India Travel
Around Padum in Ladakh
Public transport around the Zanskar Valley is virtually nonexistent, so unless you can afford the vastly inflated fares demanded by Padum’s taxi union, you can only get as far into the sweeping plains around Padum as you can hike in a day. For all but the most athletic and determined, this leaves just two possible excursions, of which the hike across the fields to KARSHA gompa, Zanskar’s largest Gelug-pa monastery, is easily the most rewarding. From a distance, this cluster of whitewashed mud cubes clinging to the rocky lower slopes of the mountain north of Padum looks like some strange geological formation. Only close up is it possible to pick out the individual monks’ quarters and temples, which date from rhe tenth to rhe fourteenth century. Of the prayer halls, the recently renovated Du-khang and Gon-khang at the top of the complex are the most impressive, while the small Chukshok-jal, set apart from the gompa below a ruined fort on the far side of a gully, contains Karsha’s oldest wall paintings, contemporary with those at Alchi.
The quickest way to get to Karsha on foot is to head north from Padum to the cable bridge across the Stod, immediately below the monastery. Set off early in the morning; the violent icy storms that blow in from the south across the Great Himalayan Range around mid-afternoon make the ninety-minute hike across the exposed river basin something of an endurance test. Karsha is a far more pleasant place to stay than Padum and some villagers rent rooms to tourists. Try the wonderful glass room belonging to Thuktan Thardot in Shading Ward just below the gompa.
Karsha can also be reached by road, via the bridge at Tungri, 8km northwest of Padum. En route, you pass another large gompa, SANI, lauded as the oldest in Zanskar, and the only one built on the valley floor. Local legend attributes its foundation to the itinerant Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) in the eighth century. Though the name of the Kanishka Chorten, behind the main temple, suggests it may have been established by the Kushan King Kanishka in the first or second century, it is more likely that it was named after the emperor centuries later. There are two small temples in the Du-khang grounds: one, in which Naropa is said to have meditated around nine hundred years ago. is permanently locked, while the other, the La-khang. has unique painted stucco bas-reliets whose deep niches enshrine dusty gold-faced icons, most of them manifestations of Padmasambhava. Set apart from the temples a little to the north is a 2m-high Maitreya figure, carved out of local stone some time between the eighth and tenth centuries.
Related Properties from Gurgaon
Padum Eating in Ladakh
Finding food in Padum only tends to be a problem towards the end of the trekking season; by mid-October, stocks of imported goods (virtually everything except barley flour and yak butter) are low, and even a fresh egg can be a cause for celebration. Earlier in the year, temporary teashops and cafes ensure a supply of filling and fairly inexpensive meals. The best place to eat is at the Hotel Ibex restaurant. For cheap Chinese and Tibetan food, try the Chanqtkaaa near the Tourist Bungalow, or the Zanskar Moonlatid Restaurant nearby. Most guesthouses also provide half-board if given enough warning.
Kargil Practicalities in Ladakh
Buses arriving in Kargil from Leh, Srinagar and Padum either puil in to the main bus stand, immediately below the top (west) end of the bazaar, or at the truck park above the river, two minutes' walk downhill from the mam street. If you plan to head off early in the morning, check when you buy your ticket where the bus leaves from. There are only a couple of buses every day for Mulbekh but you may be able to catch a Matador - a shared minibus. The buses to Padum in Zanskar are subject to delays but run on
Padum Accommodation in Ladakh
Accommodation in Padum is limited to a handful of grotty guesthouses and rooms in private family homes. In both cases, bathrooms are usually shared, and toilets of the "long-drop" variety. One exception is the simple but comfortable J&KTDC Tourist Bungalow, whose well-maintained en-suite double rooms have running cold water. The Hotel Ibex (01983/45012) is the best Padum has to offer-with pleasant doubles set around a courtyard; other options include the grotty Hajial and the more salubrious Chomla (01983/45035), which offers reasonable doubles and even has a travel desk, both near the bus stand. The least shambolic of the budget guesthouses
Padum Practicalities in Ladakh
Arriving in Padum by bus, you'll be dropped in the dusty square at the far south end of the village, close to the old quarter and a couple of the cheaper guesthouses.Tickets for the trip (Rsl20 & Rs200) go on sale around 2pm the day before departure at Kargil bus stand. J&KTDC's tourist reception centre (July-Sept Mon-Sat 10am-7pm; 01983/45017) lies lkm north of the square in Mane Ringmo on the side of the main road, two minutes' walk from the other main concentration of guesthouses. Unlike their branches in Leh and Kargil, this one doesn't rent out trekking gear, but
Padum in Ladakh
After a memorable trek or bus ride, PADUM, 240km to the south of Kargil, comes as a bit of an anticlimax. Instead of the picturesque Zanskari village you might expect, the regions administrative headquarters and principal roadhead turns out to be a desultory collection of crumbling mud and concrete cubes, oily truck parks and incongruous tinrooted government buildings, scattered around the sides of a stony hillock. The settlement's only real appeal lies in its superb location. Nestled at the southernmost tip of a broad, fertile river basin, Padum presides over a flat patchwork of farm land fringed with grey-pebble riverbeds
Visiting Ladakh
Two main "highways" connect Ladakh with the rest of India. Due to the unrest in Kashmir, the legendary Srinagar Leh road now sees far less tourist traffic than the route up from Manali, almost 500km south.These two. plus the track from Kargil to Padum in Zanskar, also link the majority of Ladakh s larger settlements with the capital. Bus services along the main Indus Valley highway are frequent and reliable, but grow less so the further you get from Leh. To get to and from off-track side-valleys and villages within a single day, it is much easier to splash out on
Panikhar in Ladakh
Although by no means the largest settlement in the Sum Valley, PANIKHAR, three hours' bus ride south of Kargil, is a good place to break the long journey to Padum. Before the Kashmir troubles, it was a minor trekking centre, at the start of the Lonvilad Gali Pahalgum trail. These days, the scruffy collection of roadside stalls and poor mud-brick farmhouses sees very few tourists, even in high season. The main reason to stop is to hike to nearby Parkachik La. for panoramic views of the glacier-gouged north face of the mighty Nun-Kun massif. The trail up to the pass, known
Summer festivals in Ladakh in Ladakh
Most of Ladakh's Buddhist festivals, in which masked dance dramas are performed by lamas in monastery courtyards, take place in January and February, when roads into the region are snowbound. This works out well for the locals, for whom they relieve the tedium of the relentless winter, but it means that few outsiders get to experience some of the northern Himalayas' most vibrant and fascinating spectacles. Recently, however, a few of the larger gompas around Leh have followed the example of Hemis. and switched their annual festivals to the summer, to attract tourists. Proceeds from ticket sales go towards maintenance
Travel details in Ladakh
The bus details here apply during the tourist season between July 1 and September 15 only, after which date the Manali-Leh highway is officially closed. Most other roads, including the highway from Leh to Srinagar Kargil, remain open till the end of October. Despite heavy snow falls, the road from Leh to the Nubra Valley over the open all year. Buses Leh to: Alchi (1 daily; 3hr); Chemrey (3 daily; 2hr); Dishit (Nubra) (1 weekly; 6hr); Hemis (1-2 daily; 1hr 45minl; Kargil (2-3 daily; 6hr 30min); Lamayuru (2-3 daily; 6hr 30min); Likkir (1 daily; 3hr); Manali (6-8 daily; 28hr); Matho (2 daily;
Likkir to Temisgang in Ladakh
A motorable road along the old caravan route through the hills between Likkir and Temisgang makes a leisurely two-day hike, which takes in three major monasteries (Likkir, Rhizong and Temisgang) and a string of idyllic villages. It's a great introduction to trekking in Ladakh, the perfect acclimatizer if you plan to attempt any longer and more demanding routes. Ponies and guides for the trip may be arranged on spec at either Likkir or Temisgang villages, both of which have small guesthouses and are connected by daily buses to Leh.
The Ecology Centre of Leh in Ladakh
Five minutes' walk north of the main bazaar (next to the Tsemo-La Hotel), the Ecology Centre (Mon-Sat 10am-5pm; $01982/52646) is the headquarters of LEDeG (the Ladakh Ecological Development Group) - a local nongovernmental organization that aims to counter the negative impact of Western-style "development" by fostering economic independence and respect for traditional culture. This involves promoting "appropriate" technologies such as solar energy, encouraging organic farming and cottage industries, and providing education on environmental and social issues through village drama, workshops and seminars. A garden hosts an open-air exhibition ot solar gadgets, hydraulic pumps, water nulls and other ingenious energy-saving devices
Arranging a trek or tour and hiring equipment for Leh Ladakh
Leh offers a bewildering number of operators for the large volume of tourists who come to Ladakh to trek. Most trek and tour operators offer much the same services sharing much the same resources. Although trekking rates are quite uniform, you can get some cheaper deais on items such as porterage and pony hire by shopping around. You can also rent equipment either through the chosen agency or through places like the Traveller Shop, White House, Fort Road (01982/53048). Expect to pay Rs100 a day for a tent, Rs70 for a sleeping bag, Rs30 for a gas stove and Rs40
West of Leh in Ladakh
Of the many gompas accessible by road west of Leh. only Spitok. piled on a hilltop at the end of the airport runway, and Phyang, which presides over one of Ladakh's most picturesque villages, can be comfortably visited on day-trips from the capital. The rest, including Likkir and Rhizong and the unmissable temple complex at Alchi, with its wonderfully preserved eleventh-century murals, are usually seen en route to or from Kargil. The 231-kilometre jour ney, taking in a couple of high passes and some mind-blowing scenery, can be completed in a single twelve-hour haul. To do this stretch of road
Voluntary organizations in Ladakh
With limited resources at their disposal, a handful of voluntary organizations, including LEDeG, battle to protect Ladakh's delicate environment and ancient culture against the sea of change. SECMOL (Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh), founded in 1988 by Ladakhi university students, strives to increase awareness of developmental issues and guide younger students through an educational system fraught with chrome inadequacies. In the hope of maintaining pride in Ladakh's traditions, SECMOL teaches local history and runs workshops on handicrafts, agriculture and technology. Volunteer help from TEFL-qualified visitors is especially appreciated at the summer schools run just outside Leh. If you'd
Pangong Tso in Ladakh
Pangong Tso. 154km to the southeast of Leh, is one of the largest saltwater lakes in Asia, a long narrow strip of water stretching from Ladakh east into Tibet, Only a quarter of the 130-kilometre-long lake is in Ladakh, and the Indian army, who experienced bitter losses along its shores in the war against China in 1962, jealously guard their side of the frontier. Until the mid-1990s, it was off limits to visitors, and tourists still need a permit to come here. The lake, at an altitude of 4267m. with the dramatic glacier-clad Pangong Range to its south and the
The Sum Valley in Ladakh
A spellbinding divide between two of the world's most formidable mountain ranges, the Suru Valley winds south from Kargil to the desolate Pensi La - the main entry point for Zanskar. Since a fair-weather road was bulldozed all the way to Padum, you can travel to the heart of this remote region by bus (albeit a clapped-out J&K state one), in a single haul of around fourteen hours. The first leg, usually undertaken in the pre-dawn darkness, leads through the broad lower reaches of the Suru Valley, whose fertile floor is strewn with Muslim villages, clustered around gleaming metal mosque
The Kargil war in Ladakh
After three years of cross-border artillery exchanges across the "Ceasefire Line", in the spring of 1999 conflict between India and Pakistan escalated into the full-blown Kargil War. The war was to shatter any semblance of Indo-Pakistani dialogue which seemed to be gradually improving after years of impasse, and resulted in the dramatic overthrow of the Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and the re-establishment of military rule by General Musharraf. Pakistani intentions were to cut the Srinagar-Leh Highway and capture the Muslim-dominated areas of western Ladakh, putting further pressure on Indian Kashmir. In early May, the Indian army realized that infiltrators across
Trekking in Lahaul and Spiti in Himachal Pradesh
Although the old trade routes to Ladakh and Tibet are now sealed with tarmac, most of this remote and spectacular region is stilt only accessible on foot. Its trails, though well frequented in high season, are long, hard and high, and punctuated by few settlements, so you must be self-sufficient and have a guide. Packhorses and provisions are most readily available in Manali: or Keylong and Darcha (Lahaul) and Kaza (Spiti) if you can afford to wait a few days. A good rope for river crossings will be useful on many of the routes, particularly in summer when the glaciers
Restricted areas and permits in Ladakh
Much of Ladakh is still inaccessible to the casual tourist, but with the easing of tensions along the border between India and China, parts of this incredible land, once hidden behind the political veil of the "Inner Line", are being opened up. Three areas in particular were opened to visitors in the mid-1990s: the Nubra Valley bordering the Karakoram Range to the north of Leh; the area around Pangong Tso- the lake to the east of Leh; and the region of Rupshu with the lake of Tso Moriri: to the southeast of Leh. (Dha Hanu in west Ladakh was similarly
Accommodation price codes of Ladakh
All accommodation prices in this book have been categorized using the price codes below. Prices given are for a double room, and all taxes are included, for more details. OuptoRs100 Rs30CMOO Rs900-1500 R3100-200 Rs400-600 Rs1500-2500 Rs200-300 Rs600-900