Traveling is good
Part fantasy, part reality… Ladakh, is where, the forces of nature conspired to render a magical unrealistic landscape… a landscape of extremes… desert and blue waters… burning sun and freezing winds… glaciers and sand dunes. Ladakh is an authentic land, faithful to ancestral customs where life is characterized by intense spirituality. Rich traditions of Mahayana Buddhism still flourish in the purest form in this region, which has often been referred to as Little Tibet.
Leh is the capital of Ladakh and is famous for its monasteries, the Hemis Monastery being the largest. Nubra Valley, Tso Moriri Lake and Pangong Lake offer truly amazing landscapes high up in the Himalayas. Major attraction of Nubra valley is the highest motorable road Khardongla pass, majestic peaks and glaciers, enchanting valleys and villages. Chadar or Zanskar Trek, Parang La Trek and Kang Yatse Trek are great opportunities for Adventure tourism.
The only two roads into the area are the Zoji-La Pass from Srinagar (open June-October) and the high altitude Manali-Leh Highway from Himachal Pradesh(April December). Leh can be reached by air from Delhi.
Eco tourism in Ladakh encourages Homestays, a system where tourists who are trekking in Ladakh, instead of bringing tents and supplies that often has to be carried by horses or donkeys,stay with local families in the villages they pass. This is seen both as environmental since the pack animals can sometimes eat all the limited vegetation, and as socially responsible since it puts money directly into the local villages.
Best time to visit: June to October, January to mid- March for Chadar Trek
Languages spoken: Ladakhi
Climate: Pleasant summers and very cold winters with snowfall
Adventure tourism: River Rafting, Double humped Camel Safari, Zanskar Trek, Parang La Trek , Kang Yatse Trek
Natural Wonders: Diskit and Samstanling Gonpa, Panamik hot spring (Nubra Valley), Tso Moriri Lake, Pangong Lake, Sand dunes at Hunder
Holy Places: Hemis Monastery, Thiksey Monastery, Spituk Monastery, Stok monastery and Shey Monastery
As per them though ARMY opened the route on 10 June but due to heavy snow again on 11 June, routes are almost closed again, and it would take time to make it all clear again for travellers. They also updated that they were stuck for 3 days and return now from Bara La cha, few others also updated the same, moreover cottage owner lady also updated the same that we have no chance to go till Leh as now.
Read MoreFor the sake of keeping it short and in order to avoid a writer’s block, I would be condensing two days of riding in…
Read MoreAfter the futile effort of sightseeing in Leh due to the bike troubles and all that pushing & pulling, I had decided to crash…
Read MoreDear Friends, This is my first post here and hope you enjoy as much I enjoyed writing it. I remember I started on 30th…
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This July, I completed a motorcycle ride from Gurgaon to Ladakh, covering Spiti Valley, Leh, Kargil and Srinagar – one of my many trips to this part of the world. Despite having done these rides multiple times earlier, why do I keep riding to these crazy terrains, where unless someone has actually travelled on a motorcycle? They wouldn’t believe what one would experience. What’s the lure of Ladakh still, when everyone and their mothers-in-law are riding/driving/flying there these days? When
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When you yearn to start anything new, you develop a kind of inkling that you are becoming a part of that thing. Similarly, when you plan to traverse the land of Buddha, you start inculcating a sense of being a kind of Buddha in you. Suddenly a different type of serenity and piousness, calm, and sense of discovering yourself develop in you. And this is a kind of mystic change in you which drives you to visit Ladakh, the land of Buddha.
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Harish and I was chatting over tea in office cafeteria and planning to go on a road trip somewhere in India in his car with friends. It started turning in to shape when one of our friend “Vikas” agreed to join us and finalized the destination to Goa “Mohali to Goa”. Next day he called up and cancelled his plan due to some work assignment and we were back to same stage of planning. Harish had a passion to cover Leh Ladakh on his bullet which he bought recently for this purpose only but could not plan the trip so far. Finally both of us agreed to go along on one bike 😊
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Kullu is by the River Beas. It has the Kali Bari temple, Raghunath temple, Bijli Mahadev temple, Akhara Bazar and the Bhutti Weavers Colony. Manali is closer to the snowline and towering peaks. It is ideal for trekking and has many orchards.
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They left every thing on me- planning entire route, night halts, bookings,
sight seeing, servicing of the Neerja’s diesel SUV up to the extent searching out 4
dumped sleeping bags from old cupboards for emergency. The final tight itenary
schedule was got finalised after endless mobile talks, smsing and emails, kind
courtesy Maj Gen Nawnit Kumar, SM Commandant, High Altitude Warfare
School(HAWS) ,Gulmarg and Lt Gen Bobby Mathews ,AVSM**, VSM ,the Colonel
of the Regiment (COR).
The journey of Ladakh ended but spirit of Ladakh still lingers on in our minds, such a harsh climate and stark nature, but the human seed survives..
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Almost 350 KMs out of 474 KMs long Leh – Manali Highway, does not have any civilization, although you would find some tented accommodations and tea stalls at every 30 to 40 KM. It is necessary to carry extra fuel because there is no petrol station from Leh till Tandi (around 365 KMs).
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Lamayuru is also place where we found famous Moon Land, these are soft craters, golden color land simply add charm to the beauty of Lamayuru. One can learn the science of mountain formation looking at moon land, which is neither a rock nor dust.
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