Ladakh Trip: Research cont..

This is the continuation of my last post. Here I am listing down places worth visiting in Ladakh region.

Leh:
This is biggest town in Ladakh region. This is also the administrative center of this region. There are a few places in Ladakh region where you need permit (they call it Inner Line Permit or ILP) and Leh is the place to get it.
Most of the people, who come to Ladakh, are foreigners and most of them are from Israel. Changs Pa, is the Israel dominant area, and there are good food joints in that area. I stumple upon this link

and have clearly mentioned the address of German Bakery shop in Leh, this the the best bakery shop in Town. Another one is Penguin Garden Restuarant, which is famous for it German Bakery product (also known as Penguin Bakery).

Leh is at an altitude of 3,500 meters (11,483 ft). It is always recommended, specially if you are reaching to Leh via flight, to spend around a day or two to allow your body to acclimatize to the high altitude and use this time to roam around the town and get required permit. Try some food joint, visit monastries, chilling out.

Places to visit in town:

1. Shanti Stupa, from here you can get panaramic view of Leh. Sunset from this point is recommended by some of the travelers.
2. Leh Palace, Leh Mosque
3. Namgyal Tsemo Gompa(monastery)
4. Hall of Fame, a museum constructed by Indian army (a must watch)
5. Magnetic Hill,
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_Hill_(India)
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_hill
   http://gconnect.in/gc/lifestyle/get-ahead/magnetic-hill-leh-ladakh-mystery-explained.html
   Gurdwara Shri Patthar Sahib is near to this place.

DM office is near Parade ground, in case you need to go there to get the permit, other option is that some travel agent will do it for you but it will be a bit costly, or you can go yourself and can do it for free. (take 6 copies of these passes, as you might need in some check point along the way)

In all Leh deserves atleast two days of stay.

Hemis Monastery:
Situated around 49 km from Leh towards south.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemis_Monastery
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_years_of_Jesus#Saint_Issa

Hemis festival happens during late June or early July.

http://www.visitladakh.com/en/component/content/article/53-head/357-hemis-festival.html

Lamayuru Monastery:
Situated around 127 km from Leh towards West on the Srinagar highway, just short of Kargil.. This is the largest and oldest gompa(monastery) in Ladakh.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamayuru_Monastery
http://www.visitladakh.com/en/the-news/401-a-peek-into-buddhist-culture-at-ladakhs-oldest-monastery.html

photo gallery of Lamayuru Monastery

Other sources for photo galary:

http://scriptures.ru/india/kashmir/lamayuru/indexen.htm

Tso-Moriri and Tso-Kar:
Tso moriri Lake or Lake Moriri, is high altitude lake (4,595 m or 15,075 ft). This lake is entirely within India as opposed to Pangong Lake.
This picturesque lake is situated in around 215 km from Leh towards southeast.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tso_moriri

Tso Kar lake is a salt water lake, and is around 80 km from Tso-Moriri.

Tso-Moriri Photo Stream from flikr.com

Tso-Kar Photo Stream from flikr.com

Pangong Lake:
Pangong Lake is also one of the high altitude lake (4,350 m or 14,270 ft). This is famous for its grandness (134 km long and max width is 5km). 60% of length lies in China. In winter it completely freeze.
Situated 145 km from Leh, in route passes Chang La pass(It is named after the sadhu Changla Baba, to whom the Pass temple is dedicated). Chang La pass is the gateway to Changthang Plateau (Chang-pa is the nomadic tribe of this area).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangong_Lake
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang_La

Enjoy the photo gallery of Pangong Lake:

Nubra Valley:
Situated 150 km from Leh towards north. Siachen Glacier lies to the north of the valley. The Shyok River and Siachan River meet here and form a valley.
Village name Diskit situated on the Shyok River and famous for Diskit Monastery (famous for its position).

Way to reach this valley is via Khardung La(Khardung Pass). (I have read somewhere that "The Road to Khardung la is closed every Monday")

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nubra_Valley
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diskit_Monastery

Hanley, Ladakh:
Hanley (high altitude area 4517, metres) is close to borders with China and Pakistan, it is closed to foreigners and even Indians need a permit to enter. The world’s highest observatory, run by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, is situated there.
It is from eight hour drive from Leh, and for accomodation is either camp or ask to be accommodated in a village house.

visit this site to get the hang of the place
http://fiveprime.org/hivemind/Tags/hanley,ladakh

and this one too

Sarchu-Ladakh:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarchu
http://wakdtalk.blogspot.com/2008/08/ladakh-trip-day-four-manali-sarchu.html

Indus Valley:
Valley streched along the Indus River. It runs through Ladakh region. Indus river has a strong impact on civilization.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_River
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_Valley_Civilization

When I started this post, my plan was to cover every places worth visiting in Ladakh region. But its very difficult to cover it all in one blog post (I believe at least a short book will do some justice). So Now I am putting end to this post. Places/regions I covered in this post are enough to have at least one month stay in Ladakh.

I will update my plan/itinerary here.

If you have been to Ladakh before, then please contribute your experiences or any valuable information through comment or via mail. I will incorporate it into post.

Ladakh Trip: Reseach

Ladakh has been in our discussion since quite a long time. Vastness and stunning landscapes always attracts me towards Ladakh. So I am prompt to do some research for the Ladakh trip, although it is not sure when will I go there, but it is due in this year.

I will update about my plan/findings about Ladakh here.

Geographically upper area of Indus river west is Ladakh. And Leh the main city of this region.

You can go to Ladakh with different mindset and this changes the way you see/explore the region. So for Ladakh

1) If you are in a adventurous mode, then trekking, rafting, mountaineering are the thing.

2) Exploratory mode. There are few niche of people who go to Ladakh to know the its culture, region, some go there to write books (Hieght of Madness by Myra Macdonald is one of them), to do research (on Indus river, civilization, on Siachen, culture etc), to see monasteries.

3) If you are in a leisure mode, then sight seeing in Ladakh region is a nice way to spend your time.

4) Bike tour is one more way to explore the region.

Some people go there to shoot movies (Gaurav jani and latest movie 3 idiot) . Although most of the time you will get a mix of all these, again weather is extreme and can play vital role in the whole trip. Ladakh is an extreme/vast region (around 97000 sq km) so sight seeing involves a lot of traveling, which itself can be not so comfortable. One thing is sure in any case, difficult weather conditions.

Due to vastness of region, duration of trip also comes into picture. I feel that at least a week should be the minimum duration for Ladakh.

Anybody who are interested in going there can contact me via comment or mail. Anybody, who has been there, are welcome to share(correct) the experience (information) they had.

I will update about my plan/finding about Ladakh here.

References:

• "Empires of the Indus, The Story of a River " by Alice Albinia have covered the brief history of Ladakh which exploring the historical Indus River.
• Heights of Madness by Myra Macdonald is a book about Siachen war, but while going to Siachen, author happened to travel Ladakh area. You will get a good amount of information about this area.