Getting down at Leh, the capital, stretching out its human canvas between the Indus and the mountains, or while crossing Zoji La on the road from Srinagar, the traveller is primarily moved by a single emotion. Yes, his eyes, he feels, are much too small; the altitude combined with the absolute purity of the air, the mountains of varied colours, seeming to be covered with a sheet of steel, cut through a blue of an intensity dreamt up by a serene goddess. A world before which one has to relearn how to loo k, with the large wide-eyed gaze of a wonderstruck child.
Ladakh has a rich landscape, peopled with different ethnic groups. The source of the Indus is in Tibet and it enters into Ladakh through Chantang, the region of the Changpah nomads. These are fiercely independent people, proud of their wanderings in th e Himalayas. Most of them are Tibetan refugees, living on the raising of yaks, sheep and particularly goats whose wool, treated in a special manner, takes on the magic conjured by the name pashmina, also called Cashmere. This precious article is sold in Leh, in the Indus valley where the, inhabitants, belonging to the Tibeto-Mongoloid race have been sedentary since 13 centuries. Continuing this journey along the Indus, we meet with the Zanskar, coming down from the heart of the Himalayas. It is the valley marking the border between Ladakh and Kashmir. Further to the west, the land of the Drogpahs (Dards) opens up its doors. These Aryans come f rom Baltistan and they belonged to the kingdom of Gilgit. Just five Dard v illages belong to Ladakh; they present to our eyes an extraordinary world, which gives one a feeling of living through a meeting with the story of humanity.
To the north of Leh is a road which seems to never stop rising ever higher, an astral quest. This is the Beacon Highway, the highest road in the world. Khardong La offers to our gaze a forbidden valley: Nubra. Here the Siachen meets the Shayok to prese nt to the guardians of the Karakoram an expanse of greenery contrasting remarkably with the rest of Ladakh. The inhabitants of Nubra offer to modern travellers the hospitality reserved in earlier times for the caravans on the silk road which came to this rich oasis to replenish their supplies.
No journey to Ladakh would be complete without a respectful visit to one of these Himalayan cathedrals dedicated to the gods of the upper plateaux. An atmosphere of peace pervades the being, a serene calm invades it. Then the frescos, the tangkas can trul y move us, much more intensely than if they were in the midst of other treasures within a museum, or in a city drawing room.
Ladakh has a rich landscape, peopled with different ethnic groups. The source of the Indus is in Tibet and it enters into Ladakh through Chantang, the region of the Changpah nomads. These are fiercely independent people, proud of their wanderings in th e Himalayas. Most of them are Tibetan refugees, living on the raising of yaks, sheep and particularly goats whose wool, treated in a special manner, takes on the magic conjured by the name pashmina, also called Cashmere. This precious article is sold in Leh, in the Indus valley where the, inhabitants, belonging to the Tibeto-Mongoloid race have been sedentary since 13 centuries. Continuing this journey along the Indus, we meet with the Zanskar, coming down from the heart of the Himalayas. It is the valley marking the border between Ladakh and Kashmir. Further to the west, the land of the Drogpahs (Dards) opens up its doors. These Aryans come f rom Baltistan and they belonged to the kingdom of Gilgit. Just five Dard v illages belong to Ladakh; they present to our eyes an extraordinary world, which gives one a feeling of living through a meeting with the story of humanity.
To the north of Leh is a road which seems to never stop rising ever higher, an astral quest. This is the Beacon Highway, the highest road in the world. Khardong La offers to our gaze a forbidden valley: Nubra. Here the Siachen meets the Shayok to prese nt to the guardians of the Karakoram an expanse of greenery contrasting remarkably with the rest of Ladakh. The inhabitants of Nubra offer to modern travellers the hospitality reserved in earlier times for the caravans on the silk road which came to this rich oasis to replenish their supplies.
No journey to Ladakh would be complete without a respectful visit to one of these Himalayan cathedrals dedicated to the gods of the upper plateaux. An atmosphere of peace pervades the being, a serene calm invades it. Then the frescos, the tangkas can trul y move us, much more intensely than if they were in the midst of other treasures within a museum, or in a city drawing room.
