Mesmerizing Ladakh

India is known for its varied culture and diversity. Tourism in India is greatly required for its economic development and rapid growth. India being a large country there are many places to travel as a tourist. The best tourist place near me is Ladakh . It has an area of 98000 square km. Its total population is about 135000. The temperature there in summers could vary up to 27- degree Celsius and in winters could go up to minus 20 -degree celsius. The best time to visit Ladakh as a tourist is from mid -June to October. The clothing depends according to climate as in summers light woollen clothes could be worn whereas in winters heavy woollen clothes with wind proofing is required. The language used among the local people there are purik, Balti, English and tibetean. The culture, physique or clothes followed by ladakhi are much similar to Tibetans. The majority of people living there follow Buddhism and practice mayana Buddhism. Apart from the best sceneries, Ladakh is also famous for its deep blue lakes which are made more famous by the Bollywood movies. One of the lakes is Pangong Tso lake. It covers an area of about 604 km square. In winter this lake freezes completely despite of containing saline water. It is an awesome place for camping and relaxing enjoying the view. This lake is popular for this colour changing ability. Its colour changes from blue to green to red. It is at an altitude of 4350m above the sea level. The lake contains brackish water which has very low micro vegetation. Pangong lake is a disputed territory. The lakes traverse the international boundary to stretch from India to Bhutan.  Another lake is Tso Moriri Lake. This place is canvas coloured with blue-white skies, blue-green mountains with white tops. It is a high altitude lake with 4595m and has a depth of 248feet. This lake is slightly at a more height than Pangong lake and contains less brackish water therefore, supports more birdlife. As this lake does not contain an outlet so its brackish water is not detectable to taste. The lake is located in the middle of the district Rupshu. There are many valleys also. one of the most famous valleys in the Ladakh region is the Nubra Valley. The Sand Dunes of this valley give an Arabian night like experience. There are majorly three specialities of Nubra valley first is the Dikshit which is a monastery and was build in 1420 AD. Another is Hunder which was the capital of Nubra valley in the 17th century and is presently the home of ChampaGompa. The third one is the Sand Dunes which lie between the road of Hunder and Dikshit. Nubra valley connected eastern Tibet with Turkistan via the  Karakoram Pass. The formation of Nubra valley was from the Shyok river which is a tributary of Indus. The altitude of this valley is about 10,000ft above the sea level. The valley is surrounded by snow cap Himalayan ranges. There is a glacier named Siachen which lies towards the north of the valley. Another valley is the Suru valley, it is the valley in Kargil district of Ladakh. This valley is drained by the Suru River which is a powerful tributary of Indus River. The valley is famous for its beauty. The most significant town there in the valley is Sanku. It is a trove of wildflowers, meadows and white water streams. Now the Khardungla pass which is the highest civilian motorable road in the world. This pass is the gateway to the Shyok and Nubra Valley. This road was opened to public motor vehicles in 1988 and is maintained by the Borders Roads Organisation. This road is important to India as it carries supplies to the Siachen glacier. The elevation of this pass 5359m so altitude sickness for people going there is a common problem. Ladakh is famous for its food as well like Chutagi which is a dumpling soup. This dish is made up of flour in bow tie-shaped dumpling soup that consists of vegetables especially potato, carrot, spinach. There is special tea named Gur Gur chai also called butter tea. Gur Gur is the name of the utensil in which the tea is made. It is not sweet in taste and the ingredients required to make this tea are butter, tea powder and milk. There are many more dishes like thupka, momo, tapu and many more. Ladhakis traditionally wear a thicken woollen robe called “Goucha” which is fastened at the neck and under the armpit and then tied at the waist with a colourful sash. These were some of the specialties of Ladakh. It’s a very beautiful place to visit.

Author: KIARA TICKOO, Faridabad