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Are you planning to visit Ladakh and drive to its various attractions? Here is a guide based on my personal journeys in Ladakh over the last two seasons. Before you continue, you may want to read these posts:
* A suggested itinerary for Ladakh
* What to pack when driving in the mountains
* There are many other posts on Ladakh – click here to read
* Nature calling in Ladakh? Some handy tips
* You may want to purchase my book, Postcards from Ladakh [continue reading…]
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Contributed by Madhu Reddy (Madhu Reddy is doing her bit to connect those who want to contribute and those who need all resources to rebuild Ladakh.)
There are many organizations which are working in Ladakh to help the victims of the recent flash floods. How does one give and to whom? [continue reading…]
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This street vendor is one of many – selling vegetables during season in the main market in Leh, Ladakh. One has to wonder – how many Ladakhi winters has this woman weathered?
[This post was contributed by Vijay Ramanathan - a Technology/Gadget enthusiast and Blogger. You can follow his tweets at http://twitter.com/tekdude & his blog at http://tekdude.wordpress.com/ ]{ 2 comments }
Chemrey Monastery, Ladakh
Many monasteries in Ladakh were plundered by invaders over the centuries. The one at Chemde, or Chemrey stayed safe. How? A tale worth telling.
Seems the Mongols laid siege on Chemde in the late 17th century. He was outnumbered but that didn’t stop the head lama from outsmarting the outsiders. From afar, he shot the Mongol king’s tea cup with a rifle. Stunned, the king thought Goddess Kali ruled over the gompa and he made peace with the monks. A temple to Kali stands at the base of the hill on which Chemde nestles. [continue reading…]
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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNmSMFyoPN0[/youtube]
Photographs by Kahini Ghosh Mehta & Shivang Mehta – wildlife photographers who run a camp in Corbett National Park and Rishikesh. Contact them at www.naturewanderers.com
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It never rains at Hemis Tsechu (festival). Why should it? The annual festival, uninterrupted since its inception in the 1730s, falls on the 10th and 11th days of the fifth Tibetan month. These are usually the summer months of June/July, with negligible precipitation in this rain shadow area.
Seems the lamas didn’t consult their Oracles this year though, and thousands like me stood wet and freezing on festival day. The lamas, though, interpreted the rain and occasional snowflakes as heaven’s blessings! A few hours delay was inconsequential on this special day to commemorate Guru Padmasambhava’s birth. [continue reading…]
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His muse was a vulture’s nest. In the 13th century, Buddhist sage Gyalwa Gotsangpa (his name means ‘vulture’ [Got] ‘nest’ [Tsang]!) zeroed in on a lofty, secluded, secure location for Hemis Gompa, now Ladakh’s most revered monastery. Nestled amid towering mountains, it assured its monks of uninterrupted solitude. [continue reading…]
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The longest and most interesting dance at the Hemis Festival depicts the eight forms of Padmasambhava, or Guru Rinpoche, who is credited with establishing Buddhism as the religion of the people of Tibet and Ladakh in the eight century A.D.
[Click on any image for a larger view] [continue reading…]
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By the ninth century A.D., the rise of Buddhism at the expense of the Bon religion prompted the Bon King of Tibet, Langdarma, to prosecute Buddhists; monks were forced to shed their robes while they saw their monasteries being dismantled. In frustration, a powerful monk Palji Dorge came dancing dressed in a wide brimmed black hat, high boots and silk brocade costumes and assassinated the king with an arrow in Lhasa.
[Click on any image for a larger view] [continue reading…]
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All through the summers, dozens of women take up spots on the pavements of the main bazaar of Leh to sell vegetables. One look at these and you will be surprised how fresh and healthy the vegetables look. Where do they get such high quality supplies in a high altitude desert like Ladakh?
Surprise!! They grow these themselves. In nearby villages. Without making an effort, these vegetables are better than the ones with the fanciest organic markings all over the world. Reason? Fertiliser use is very low. And the fields are usually used for only one crop a year, giving the soil plenty of time to get its nutrients back. Tough to grow anything when temperatures go 30 degrees below zero, right? [continue reading…]
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While visiting the Basgo monastery, I heard some drums beating from the village below. Curious, I followed these sounds through some village trails – and chanced upon an annual archery competition taking place.
{Click on any of the images for a larger view}
Sonam Angchok, one of the participants who also works in the local post office, and others were happy to have me in attendance, explaining the event over a cup of tea they were carrying in large thermoses. Villagers are divided into two teams, A and B, and they shoot arrows at a black target with a clay white centre. You get three points for hitting the white area, one for black and another two if you chip any part of the white part. Villagers would come all through the day to shoot with points getting added to their respective team’s tally. The winning team gets a token Rs. 200 (US$ 4) award. [continue reading…]
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Who would have thought you can go shopping at 18,380 feet? Apparently you can – at the souvenir shop located at the Khardungla Pass in Ladakh run by the Indian Army. And what it claims is the highest souvenir shop in the world.
What can you buy here? Merchandise with branding of the pass. There were ceramic pen stands going for Rs. 60 each, a set of six coffee mugs for Rs. 180 and decorative plates for Rs. 140 and Rs. 190 in two sizes. There were T-shirts too but I could not check the price. [continue reading…]
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A structure to mark the achievement of building the road across Khardungla and to remember those who lost their lives in doing so
Building of the road across the Khardungla Pass in Ladakh at 18,380 feet in 1972-73 was no mean feat. Nothing is easy in the harsh conditions and terrain of such altitudes. How did the Indian Army come good in this challenge? [continue reading…]
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It is not very often that one gets to drive on a road at an altitude of 18,380 feet. That is where Khardungla Pass, meaning the ‘Pass of Lower Castle,’ is located on the way from Leh to the Nubra Valley in Ladakh. It is the highest motorable road in the world as signs put up by the Border Roads Organization proudly proclaim.
The Marsimikla Pass, at 18632 feet, in eastern Ladakh has missed out on the top honours as it allows for only some kinds of four wheeled vehicles across it.
The Khardungla has quite a bit of history behind it according to documents available with the Indian Army. This is what I got to read up: [continue reading…]
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Can your car get a life of its own due to some unknown natural phenomena? It seems to be the case at the Magnetic Hill located 30 kilometers outside Leh on the way to Alchi and Kargil.
A sign at this spot invites you to stop your car over a white square marked on the road, switch it off and leave it in neutral. Follow the instructions and your car actually starts moving on its own at speeds of 10-20 km per hour. Ok, so this was downhill and it was just following the rules of gravity. Turn your car in the opposite direction and repeat the steps. It will start moving uphill. [continue reading…]
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Are you headed to Ladakh this summer? And have about ten days with you? Here is a suggested itinerary for you assuming you are on the road from Manali onwards.
Posts on Ladakh
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Running a marathon can be a challenge under the best of conditions. Imagine doing so at over 11,000 feet.
I had heard of the annual marathon in Ladakh but I was not sure if they ran the full distance of 26 miles 385 yards or did they give concessions to the runners. So I decided to personally attend the 2008 edition and see for myself. Travellers to Ladakh are advised a day of minimal physical activity before they may venture out, so harsh can the high altitudes be. And here you have runners who could be running a full marathon. [continue reading…]
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When in Ladakh, can China be far when out shopping in Leh? Come to think of it, which market in the world does not have China in it? But that’s another matter. Geographically, China is just across the border in Tibet (again, we are not getting into the politics of the matter here). And this means fake branded goods manage to make their way to Leh.
How else would you get a NorthFace sleeping bag for Rs. 1,200 ($25), a Columbia shirt for Rs. 300 ($6) and a Discovery hat for Rs. 250 ($5)? When I was contemplating buying these items, doubts about the quality creeping into my head, my guide sensibly said you cannot go much wrong at these prices. Especially since I was not buying these for any rugged use. I was sold. [continue reading…]
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The bored lama boy at Hemis Monastery in Ladakh
This image was taken by me at Hemis Monastery near Leh in Ladakh on the occasion of their annual festival in June 2008. It had started raining on the day – totally unseasonal in this cold desert area, and despite the Lamas (Buddhist monks) being sure it never rains on the festival weekend – and everyone was waiting for the open air event to start. This Lama Boy seemed to be all bored – or contemplative – with nothing else to do. [continue reading…]
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Many Buddhist monasteries in the Ladakh and Tibetan regions have a tradition of annual festivals, going back hundreds of years. They are usually dance spectacles with colourful costumes and masks adorned by the lamas (monks) for the occasion. Solemn ceremonies in their own way, it borders on the amusing when you see them practicing leading up to the big day. Like I was witness to at the Phiyang Monastery near Leh in July 2008 a few days before their festival.
For one, it was an opportunity to see the lamas let their guard down away from public eye and behave just like lesser mortals; they were practising in an area usually not open to outsiders. Before I witnessed these sessions, the image of a lama came across as someone who smiled but did not laugh, one who spoke but did not talk too much and one who always seemed a bit serious about everything. [continue reading…]
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