India - Ladakh

Leh is the main town within the Ladakh region, a town set at about 3600 metres above sea level amidst dramatic mountain scenery, surrounded by numerous peaks of over 6000 metres. The area is known as a high altitude desert due to the lack of annual rainfall with the majority of the area’s water supply coming from carefully irrigated glacial melt water and the whole region is alive with whitewashed Stupas, also known as Chortens in Tibetan (a 'heap' that contains the remains of a Buddha, Lama or Buddhist relics and is a place of worship), ‘mani’ walls (Tibetan stone walls with sacred inscriptions), prayer wheels and colourful prayer flags that send messages ‘metaphorically’ into the wind up to the heavens. It is a semi-autonomous region within the Jammu and Kashmir area and remains one of the only remaining centres of Tantric Buddhism in the world.

The Ladakh region also borders Tibet and before China invaded and claimed Tibet in 1950 there were important trade routes in Ladakh between India and Tibet that were subsequently shut down by the Chinese. There is however, a huge Tibetan influence in the whole area and Tibetan Buddhism is the dominant religion. Many ancient Tibetan monasteries still stand perched precariously on the rocky outcrops of the Himalayas in this region. With the Chinese having destroyed several thousand ancient Tibetan monasteries actually inside Tibet as part of their campaign to eradicate Tibetan culture and identity and to assimilate the Tibetans with the rest of China, this northern stretch of India between Ladakh and further south into the Spiti Valley area of the Himachal Pradesh state, are the last remaining places where traditional Tibetan Buddhism is still practised in its original form, complete with the original monasteries. As a result there is also a large population of Tibetan refugees in the area, as well as many Nepalese who come here to work for the summer months, escaping the monsoons back home - all adding yet again to the feel that we were in yet another country, such is the diversity of India.

It was mid May when we arrived in Leh, which is a little ahead of the main season which usually runs from mid June to mid September; the reason being the inaccessibility of the region for the rest of the year. Not only is the main road in and out of the area closed, but so are many of the roads leading to some of the high altitude lakes and landscapes that are big attractions. Unfortunately this was pretty much the case for the 2 weeks we spent around Leh, there were a few fortunate people who were able to complete some of the trips, but also quite a number of people who got across the pass to the destination only to then be snowed in and stuck for several days until the military could get them out in some cases, or the road was opened again.. One of the main natural attractions of the region is the Nubra Valley, an area which involves crossing the world’s highest motorable road called The Khardong La, the pass being at around 5660 metres - no great surprise it is unpredictable this time of year.

Trekking is another big draw of the area, but again due to the time of year many of the trekking routes were impassable as a result of snow. There were a couple of treks we could have done if we really made the effort, but somehow we couldn't quite be bothered, happy just to spend our time settling into the very relaxed pace of life in Leh and taking a few day trips out to some of the many surrounding monasteries, all set in fantastically dramatic locations.

After spending our first 4 or 5 nights in Leh staying with families in their homes we decided to move out to a slightly bigger place with more people and a more social atmosphere about it. The ‘Oriental Guesthouse’ is perfectly positioned on a quiet street on the edge of town with beautifully un-obscured views out across the valley and up to the 6000+ metre mountains of the Stok Kangri range.

Ladakh only opened up to the wider world in 1975, before which the communities that lived in the area were completely self sufficient, as a result the local people still use many of their sustainable practices and the region is now used as something of a model to showcase the kind of viable ecologically sound ways we could better manage our lives. A book and film called 'Ladakh: Ancient Futures' has been produced on the subject as well. The town of Leh has grown in popularity immensely over the last few years due to its stunning location and the naturally calm and relaxed way of its people; the town is now full of homes converted into guesthouses, Tibetan souvenir shops and restaurants but the local culture rises above all the commercialisation and it still has the feel of a small town where real people live, rather than being just another tourist haunt. Speaking to some of the locals they told us that they were glad the tourist season only lasts a few months of the year, they openly admit it would drive them crazy to have the likes of us roaming around the entire time - when the tourists leave the locals get back to their basic traditional way of life where large incomes aren't necessary and they pack away the pizza dough and espresso's for another season.

During the 2 weeks we spent around Leh we met up with numerous other travellers who were equally as hindered by the roads (all of us wanting to head south to Manali in Himachal Pradesh on what is considered one of the most spectacular but somewhat hairy roads in India) that we spent quite a bit of time with exploring what we could of the surrounding areas. We visited a number of monasteries within a local bus ride away, amongst them, Thiksey, Stakna and Hemis and a couple of old Palaces, Stok and Leh, all very dramatic and scenic locations. All have very similar features in appearance, deities adorn the walls both inside and out complete with the ‘wheel of life’ which illustrates Buddhist teachings in a popular and visual way - see link: http://www.buddhanet.net/wheel2.htm

Thiksey is one of the largest in the area and incorporates a school, shops, restaurant and hotel whilst Stakna, which is Bhutanese in origin, is one of the smallest but one of the most visually impressive from a distance seemingly perched high on a rocky outcrop floating about the valley below. Hemis dates back to the mid 1600’s and is the largest Monastery in the Indus valley and the most important not least because it is the Spiritual Centre of Ladakh’s Drukpa Buddhists but unlike the others, it was never destroyed by invaders and so contains many old treasures in a small museum. Whilst we were there, all the young monks (some as young as 5 or 6), were out in the main courtyard practising a dance in preparations for an upcoming festival where rituals and masked dances are performed to celebrate the victory of good over evil and some of the ancient Thangkas are revealed. Many families will send one of their boys into a monastic livelihood where the Monastery can provide food, shelter and an education which in most cases the family cannot provide.

Stok Palace was home to the Royal Family until they were stripped of power in 1846 although they are still held in high regard and still use the Palace as a ‘second home’ on occasions. This is also situated in a beautiful valley with Stok Kangri mountain behind and views of the Indus Valley and Leh in the foreground. Leh Palace was build in the mid 1500’s by the Buddhist Kings of Ladakh and is not dissimilar to the Potala Palace in Lhasa. A hike up to the top of the rocky outcrop reveals the Tsemo Fort that dominates the skyline above the town of Leh

One of the more spectacular trips was out to monastery at Lamayuru, working our way along the Indus River valley through landscapes that it is hard to believe you can actually drive through, everything feels so rugged and remote, up to the monastery perched on top of a cliff at around 4000 metres - it would be a feat of engineering to build it in that location today, let alone the 1000 years ago that it was actually built. The theory behind these dramatic and difficult locations that these monasteries were built is that the Buddhist belief is that you must endure exceptional effort and struggle to earn the right to a place where you can reach your gods.

The whole time we were in Leh, Leanne was 2 days south in the town of Manali and the only way to get between the two towns was via bus on a road that seemed unlikely to ever actually open this year. We heard the age old phrase (on our trip at least) that ‘the weather is not normally like this... it was beautiful this time last year’! Eventually we decided that whilst we could’ve quite easily hung out in Leh indefinitely, we would bite the bullet and take the only available form of transport out to make our way across to Manali - so we coughed up £100 or so each and flew from Leh to the city of Jammu.

Thankfully we had a crystal clear day for the flight and flew across the Himalayas, over glaciers and the source of rivers that provide much of Asia with their source of fresh water from glaciers. Flying past the eastern edge of the snow-capped peaks we arrived in the lowland city of Jammu - transported directly back into the heat and mayhem of a typical Indian city....ouch.