We ended up spending close to a week in Leh so I probably ought to explain it all a bit. Jammu and Kashmir is an Indian state in the far north of the country, bordered by Pakistan. The state is "disputed," meaning that Pakistan thinks some of it should be part of its country, and India thinks it belongs to them. In the Northern part of the state, the majority is Muslim, in the southern part the majority is Hindu. The western portion of the state is a subregion known as Ladakh. Ladakhis are (mostly) Buddhist and are related to Tibetans - in fact, the state is full of refugees from Chinese-controlled Tibet. They also consider the Dali Lama their spiritual leader.
On our first overnight, we needed a special permit to visit a town called Turtuk, about 20 kilometers from the Pakistan border. Getting further away from Leh, the village was a Muslim town that was controlled by Pakistan for twenty years in the middle part of the last century (Pakistan and India have fought several wars over Kashmir). Our shared taxi had an Indian couple, a pair of French guys, and the two of us. The rough road first tool us over the Kardung La pass, one of the highest motorable passes on the planet. Following various tributaries of the Indus river, the road was a lovely if grueling trip.
Once we arrived, a steep climb on foot from the road took us to the village, which was busy with workers threshing wheat amid gardens, apricot trees and fields of grain. The following day we returned for Leh, followed by another lovely and grueling journey to a nomadic village beside Lake Tsomoriri.
We took it easy our last day in Leh, and then began the two day journey over the Himalayas on the Leh-Manali road.
The journey was truly spectacular, with varying landscapes of dessert, rocky mountain, and eventually the lushness of Himachal Pradesh. I would describe the road, but the folks at IRT should give you a good idea:
We spent about 4 hours waiting for the road to re-open just over the Rohtang Pass, but arrive in Manali we did, more or less safe. Today we relax here, and tomorrow we are back to Delhi and onward to Agra and the Taj Mahal.
On our first overnight, we needed a special permit to visit a town called Turtuk, about 20 kilometers from the Pakistan border. Getting further away from Leh, the village was a Muslim town that was controlled by Pakistan for twenty years in the middle part of the last century (Pakistan and India have fought several wars over Kashmir). Our shared taxi had an Indian couple, a pair of French guys, and the two of us. The rough road first tool us over the Kardung La pass, one of the highest motorable passes on the planet. Following various tributaries of the Indus river, the road was a lovely if grueling trip.
Once we arrived, a steep climb on foot from the road took us to the village, which was busy with workers threshing wheat amid gardens, apricot trees and fields of grain. The following day we returned for Leh, followed by another lovely and grueling journey to a nomadic village beside Lake Tsomoriri.
The journey was truly spectacular, with varying landscapes of dessert, rocky mountain, and eventually the lushness of Himachal Pradesh. I would describe the road, but the folks at IRT should give you a good idea:
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