Why tourists choose Ladakh?
By Morgane
Leh, Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Leh, first city of Ladakh, welcomes a lot of tourists, interested to visit places of Ladakh. But what are exactly the strengths of the place? What do tourists expect of Ladakh and Leh and what do they find exactly?
We can begin with my own situation. I took a plane from Geneva to Delhi, accompanied by my mother. After five weeks in Rajasthan (one of the prominent tourist states of India), and two other months in Gujarat for a practice, I was happy to materialize my dreams: to reach and visit Ladakh. Ladakh, one of the famous far destinations in the world, sounded like an adventure land. I expected to find myself lost in a wonderful mountainous and dried valleys landscape, in which gonpas and old castles would show the old pride of past reigns and peace of Buddhist religion. On the two-day bus trip from Srinagar up to Leh I saw beautiful scenery, smooth hills wrinkled by water erosion for so many kilometres. The Himalayan Mountains are still growing; nevertheless, erosion is the word I would take to describe the landscape. Snow, water and wind attack rocks relentlessly. That’s why you will find relieves of isolated peaks, thinly cut and mushroom shaped where the softer rocks from the sides are eroded. For me, Ladakh is first of all an open book of the different natural processes. Rivers, mountains, different altitudes, less people and less vegetation create an invaluable and unique landscape, that I love to see and liked to walk through. The impression left by Leh is that life seem to be on a strange turning point…Motorcycles, cars, treks agencies, shops of one part and mountains, people in traditional clothes, monks and Buddhist places on the other part. We can’t feel totally disoriented in Leh, as far as food and proposed activities are concerned.
Let ask another tourist of Leh during a dinner on a rooftop.
-What did you expect of Ladakh before coming? “Nothing particular. I came here because of the weather: there is no rain here. I think that Ladakh is the best place to stay during this period of the year. Another reason is that I wanted to have a lot of trek. Further, Ladakh is one of the famous places to visit in India.”
-How can you describe Leh? “It’s a tourist centre, with a lot of businesses focussing on tourists as customers. That’s not so different from the other places of India.
-Do you plan to come back in Ladakh later? “I usually do not to go back to the places I’ve already visited.” -Did you find what you expected from the place? “Yes. The Buddhist influence, a lot of tourists’ facilities, particularly agencies…I’m killing a lot of time here easily!” (Jay, from America)
-Marilyne, why are you now in Ladakh? “I was expecting to find a good weather, no monsoon and sun! I also wanted to be out of the city: less stress, less traffic jam and noise, less people…I’m also here to find mountains, nice landscape and to have a trek.”
-Did you find what you expected? “Yes. Here I find nice and peaceful places and cool weather. Landscapes aren’t as I imagined, but are still beautiful and colourful. In general in India, I didn’t expect to find such friendly and smiley people. I found in Ladakh peaceful people, maybe because of the Buddhist influence.
-Don you think about coming back to Ladakh? “It is already the second time that I’m here, in a same travel. I enjoy the positive energy of the place. I have still a lot of places to see, that’s why I would like to come back.
-And what is Leh for you? “Leh is a quiet place, in which you can relax, meet yourself… It’s also a city where I met inhabitants, who I appreciate to meet daily. I spent great time with them. Leh, among my travel in India, will stay an appreciated and invaluable remembrance.” (Marilyne, Switzerland)
What about Leila, from France?
-Leila, what did you expected of Ladakh and Leh? “I could inspire myself from the book of Olivier Folmi, telling his experience in Zanskar, in winter. After reading the book, I wanted to come in Himalayas. I was thirsty for the absolute and wanted to melt myself in the landscape’s immensity. I wasn’t looking for people, but for solitude of mountains, and to meditate in a good place.
-Did you find what you expected? “Yes, and more than that. A friend and I met Tibetan nomads during our trek in mountain. We got a positive impression of this people: they have such positive energy and are self-contained.”
-For you, what is Leh? “I can’t feel in the Himalaya here, because of the shops, restaurants and cars. There is a gap between the altitude of 3,500 meters in a far place and that we feel still apart of the mountains. I wasn’t expecting Leh like that. Maybe it wasn’t like that ten years before…Consummation’s society is now here and is amazing. A positive fact is to see the several ecological movements in the city. I would like to come back in Ladakh, maybe with my future family.”
(Leila, France)
To interview tourists is an easy operation. The discussion, regarding holidays, seems to be very light. In a further step, we can summarise that tourists, coming to Leh are basically interested by beauty of landscapes and mountains, and some are interested to meet the local people. By the discussion, we were still asking ourselves why and how the consummation’s society reached Ladakh (I’m afraid with us for one part), how Leh’s daily life sceneries changes every year, and how can we preserve by our contribution the originality of Leh…

(Author is a tourist from Switzerland)