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Leh,
the capital of Ladakh is a charming destination. Age old
monasteries, charming lanes, colorful markets and dazzling views
of the Himalayas make Leh an exotic destination. Leh is
where your adventure in Ladakh begins. You can go
trekking through the mountainous land of Ladakh, enjoy a game of
polo in a high elevation arena or watch an archery contest where
local residents compete in a contest that leftovers unchanged by
time. Mountaineering, white water rafting and wildlife tours are
other adventurous attractions of Leh Ladakh India. Though the
weather can be glacial cold, the smiles on the faces of the
Ladakhi people are sure to warm you.
Ladakh is a land like no other. Surrounded by two of the
world's mightiest mountain ranges, the Great Himalaya
and the Karakoram, it lies athwart two other, the Ladakh
range and the Zanskar range. In geographical terms, this
is a young land, shaped only a few million years ago by the
buckling and folding of the earth's crust as the Indian sub
continent pushed with tempting force against the immovable mass
of Asia. Its basic contours, uplifted by these inconceivable
tectonic movements, have been modified over the millennia by the
opposite process of erosion, sculpted into the form we see today
by wind and water.
Dras, Zanskar and the Suru Valley on
the Himalaya's North side receive heavy snow in winter;
this feeds the glaciers whose melt water, carried down by
streams, irrigates the fields in summer. For the rest of the
region, the snow on the peaks is virtually the only source of
water. As the crops grow, the villagers pray not for rain, but
for sun to melt the glaciers and release their water. Usually
their prayers are answered, for the skies are clear and the sun
shines for over 300 days in the year.
Ladakh lies at altitudes ranging from about 2750m at Kargil
to 7,672m at Saser Kangri in the Karakoram.
Thus summer temperatures infrequently exceed about 27 degree
celcuis in the shade, while in winter they may plummet to
minus 20 degree celcuis even in Leh. Astonishingly,
though, the thin air makes the heat of the sun even more intense
than at lower altitudes; it is said that only in Ladakh can a
man sitting in the sun with his feet in the shade undergo from
sunstroke and frostbite at the same time.
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