First - where is Leh, Ladakh? An excellent question, as I had not heard of it until recently. Leh is in the Ladakh area in the state of Jammu & Kashmir, all the way in the north of India. J&K state is best known for its Kashmir area which is continually disputed over and claimed by both Pakistan and India. Ladakh is in a region of J&K whose border is disputed with the Chinese, but is relatively far from the Pakistani disputed area. There is a very heavy military presence in lots of random spots and numerous patriotic signs (e.g. "We love peace but are ready for war"), but this and the excessive permits needed to travel around are the only signs of conflict in the Ladakh area.
Ladakh is a heavily Tibetan influenced area of the Indian Himalayas. Most people speak Ladakhi, which has the same written script as Tibetan but is pronounced differently. Most people look and dress Tibetan, though there are definitely Indian influences as well.
The north and west sides of the Himalayas (where I went in China) are very wet and are mostly rainforest at altitudes where plants grow. The south and east sides of the Himalayas (here) on the other hand is very dry and is mostly desert.
We spent the first day mostly acclimatizing to Leh (altitude of 13,000 ft) and exploring some of the old Tibetan monasteries in town. Day 2 we explored some of the sights in the immediate vicinity of Leh. These included a really cool fort/palace built into the mountainside and a big Tibetan monastery above the fort.
These Tibetan monasteries looked almost exactly the same as the ones I saw in Shangri-La. The one major difference was the photos of the Dalai Lama. Here, there were many pictures of the "real" Dalai Lama. In China, however, the government imposed a PRC friendly Dalai Lama in the 1970s. It is illegal in China for a monastery to show photos of the real Dalai Lama, so they all have photos of the China-appointed Lama. Though a few times, way in the back, you could see some pictures of the real Dalai Lama in China.
11 comments:
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Leh Ladakh is one of the enchanting place. Every visitor wants to come here. Last year i also visited here with my friends, really i never forget these memorable days of my life.
Leh is definitely the most beautiful place that i have been. Inspite of being there during the flash flood, it still has painted a good picuture
http://frame-of-light.blogspot.com/2011/01/i-got-lehd.html
http://traveltriangle.com/trips
Good to read your experiences. Just back from a trip from Leh, I'm still in awe of the place. We took a bike ride from Manali to Leh, and stayed at Leh for a few days as well. Both the ride and the destination were awesome.
Please find some of our experiences here:
http://elusive42.windforwings.com/2011/08/manali-to-leh-bitten-by-bullet.html
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