India’s hidden Himalayas of Ladakh - PHOTO

Ladakh, a mountainous, semi-autonomous region in northern India, borders Pakistan, the disputed region of Kashmir and the Chinese autonomous regions of Xinjiang and Tibet. Unsurprisingly, given its location, Ladakh has served as a cultural and trading crossroads for more than 1,000 years. Yet even its historical importance has not made Ladakh – which is sandwiched by the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges – particularly accessible. Only two main roads run to the region, and snow renders them impassable for some seven or eight months each year. Ladakh can then only be reached by flights into the regional capital of Leh.This inaccessibility has helped preserve a traditional, Buddhist culture in the region’s central and eastern parts, one that in many ways resembles that of its neighbour, Tibet. Tibet, however, is 10 times the size of Ladakh and gets 250 times the number of visitors. Ladakh also does not endure nearly as much pressure to change from the Indian government as Tibet sees from the Chinese government.(BBC)Bakudaily.az