uplifted by these unimaginable tectonic movements, have been modified over the millennia by the opposite process of erosion, sculpted into the form we see today by wind and water.

Ladakh lies at altitudes ranging from about 9,000 feet (2750m) at Kargil to 25,170 feet (7,672m) at Saser Kangri in the Karakoram. Thus summer temperatures rarely exceed about 27 degree celcius in the shade, while in winter they may plummet to minus 20 degree celcius even in Leh. Surprisingly, though, the thin air makes the heat of the sun even more intense than at lower altitudes; it is said (as a joke) that only in Ladakh can a man sitting in the sun with his feet in the shade suffer from sunstroke and frostbite at the same time!