Leh and Ladakh

I was fortunate to have a trip with Aaj take team, a very dear friend of mine Siddharth Tiwari.

 Carrying my Canon 400 D with my entire kit and sid was carrying his video cam and entire crew.

Let me just fill you with a little bit of wiki-knowledge here, for those who have basic doubts...OMGWTF Leh and Ladakh? Ladakh is a region situated in the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir, it consists two districts Kargil and Leh, the latter being bigger and touristy than the former. Ladakh region, known as Little Tibet, borders with both Pakistan and China. It's known for it's mountainous landscape and it's unique culture not to be found anywhere else in India. This discourse is a general write up about Leh city, not too much of travelogue kinds.

If I had to describe Leh in keywords, those would be - Mountains, Blue skies, Army, Stupas, Buddhism, Monasteries, Tibet, Art markets, Gompas, Indus and Capricious climate. The city of Leh has only two terrestrial approaches: Manli-Leh highway and Leh-Srinagar highway, both of which are seasonal, they're closed during winter. Leh is served by Kushok Bakula Rimpochee airport (code: IXL), located in the Spituk village on the outskirts. It's both a military as well as a commercial airport. Jet airways, Kingfisher and Indian Airlines have flights from New Delhi. Leh is literally cut off from the rest of the world, if the weather Gods decide to be violent.

The life in Leh is extremely tough, especially in winters. Water could not be supplied in pipes due to ruthless sub-zero temperatures during winter, so you happen to see people with a queue of metal cans anxiously waiting for the water supply tankers which suck up water from Indus and supply to homes. I still remember a bent and broken Buddhist lady with her cans, asking me when we stopped for photographing Thiksey Gompa, if we saw the water tanker coming. And in winter I was told that, people have to hammer-and-chisel out chunks of ice and heat it to get water. Hibernation is the only occupation of the locals during winter.

Overlooking proudly over the downtown in the Leh palace atop a mountain, a gigantic palace modelled on it's Lhasa counterpart. Shanti Stupa, is definitely the most visited landmark in Leh city. It's a gleaming white Stupa designed by a Japenese architect, standing atop a mountain from which the panorama of the Leh city is breathtaking. The ambience around the Stupa is very tranquil and placid, which was very welcoming for me. The best photograph that could be composed from Shanti Stupa is a distant monastery in the mild yellow evening light wherein the backdrop would be auriferous mountains and blue skies.