Ladakh: Photos 42 to 63

The airport in Leh makes Ladakh an easily accessible place. But the only way to get a sense of how isolated and remote this region is is to travel there overland. It is less than 500km from Manali but the bus journey takes 2 days, stopping overnight in Keylong, presumably because it is unsafe to travel the winding mountain road in the dark. Keylong is the last town before you reach Leh, and in the 15 hours of travel between the two points, the only signs of human habitation are the occaisional makeshift hamlets serving food to travellers, shepherds camps, work crews and, particularly once you enter Jammu and Kashmir state, military bases. The vast mountains, valleys and plateaus are not only almost entirely void of human life, but that of plants and animals too. The military bases and work camps are thoroughly depressing places. The roadworkers in this region are desperately poor. One camp was actually signposted with the name "Killingserai". A days drive from anywhere, this squalid camp consisted of about 50 tar-soaked workers, many of them barely into their teens. They appeared to spend all day smelting tar and chipping rocks with small hammers and chisels. The tar

Full Text Entry: Ladakh