Ladakh Beckons

Monday, June 19, 2006 Ladakh Beckons For you travel buffs.. here's some dope on Leh-Ladakh.. Ladakh is accessible to travelers from the months of April-September end. One may either fly to Leh (Indian Airlines has a flight every alternate day from Delhi... leaves here by 6:00 am). But remember, flying isn't the best option.. reason being, you take longer to acclimatise to the environs. The other option to go to Leh is to drive down- either go via J&K or via Manali. If possible, do the entire circle, as its breathtaking. If you go via J&K--> here's how u do it.. Public transportation is easily available upto Srinagar.. then on, there are various restrictions, courtesy the Indian army. Once you reach Srinagar, carrying on towards Leh isn't all that easy. You have to take a pitstop at Kargil, and trust me, its one of the most beautiful cities! Full of warm, friendly people, who act like nothing ever happened there, and some really delicious Kashmiri cuisine, this place is definitely worth a visit! There are still vague hints of its past, but the people there never let on that something so drastic ever happened. Cabs are readily available for hire from Srinagar, though they may ask you for a steep amount-which of course is bargainable. The journey from Kargil to Leh is one really long, beautiful and at times scary day! The scary part comes in when you reach Zojila pass... Remember, there are time restrictions to travel on that route as the Zojila pass is vary narrow and only one way traffic is allowed. So one may have to wait at Sonmarg before carrying on; but don't worry, your cabbie will know all the relavant details. Leh in itself is the valley. When i reached there, i was a little goofed because it was so green, yet dry. Careful of the sun there-its really harsh and by day 2, my skin was already peeling. A few tips: keep yourself well hydrated, drink loads of water.. use loads of sunscreen.. 6:24:09 PM Posted By Smrithi Rao Comments (4) Travel Comments sk sharma Saturday, July 29, 2006 4:58:50 PM A beautiful account of your travel. Well done. Keep it up with more such travelogue. alertIndian Monday, August 14, 2006 12:38:06 AM Pl. visit Ladakh with Deepti Naval.http://www.deeptinaval.com/frozen-river-trek-index.htmYou will come back to me to say 'thanks'. Francis Friday, September 1, 2006 10:58:59 PM Hi S,Cool concise .. however a bit short of details re costing, hotac in Leh et all!any other interesting spots? do writeCheers K. Venugopal Saturday, October 7, 2006 6:30:56 PM Is this the first blog on NDTV? Way to go.