Ladakh - लद्दाख

Ladakh is a world of its own, known as the Moonland for its arid, treeless landscape or the Dreamland for the monasteries perched like fairy castles on rocky crags. The remote location accounts for both these characteristics. High mountain ranges prevent rains and snowfall, and also outside influence. Ladakh was opened to tourism only twenty years ago. It is still largely unspoiled in its Buddhist peacefulness and, despite a bleakness akin to a Middle Eastern desert, a beautiful place.

Ladakh preserved its independence until the 18th century while maintaining close commercial and religious ties with Tibet. With the collapse of the Mughal empire the last great invasion of Ladakh came during the Dogra rule when Zorawar Singh with 5000 men crosses the Bhotkol Pass and exiled the king to Stok. Ladakh was first absorbed into Jammu and Kashmir, then the British Raj, and finally independent India. Ladakh lies at altitudes ranging from about 9,000 ft (2,750 m) at Kargil to 25,170 ft (7,672m) at Saser Kangri, in the Karakoram Range.