Ladak is a mountainous area situated to the north of India and lying at altitudes between 10,000 and 20,000 feet above sea level. The area is surrounded by high peaks and snow mountains that resemble the pillars of the sky and by ranges of multi-coloured hues. These fine mountains are ornamented with monasteries, temples, caves, castles and stupas built by holy persons and by ancestral Dharmarajas of ages. Through the centre of Ladak flows the great river of the Sengge Khabab (the Indus). To the east is the region of Stod, to the south Zanskar, to west Sham, to the north Nubra and in the middle lies Leh, the capital of Ladak.
People of Ladak :
Ladak is inhabited by the people of the Tibeto-Burman and the Indo-Aryan decent. Buddhism is dominant religion here. Buddhism was introduced from Tibet and all the Buddhist schools of the Mahayana that flourished in Tibet, including the Nyingma, the Kargyud, the Saskya and the Gelugs, are to be found in Ladak. Muslim and Christians are also found here. Most of the population of Ladak are farmers. In winter it snows a good deal and the temperature goes down to -100 C to -200C, but in summer it is very hot in the daytime and so various crops including fruits and vegetables grow here.
The staple diet of Ladak consists of meat, butter, milk, curds, roasted barley flour, wheat flour, tea and beer.
The domestic animals reared by the people of Ladak are cows, bulls, goats, sheep, horses, donkeys, yaks and hybrid yaks, dogs, cats, cocks and hens, all of which are of great use to the farmers.
Costumes of Ladak :
As for the costumes of Ladak, the men generally wear a hat called Kan-tob and a long robe (Phyu-ba) tied together with a belt (Skye-rags) wound over with a large silken sash (ar-ti-tsadar). Undertrousers (Kang-nam) and boots (Iham) are also worn. In previous times people used to wear a hat called a Pho-tib and also earrings, necklaces and bracelets but later they were no longer worn women continue to wear a turquoise head-ornament called Perag or else the Kantob hat. They wear the long women’s robe called the gos-sul-ma and on their backs a cloak (bok) made either of goatskin (lok-pa) or of silk brocade (gos-chen). Around their throats they wear necklaces of coral and pearls in the centre of which they hang a golden amulet box, if they have one. Pearl and gold earrings, conch shell bracelets and gold and silver rings are also worn.
As for the costumes of Ladak, the men generally wear a hat called Kan-tob and a long robe (Phyu-ba) tied together with a belt (Skye-rags) wound over with a large silken sash (ar-ti-tsadar). Undertrousers (Kang-nam) and boots (Iham) are also worn. In previous times people used to wear a hat called a Pho-tib and also earrings, necklaces and bracelets but later they were no longer worn women continue to wear a turquoise head-ornament called Perag or else the Kantob hat. They wear the long women’s robe called the gos-sul-ma and on their backs a cloak (bok) made either of goatskin (lok-pa) or of silk brocade (gos-chen). Around their throats they wear necklaces of coral and pearls in the centre of which they hang a golden amulet box, if they have one. Pearl and gold earrings, conch shell bracelets and gold and silver rings are also worn.
Language :
Ladakhi is the main language. Other languages spoken are Balti, Shina, Brokskat and Changskat.
Ladakhi is the main language. Other languages spoken are Balti, Shina, Brokskat and Changskat.
How to reach :
The Srinagar Leh route was the only overland approach to reach Ladak till 1989. Today one can reach Ladak by three routes, by air from Delhi/Chandigarh to Leh, by road from Srinagar to Leh (430 Km.) via Kargil, Drass, & Jashkar and by road from Manali to Leh (477 Km.) crossing Rothang Pass (13,044ft), Barlacha Pass (16,080 ft.), Lachulung la (15280 ft.), Tahlang la (17582 ft.) . Manali – Leh road remains open from late May to early october. Himachal Pradesh tourism, HRTC and J&K SRTC operate daily bus services in this route which take two days to reach Leh after a night halt at Sarchu or Darcha. We took the Manali – Leh route by a reserved Tatat-Sumo. Taglang-la, at a height of 17, 582ft is the third highest motorable road in the world.
The Srinagar Leh route was the only overland approach to reach Ladak till 1989. Today one can reach Ladak by three routes, by air from Delhi/Chandigarh to Leh, by road from Srinagar to Leh (430 Km.) via Kargil, Drass, & Jashkar and by road from Manali to Leh (477 Km.) crossing Rothang Pass (13,044ft), Barlacha Pass (16,080 ft.), Lachulung la (15280 ft.), Tahlang la (17582 ft.) . Manali – Leh road remains open from late May to early october. Himachal Pradesh tourism, HRTC and J&K SRTC operate daily bus services in this route which take two days to reach Leh after a night halt at Sarchu or Darcha. We took the Manali – Leh route by a reserved Tatat-Sumo. Taglang-la, at a height of 17, 582ft is the third highest motorable road in the world.
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| Rotangpass |
Rotangpass :
After staying one night at the Hotel ‘Snow-view’ in Manali (6,700ft.), we started our journey at 7 am in the morning. Our first night break was at Keylong, the head quarter of Lahul District in Himachal Pradesh. Keylong is 115km. from Manali and it is situated at an altitude of 11,000ft. Clear blue sky and Biyas river accompanied us in our journey towards Rotang Pass. Rotang pass is 50km. from Manali . The Rotang pass on the Pir Pangal mountain range in Himachal Pradesh between Manali and the Lahul is the last mountain pass with dense vegetative cover. It is also the busiest pass for a large number of domestic tourists making day-trips from Manali. We visited Rotang Pass twice before and on both the occasions we were utterly disappointed finding no traces of ice in Rotang. Even in this trip also we found the parking zone completely ice-free. We moved ahead further. Within half km. we found a large snowy slope of the mountain. Everyone was enjoying the snow. Silage-car were moving upwards and downwards through the slope of the mountain. We stayed there a little bit to enjoy the marvel of nature. The first habitation after descending from the Rotang Pass was Khoksar, which had a check post along with some small shops and tea stalls.
Gramphu (10500 ft) was our next destination at a distance of 13km. from Rotang. The road is diverted into two directions from Gramphu. One road goes to Kaza via Chotadhara-Batal, Kunjumpass and another way leads to Kelong via Shisu, Gondola and Tandi. We drove along the road towards Keylong. River Chandra accompanied us from Gramphu, which originates from lake Chandratal. On the way we were surrounded by snow covered peaks. From Gramphu mountains were almost bare. But few green oasis were created by desert habitation plan.
Tandi :
Our next journey break was at Tandi (8,440ft). It was 43km. from Gramphu. The last petrol pump is situated here before Leh. The confluence of rivers ‘Chandra’ and ‘Bhaga’ is situated half km. off Tandi. This combined flow passes through Udepur to Pangi-valley as Chandra-Bhaga river. We crossed Tandi bridge over Bhaga river to proceed towards Udepur. After visiting Udepur, and Triloknath another 8km from Tandi, we reached Keylong by 6’o clock in the evening for the night stay at Hotel Chandrabagha. Accommodation was nice and comfortable here. Keylong is an important town of Lahul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh. Keylong has few good restaurants and hotels. Even today I can vividly remember the most spectacular burst of colours over the snow capped peaks of Pirpanjal range (19,3ooft.) created by the rising Sun, from our hotel balcony.
Experiences in Darcha :
Our next schedule night break was at Sarchu camp, 114km. from Keylong. We decided a late departure from Kelong after lunch. But in the night we heard that one of bridges over Bhaga river in Darcha, 32 km. from Keylong collapsed due to a over loaded truck. So we were to cross the river by car along the water filled river bed as early as possible because water level were due to increase as the day progresses with melting of ice by the Sun.
We left Kelong in next morning by 6’o clock. Road condition was very bad. But the beautiful scenes of greenery on the river bed of Bhaga and those of moving herd of sheeps along the road completely removed the strain and tension of our journey. We arrived Darcha and saw many trucks and cars were standing in a queue waiting for their turn to cross the river. Military personnel were working to restore the bridge but not to be completed before another 48 hours. Darcha is the last village of Himachal Pradesh on the way to Leh. It is the finishing or starting point of Lamayuru to Darcha trek via Padum. At that time this little place was over crowded with stranded people. Large number of people were standing in front of different tea-stalls and make shift restaurants on both sides of Bhaga river. The shop-keepers were totally exhausted to meet the demands of such a large number of customers with their limited resources. We somehow took our lunch in one of those restaurants. Although we had been in the midst of complete uncertainty for more than five hours, we were enjoying everything that were happening around us. Buses, Lorries and Military Trucks were crossing the river all alone but the small vehicles like our Tata-Sumo had to be pulled across by some bigger and heavier vehicles like a tractor. A single tractor was working for this purpose. We were observing different cars being pulled across the Bhaga river by tractor. We were standing on the banks of the river with our luggage for our turn to come. At last our turn came, We put our luggage in the carrier of the tractor and our vehicle was tied to the tractor with an iron chain. Two members of our team were seated inside our Tata-sumo with their legs raised on the seat. Slowly our vehicle was pulled down into the ice cold water of Bagha river. Inside of the car got flooded with river water. Rest of the members of our team crossed the river on a lorry. All of us were thrilled at this wonderful unexpected adventurous experiences.
Baralacha-Pass :
From Darcha we approached towards Baralacha-la . It is 45km. from Darcha. We were moving through Patso (12,500ft.) accompanied by snow capped Sarchu –peak. The weather was cloudy and extremely chilled with fierce wind blowing across. Mrs.Majumder, one of our team members was suffering from severe headache and was continuously vomiting. We were moving through barren landscape with scattered boulders. There were ice-walls scattered here and there along the road. We stopped at Baralacha-top (189km. from Manali & height 16,0082ft.) for a while. We stepped-down from the car and mingled with beauty of the nature. Barlacha top was full of artistic natural figures made of ice and the artistry was at its best because the greatest artist Nature itself was the architect. We were charmed and thrilled being in the midst of such a natural art gallery. We completely forgot our age, and for the next fifteen minutes we went on to do whatever we liked. As a result almost all of us developed headache and vomiting tendency. It was one of few memorable exciting moments of my life.
Baralacha-pass is unique in being a tri-junction, with a trail from Spiti coming in from the south-east. This is the crossing of the Great Himalaya, the watershed between Indus and Chenab. Next 3 km. drive from Baralacha-la top was a fairy tale journey as we passed through dreamland of ice art. Conditions of few members in the car were getting from bad to worse. Natural wonders prevailed over physical hardship. We had to stop again for a while, this time to see a wonderful mountain lake Suraj-bishal Tal. Not a very big lake, but splendidly cute at the feet of snow filled sarchu peak with ice floating on it.
Sarchu :
After a few kilometre drive from Baralacha we entered the vast sarchu valley bordering Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. This valley is surrounded by barren mountains. It’s length is 17 to 18 km. and breadth is 2 to 3 km. The temperature goes down below 00 C at night even in the month of May. It became late afternoon to arrived at the location of temporary tents of ‘Antract tour and travel’(ph:(01902) 252292,254492.) for that night stay. Thermometers at the tents showed 60C at that time. The setting sun was continuously changing the colours of the barren mountains around the valley. Fifteen milk white Swiss tents were arranged in two rows. Six orange coloured western tent toilets were at some distances. Arrangements in the toilets were not bad. That year we were their first guests. Tent rent was Rs.650 per twin sharing including evening tea, dinner and breakfast. We were very much impressed by the hospitality of the staffs. We took tea and had some walk in and around tent area. As the evening was setting strong chilled wind was blowing across the valley. We were served with warm soup and that gave us some relief from the cold. We took early dinner. It was hot and delicious. At night temperature went below freezing point. Two beds with thick mattress and extremely good rugs were waiting for us to take shelter from severe cold. Once the chains at the entrance of the tents were closed only the sounds of the blowing winds crashing at the outer walls of the tents were heard. Inside of the tents was warm and cosy.
We woke up in the next morning at the sounds of Mrs. Majumder vomiting. Sky was covered with thick cloud and snow was falling. We heard that temperature went below -50 C at night. No one had sound sleep in that night except me and my husband. Immediate medical attention was necessary for Mrs. Majumder. Army camps along the route provide this service to the tourists. We started very early to reach the nearest Army camp which was barely 15 km. away. Army served us on war footing.
Lachulung-La :
We started for our next destination Lachulung-la (54km. from Sarchu and height 16,616ft), the third highest pass of the route. We reached Lachulung-la top at 12.00 P.M. The weather was then clear.
Pang :
Pang was 22 km. from Lachulung-la at an height 15,280ft. After Lachulung La the landscape once again changed dramatically. The road snaked its way down through a narrow canyon with the Lachulung Lungpa stream running right beside the road. Eventually the canyon opened up to reveal an even more dramatic landscape. Extraordinary shapes, chiselled by the elements, just out of the sandy mountain sides. These shapes appeared mostly in clusters, some looked like anthills while some other clusters appeared as if they were pieces of a chess set.
Here we stopped for lunch at a tented restaurant by the side of the river. The restaurants offered basic food like Rice, Dal and Tea etc.
Here also we had to enter the military camp at Pang for medical assistance to some of our team members. Here oxygen levels in the body of all the team members were checked and almost everybody had to take oxygen for 15 to 30 minutes.
Taglang-La :
We crossed ‘Moore’ valley after Pang and reached Taglang-La. A few kilometres before Tanglang-La, the highest pass(17,582ft.) in the route, the highway bifurcated to the right leading to Tsomoriri and Tsokar. Taglang-La is the third highest motorable road in the world. As we reached Taglang-La it was late afternoon, weather was very cloudy and snow was falling continuously. Due to snow the road condition became dangerous and visibility was also very poor. Our tata sumo could just escape an head on collision with a car coming from opposite side.
After crossing Taglang-La we touched the Rumtse village. From Upshi right upto Leh the great river the Indus accompanied us. The Indus Valley civilization started on the banks of this very river Indus (sindhu). First Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Neheru in his famous book ‘Discovery of India’ wrote about Indus valley civilization : ‘The Indus or Sindhu from which our country came to be called India and Hindusthan and across which races and tribes and caravens and armies have come for thousands of years.....’. Neheru believed that inhabitants on the banks of Sindhu river were called Hindus, they did not belong to any religion.
On the way we came across several villages including Kharu, Stakna, Thiksey, Shey, Choglamsar and arrived Leh (11,500ft) at about 9-30 PM in the night.
After staying one night at the Hotel ‘Snow-view’ in Manali (6,700ft.), we started our journey at 7 am in the morning. Our first night break was at Keylong, the head quarter of Lahul District in Himachal Pradesh. Keylong is 115km. from Manali and it is situated at an altitude of 11,000ft. Clear blue sky and Biyas river accompanied us in our journey towards Rotang Pass. Rotang pass is 50km. from Manali . The Rotang pass on the Pir Pangal mountain range in Himachal Pradesh between Manali and the Lahul is the last mountain pass with dense vegetative cover. It is also the busiest pass for a large number of domestic tourists making day-trips from Manali. We visited Rotang Pass twice before and on both the occasions we were utterly disappointed finding no traces of ice in Rotang. Even in this trip also we found the parking zone completely ice-free. We moved ahead further. Within half km. we found a large snowy slope of the mountain. Everyone was enjoying the snow. Silage-car were moving upwards and downwards through the slope of the mountain. We stayed there a little bit to enjoy the marvel of nature. The first habitation after descending from the Rotang Pass was Khoksar, which had a check post along with some small shops and tea stalls.
Gramphu (10500 ft) was our next destination at a distance of 13km. from Rotang. The road is diverted into two directions from Gramphu. One road goes to Kaza via Chotadhara-Batal, Kunjumpass and another way leads to Kelong via Shisu, Gondola and Tandi. We drove along the road towards Keylong. River Chandra accompanied us from Gramphu, which originates from lake Chandratal. On the way we were surrounded by snow covered peaks. From Gramphu mountains were almost bare. But few green oasis were created by desert habitation plan.
 |
| Confluence of Chandra & Bhaga River |
Our next journey break was at Tandi (8,440ft). It was 43km. from Gramphu. The last petrol pump is situated here before Leh. The confluence of rivers ‘Chandra’ and ‘Bhaga’ is situated half km. off Tandi. This combined flow passes through Udepur to Pangi-valley as Chandra-Bhaga river. We crossed Tandi bridge over Bhaga river to proceed towards Udepur. After visiting Udepur, and Triloknath another 8km from Tandi, we reached Keylong by 6’o clock in the evening for the night stay at Hotel Chandrabagha. Accommodation was nice and comfortable here. Keylong is an important town of Lahul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh. Keylong has few good restaurants and hotels. Even today I can vividly remember the most spectacular burst of colours over the snow capped peaks of Pirpanjal range (19,3ooft.) created by the rising Sun, from our hotel balcony.
 |
| Broken bridge in Darcha |
Experiences in Darcha :Our next schedule night break was at Sarchu camp, 114km. from Keylong. We decided a late departure from Kelong after lunch. But in the night we heard that one of bridges over Bhaga river in Darcha, 32 km. from Keylong collapsed due to a over loaded truck. So we were to cross the river by car along the water filled river bed as early as possible because water level were due to increase as the day progresses with melting of ice by the Sun.
We left Kelong in next morning by 6’o clock. Road condition was very bad. But the beautiful scenes of greenery on the river bed of Bhaga and those of moving herd of sheeps along the road completely removed the strain and tension of our journey. We arrived Darcha and saw many trucks and cars were standing in a queue waiting for their turn to cross the river. Military personnel were working to restore the bridge but not to be completed before another 48 hours. Darcha is the last village of Himachal Pradesh on the way to Leh. It is the finishing or starting point of Lamayuru to Darcha trek via Padum. At that time this little place was over crowded with stranded people. Large number of people were standing in front of different tea-stalls and make shift restaurants on both sides of Bhaga river. The shop-keepers were totally exhausted to meet the demands of such a large number of customers with their limited resources. We somehow took our lunch in one of those restaurants. Although we had been in the midst of complete uncertainty for more than five hours, we were enjoying everything that were happening around us. Buses, Lorries and Military Trucks were crossing the river all alone but the small vehicles like our Tata-Sumo had to be pulled across by some bigger and heavier vehicles like a tractor. A single tractor was working for this purpose. We were observing different cars being pulled across the Bhaga river by tractor. We were standing on the banks of the river with our luggage for our turn to come. At last our turn came, We put our luggage in the carrier of the tractor and our vehicle was tied to the tractor with an iron chain. Two members of our team were seated inside our Tata-sumo with their legs raised on the seat. Slowly our vehicle was pulled down into the ice cold water of Bagha river. Inside of the car got flooded with river water. Rest of the members of our team crossed the river on a lorry. All of us were thrilled at this wonderful unexpected adventurous experiences.
 |
| Baralachapass |
 |
| Suraj Bhisal-tal |
From Darcha we approached towards Baralacha-la . It is 45km. from Darcha. We were moving through Patso (12,500ft.) accompanied by snow capped Sarchu –peak. The weather was cloudy and extremely chilled with fierce wind blowing across. Mrs.Majumder, one of our team members was suffering from severe headache and was continuously vomiting. We were moving through barren landscape with scattered boulders. There were ice-walls scattered here and there along the road. We stopped at Baralacha-top (189km. from Manali & height 16,0082ft.) for a while. We stepped-down from the car and mingled with beauty of the nature. Barlacha top was full of artistic natural figures made of ice and the artistry was at its best because the greatest artist Nature itself was the architect. We were charmed and thrilled being in the midst of such a natural art gallery. We completely forgot our age, and for the next fifteen minutes we went on to do whatever we liked. As a result almost all of us developed headache and vomiting tendency. It was one of few memorable exciting moments of my life.
Baralacha-pass is unique in being a tri-junction, with a trail from Spiti coming in from the south-east. This is the crossing of the Great Himalaya, the watershed between Indus and Chenab. Next 3 km. drive from Baralacha-la top was a fairy tale journey as we passed through dreamland of ice art. Conditions of few members in the car were getting from bad to worse. Natural wonders prevailed over physical hardship. We had to stop again for a while, this time to see a wonderful mountain lake Suraj-bishal Tal. Not a very big lake, but splendidly cute at the feet of snow filled sarchu peak with ice floating on it.
 |
| Sarchu tent |
After a few kilometre drive from Baralacha we entered the vast sarchu valley bordering Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. This valley is surrounded by barren mountains. It’s length is 17 to 18 km. and breadth is 2 to 3 km. The temperature goes down below 00 C at night even in the month of May. It became late afternoon to arrived at the location of temporary tents of ‘Antract tour and travel’(ph:(01902) 252292,254492.) for that night stay. Thermometers at the tents showed 60C at that time. The setting sun was continuously changing the colours of the barren mountains around the valley. Fifteen milk white Swiss tents were arranged in two rows. Six orange coloured western tent toilets were at some distances. Arrangements in the toilets were not bad. That year we were their first guests. Tent rent was Rs.650 per twin sharing including evening tea, dinner and breakfast. We were very much impressed by the hospitality of the staffs. We took tea and had some walk in and around tent area. As the evening was setting strong chilled wind was blowing across the valley. We were served with warm soup and that gave us some relief from the cold. We took early dinner. It was hot and delicious. At night temperature went below freezing point. Two beds with thick mattress and extremely good rugs were waiting for us to take shelter from severe cold. Once the chains at the entrance of the tents were closed only the sounds of the blowing winds crashing at the outer walls of the tents were heard. Inside of the tents was warm and cosy.
We woke up in the next morning at the sounds of Mrs. Majumder vomiting. Sky was covered with thick cloud and snow was falling. We heard that temperature went below -50 C at night. No one had sound sleep in that night except me and my husband. Immediate medical attention was necessary for Mrs. Majumder. Army camps along the route provide this service to the tourists. We started very early to reach the nearest Army camp which was barely 15 km. away. Army served us on war footing.
 |
| Lachulung-La |
We started for our next destination Lachulung-la (54km. from Sarchu and height 16,616ft), the third highest pass of the route. We reached Lachulung-la top at 12.00 P.M. The weather was then clear.
Pang :
Pang was 22 km. from Lachulung-la at an height 15,280ft. After Lachulung La the landscape once again changed dramatically. The road snaked its way down through a narrow canyon with the Lachulung Lungpa stream running right beside the road. Eventually the canyon opened up to reveal an even more dramatic landscape. Extraordinary shapes, chiselled by the elements, just out of the sandy mountain sides. These shapes appeared mostly in clusters, some looked like anthills while some other clusters appeared as if they were pieces of a chess set.
Here we stopped for lunch at a tented restaurant by the side of the river. The restaurants offered basic food like Rice, Dal and Tea etc.
Here also we had to enter the military camp at Pang for medical assistance to some of our team members. Here oxygen levels in the body of all the team members were checked and almost everybody had to take oxygen for 15 to 30 minutes.
 |
| Pang |
 |
| Pang |
 |
| Moore Valley |
Taglang-La : We crossed ‘Moore’ valley after Pang and reached Taglang-La. A few kilometres before Tanglang-La, the highest pass(17,582ft.) in the route, the highway bifurcated to the right leading to Tsomoriri and Tsokar. Taglang-La is the third highest motorable road in the world. As we reached Taglang-La it was late afternoon, weather was very cloudy and snow was falling continuously. Due to snow the road condition became dangerous and visibility was also very poor. Our tata sumo could just escape an head on collision with a car coming from opposite side.
After crossing Taglang-La we touched the Rumtse village. From Upshi right upto Leh the great river the Indus accompanied us. The Indus Valley civilization started on the banks of this very river Indus (sindhu). First Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Neheru in his famous book ‘Discovery of India’ wrote about Indus valley civilization : ‘The Indus or Sindhu from which our country came to be called India and Hindusthan and across which races and tribes and caravens and armies have come for thousands of years.....’. Neheru believed that inhabitants on the banks of Sindhu river were called Hindus, they did not belong to any religion.
On the way we came across several villages including Kharu, Stakna, Thiksey, Shey, Choglamsar and arrived Leh (11,500ft) at about 9-30 PM in the night.
Memorable experiences on Manali-Leh Highway
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