Majestic Ladakh : Royal Palaces in Leh

By

Like every other travelers in Ladakh, we too spent our second day in Leh. It is advisable to spend a day or two in Leh for acclimatization before going to any places of higher altitude like Khardung La or Pangong Lake. Leh has many great places to offer to its visitors including stunning landscape views, palaces, monasteries, stupas, war memorials and river Indus at Sindhu Ghat. We decided to visit the palaces and gompas on our second day in Leh and first to visit by us was the Leh Palace and Namgyal Tsemo Gompa.

Leh Palace of Namgyal Dynasty

The erstwhile royal residence of Leh locates around 2 Km from the main market place. Though the Palace locates on a hill top overlooking the Leh town it can be reached by car. As we reached the Palace we saw wandering young monks on bike!

Read More

Majestic Ladakh : Fotu La to Lamayuru, Alchi and Likir Monastery

By

Long ago when I saw a photo of ‘Moonland’ I was very much impressed and keen to see the place. But where it is? Though “Moonland’ does not have any Indian postal code or a milestone but it locates none other than in the mystical land of Ladakh, a village called Lamayuru! The moonlike landscape of ‘Lamayuru’ is popularly referred to and called by the traveler as ‘Moonland’!

Read More

Holy Muktinath And Beautiful Mustang- Part 2

By

I came back to hotel and joined my friends for our journey to Muktinath. Today we would pass through the village Kagbeni to reach Muktinath. Jomsom and Kagbeni is the main gateway of Muktinath. We drove only a few minutes and reached the riverbed of Kali Gandaki. Around that place Mr. Bachchan’s film “Khuda Ghawa’ was shot and our driver was more interested in showing us the shooting spots. But we were more excited to the adventurous drive over the riverbed. I peeped outside the window and saw wheels of our vehicle were rolling inside the river water. We crossed the river Kali Gandaki and started ascending through the rocky mountain road.

The climate and landscape all around looked like a rain shadow region of Himalaya, very similar to those of Ladakh region. It’s Mustang! A lost kingdom in Himalayas! We stopped and looked around. Far on the foothills of Mt. Dhaulagiri the view of tiny town Jomsom was awesome.

Read More

Holy Muktinath And Beautiful Mustang

By

It is not a star category hotel but undoubtedly the best of the lot. Hotel owner endeavoured to preserve the past glory by hanging photographs of Mr Bachchan with him and some film shots of ‘Khuda Gawah’ on the walls. Staying in this hotel was comfortable; it had 24 hours hot water facility and free wifi. The foods were nice but they cost too high.

Read More

Hornbill Festival –The Liveliest Festival of India, Day Two

By

There we saw nothing like individual performances and all the tribes were dancing in a group. In every performance group of artists in colourful costumes began dancing slowly, made circles or some geometrical formations, gradually raised the tempo with steps and on reaching the climax, tempo was brought down again with a satisfying finale.

The tribes of Mizoram entered into the arena with their most popular Bamboo Dance. In that format of dance bamboos were placed and held horizontally across each other on the ground. While the boys tapped bamboos in rhythmic beats girls were dancing by stepping alternatively in and out to the beats with ease and grace.

Read More

Majestic Ladakh : Kargil to Fotu La

By

The monastery is placed at the centre top of a brown mountain cliff and appears as if suspended in the middle of it. A narrow road with many steps will take you inside to this wonderful cave monastery. This monastery has many elegant frescoes. This is one of the old Buddhist monasteries in Ladakh region.

Read More

Majestic Ladakh : Kargil

By

But that war is not the sole identity of Kargil. It was famous even before- famous for centuries among the silk route traders. This land was a transit point of the traders and caravans on their way from Kashmir and Punjab through Leh to China, Tibet and Yarken. The trade route though was closed many decades ago but the place has not yet lost its importance. Even today the travellers choose this small town as their favourite and most convenient place for night stay while going to Leh from Srinagar or when returning from Leh to Srinagar.

We were travelling to Kargil from Sonamarg. Enroute, we passed through the treacherous mountain pass Zojila and the second coldest inhabitat place in the world- Drass. Kargil is about 60 Kms from Drass. We crossed beautiful pasture grounds and Majestic Mountain peaks on the way from Drass.

Read More

Majestic Ladakh : Kargil War Memorial, Drass

By

Kargil War Memorial is a monument established to commemorate the victories of Operation Vijay during the Indo-Pak war of 1999 and also to pay homage to war Martyrs who laid their lives while safeguarding our country against the Pakistani intruders. The memorial is made of pink sandstone at ‘ground zero’ with the backdrop of Tololing Range. On its rear wall, names of the martyrs are inscribed on golden plate.
I read therein the quote, “Beneath this earth young warriors sleep” and few lines from a poem of Martyr Ram Prasad Bismil (He was a great freedom fighter participated in Mainpuri Conspiracy of 1918, and the Kakori conspiracy of 1925 against the British Empire, and was sentenced to death by British Raj) at the bottom of the wall,

Shaheedon Ki Chitaon Par
Lagenge Har Baras Mele
Watan Par Mar Mitne Walo Ka
Yahi Baaki Nishaan Hoga

Read More

Majestic Ladakh : ZojiLa- The Most Treacherous Mountain Pass In The World!

By

Wait a minute! It has a history of war too. Don’t raise your brows! Yes, it has. Kashmir was then an independent Kingdom and Maharaja Hari Singh was its king. It was the year 1947-48. The king was finding it difficult to decide with which country to join his territory, India or Pakistan, or to remain independent. The king chose to remain independent but his wishes were short lived and dashed in October 1947 as Pakistan sent Muslim tribesmen invader into the territory of Kashmir who were then approaching to the capital Srinagar fast. Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession, ceding Kashmir to India on 26th October. Thus the first war between India and Pakistan broke out over Kashmir in 1947. India referred the dispute to United Nation on 1st January 1948. During this war Pakistani invaders seized ZojiLa in 1948 while they were on the verge of capturing Ladakh. On 1st November, Zojila pass was recaptured by Indian forces under Operation Bison. On 1st January 1949, a ceasefire was agreed with only two-third of the whole Kashmir under Indian control and the remaining with Pakistan (we call it now as Pakistan Occupied Kashmir or P.O.K). In the ceasefire lines, LOC (Line of Control) was drawn up which was formally established in 1972, after a third war between India and Pakistan in 1971.The Line of Control remains the de facto border between the two countries.

We spent enough time at the pass looking at how other vehicles were negotiating the road at the mountain edge that has no barrier. The road is so narrow and vicious that it is known as one of the most dangerous passes in the world. But the route is a lifeline that keeps the people of Ladakh connect with the rest of the world. However it remains closed for more than six months in a year for blockage due to heavy snowfall. The road reopens in late spring. ZojiLa at an elevation of 11649 feet above sea level is considered to be the second highest pass after Fotu La on the Srinagar-Leh National Highway.

Read More

Majestic Ladakh : The Journey Begins!

By

Now let’s begin the journey. Yes it starts with this prologue. For me, the journey actually began much before I stepped into the land of Kashmir to enter into Ladakh.

The Chinese philosopher, Lao-Tzu, said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” It is true for travelling to the top of the world, Ladakh! The first step undoubtedly would be to know a little bit about Ladakh.

It started, for me, four months before I actually travelled the region- through numerous articles, blogs and travel stories. Before going to Ladakh it was much essential for me to know about the places to go and activities to do in Ladakh, its history, culture, religious institutions and the mystics.

Read More

Hotel Review: Hotel Sunshine, Sonamarg, Kashmir

By

We were coming from Baltal on our way back from Amarnath Yatra. We crossed the Sonmarg town. It is a small town with string of shops on the Srinagar- Leh highway (NH-1D) spreads over a kilometre or so. We noticed some road side hotels there, but all looked very ordinary. We moved towards the direction of Srinagar and after travelling less than a kilometre we stopped at Hotel Sunshine which locates on the national highway and adjacent to Hotel Snow Land (a luxurious hotel).

The first look of the Hotel from outside was impressive! Location, marvellous! Sometimes we find it hard to get a hotel in a good location that fits into our pocket. Hotel Sunshine offered us the both.
Located in Sonamarg on the bank of river Indus (Sindh), Hotel Sunshine is surrounded by the lush green mountains with snow cape peaks. It offers respite to the visitors from the hustle and bustle of Sonamarg town. The hotel complex shares the same view at an affordable price with its costly neighbour ‘Hotel Snow Land’.

Read More