With some of the highest motorable roads worldwide, a close-up experience of the Himalayas, high-altitude lakes, and primeval wilderness with miles of solitude, the charms of Ladakh are unique. Bhagyalakshmi Krishnamurthy reports ONE OF THE THREE districts of India™s way-up-north state of Jammu & Kashmir (pop. 12.5 million) and administered by the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Council, Ladakh is one of India™s most unlikely tourism hotspots. Once visited only by foreign travellers exploring monasteries and forlorn mountain trails, Ladakh™s stark, barren and unconventional landscape has been impacted upon the popular imagination by several Hollywood and Bollywood blockbusters, which have brought this isolated region on the radar of India™s more adventurous middle class travellers. Ensconced in the Upper Indus Valley of Kashmir, straddling the upper Himalayas and the Karakoram range, Ladakh (pop.260,000, of which Tibetan Buddhists constitute 51 percent and Shia Muslims 48 percent) translates into œland of the high passes. Getting there With aksai chin, and Xiangjiang (China) to the north and east, and the valley of Kashmir to its west, Ladakh is surrounded on three sides by Pakistan and China and subject to frequent border incursions from troops and patrols of these nations. This explains the major presence of the Indian Army in the district. If despite this geo-political drawback, the region is attracting a rising number of tourists from India and abroad, it™s because the charms of Ladakh are unique and make unconventional demands on tourists. It offers some of the highest motorable roads worldwide, a close-up experience of the Himalayas, high-altitude lakes and a primeval wilderness with miles of solitude. The peak tourist season is mid-May to October. However, quite a few adrenalin-spiked hikers roam Ladakh even beyond October, when the harsh winter sets in. The easiest ” even if expensive ” access to Ladakh is by air. At 10,692 ft above sea level, Leh™s Kushok Bakula Rinpoche Airport is one of the highest altitude civilian airports of the world. However, landing at the strip is not assured with powerful and unpredictable mountain winds often disrupting schedules. All flights to and from Ladakh operate only during morning hours as winds become stronger and more dangerous post noon. An hour™s flight from Delhi or Srinagar, fares on the Delhi-Leh sector are among the highest and range from Rs.8,000-20,000. Less affluent and more adventurous travellers tend to drive from Manali/Srinagar to Leh, which is among the world™s most scenic roads. The two-day, 473 km Manali-Leh road winds its way through four steep passes in the Himalayas ” Rohtang (13,060 ft), Baralacha La (16,500 ft), Lachulung La (16,616 ft) and Tanglang La (17,460 ft). It traverses glacial streams and rivulets which feed major rivers including the Chenab and Beas, and affords spectacular vistas of Himalayan peaks. Overnight halts are at Keylong (3,096 ft) which offers conventional hotels (Rs.300-2,400 per room per night) or Sarchu (4,253 ft) and Pang (4,500 ft) with basic yet adequate tented accommodation (Rs.500 -1,000). Most tourists prefer to halt at Keylong to ease the process of altitude…
