These slides were designed by me for my class Presentation. This is not a professional one as I have copied images and slides and information from web, but the construction (formation) of this presentation is by me. Presentation consists the Travel, culture, site seeing, Geography and Festival of Ladhak Area.

1. Life at 11000 feet High

2. Presentation by : Vishal Chaudhary

3. About
• Ladakh "land of high passes“ is a region of Jammu and
Kashmir and lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the
north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited
by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent. It is one of the
most sparsely populated regions in Jammu and Kashmir.
• Ladakh is renowned for its remote mountain beauty and
culture. It is sometimes called "Little Tibet" as it has been
strongly influenced by Tibetan culture.
• Ladakh is the highest plateau of state of Kashmir with much of
it being over 3,000 m (9,800 ft). It spans the Himalayan and
Karakoram mountain ranges and the upper Indus River valley.

6. How to get there
 By Flight :
 From Delhi & Srinagar - Indian Airlines &
Jet airways.
 By Road :
 Srinagar to Leh via Kargil ( 2-3 days)
 Manali to Leh (2 - 3 Days)
 These are the most beautiful & breathtaking
road journey’ on the worlds highest road,
crossing passes as high as 15000 ft & even
more..
 Government run busses ply on these roads,
or else you can hire taxi / jeeps or maybe
ride your own way on motor-cycles.

7. Visits in Ladakh
 Leh City
 Pangong Lake
 Tso-moriri
 Zanskar
 Khardungla
 Nubra valley
 Kargil
 Gompas in Ladakh

8. Leh, was the capital of the Himalayan kingdom
of Ladakh, now the Leh District in the state of
Jammu and Kashmir, India.
Leh, with an area of 45,110 km2, is the second
largest district in the country (after Kutch,
Gujarat) in terms of area.
Leh is at an altitude of 3524 metres (11,562
ft), and connects via National Highway 1D
connects it to Srinagar in the southwest and to
Manali in the south via Leh-Manali Highway.
Leh was an important stopover on trade
routes along the Indus Valley between Tibet to
the east, Kashmir to the west and also
between India and China for centuries. The
main goods carried were salt, grain, pashm or
cashmere wool, charas or cannabis resin from
the Tarim Basin, indigo, silk yarn and Banaras
brocade.

10. PANGONG LAKE
Pangong Tso is an endorheic lake in the
Himalayas situated at a height of about
4,350 m (14,270 ft).
It is 134 km (83 mi) long and extends from
India to Tibet. 60% of the length of the
lake lies in China. The lake is 5 km (3.1 mi)
wide at its broadest point.
All together it covers 604 sq. km. During
winter the lake freezes completely,
despite being saline water.
The brackish water of the lake has very
low micro-vegetation. Guides report that
there are no fish or other aquatic life in
the lake, except for some small
crustaceans.

11. Tsomoriri or Lake Moriri (official
name: Tsomoriri Wetland
Conservation Reserve), in the
Changthang (literal meaning,
northern plains) area, is a High
Altitude Lake (HAL) with an
altitude of 4,595 m (15,075 ft) in
Ladakh, India and is the largest of
the High Altitude Lakes in the
Trans-Himalayan biogeographic
region, entirely within India.
The lake formerly had an outlet to
the south, but it has contracted
considerably and has become
land locked; as a result; the water
is now brackish to saline.

13. Zanskar is a sub district or tehsil of the
Kargil district, which lies in the eastern
half of the Indian state of Jammu and
Kashmir. The administrative center is
Padum. Zanskar, together with the
neighbouring region of Ladakh, was
briefly a part of the kingdom of Guge in
Western Tibet.
The Zanskar Range is a mountain range
in the Indian state of Jammu and
Kashmir that separates Zanskar from
Ladakh. Geologically, the Zanskar Range
is part of the Tethys Himalaya.
It also separates Kinnaur District from
Spiti in Himachal Pradesh. The highest
peaks of Himachal are in Zanskar range.

14. Group of Zanskari women and children.

15. A White Yak in Zanskar Range

16. Khardung La (Khardung Pass, la means
pass in Tibetan) is a high mountain pass
located in Ladakh region.
The pass on the Ladakh Range lies north
of Leh and is the gateway to the Shyok
and Nubra valleys. The Siachen Glacier
lies partway up the latter valley.
Local summit signs claim that its
elevation is 5,602 m (18,379 ft) metres
high and that it is the world's highest
motorable pass

18. Nubra Valley is about 150 km north
of Leh, the capital town of Ladakh,
India. Local scholars say that its
original name was Ldumra (the
valley of flowers).
The Shyok River meets the Nubra
or Siachan River to form a large
valley that separates the Ladakh
and the Karakoram Ranges.
The average altitude of the valley
is about 10,000 ft. above the sea
level. The common way to access
this valley is to travel over the
Khardung La from Leh. Non-locals
require an Inner Line Permit
(obtainable in Leh town) to enter
Nubra.

19. KARGIL
• Kargil, the only town in the Suru valley, is the second most important town in Ladakh
• It was an important staging post on the routes of the trade caravans before 1947, being more
or less equidistant, at about 230 kilometres from Srinagar, Leh, Skardu and Padum.
• Kargil was an area of conflict in the wars of 1947, 1965 and 1971 and the focal point of a
potential nuclear conflict during the Kargil War in 1999.
• The Ladakh region was bifurcated into the Kargil and Leh districts in 1979. In 1989, there
were violent riots between Buddhists and Muslims.
• Kargil has an average elevation of 2,676 metres (8,780 feet), and is situated along the banks
of the Suru River (Indus).

21. THE LAND OF GOMPAS
As you drive into Leh and after the odyssey of a long drive, comes a fairy-tale
ending. A fort, a palace and a monastery stand out against the sky, amidst an
avenue of poplars. This is Leh. The journey has just begun. As the Buddhists
say:`When you are ready, the teacher will appear

22. The Gompas ‘Monasteries’
 Like many other religious establishments all
over the world, the gompas too have been
gifted lands, by the ex-rulers of Ladakh. It
is from these lands and public donations
that the gompas derive their
income. Cultivation on gompa land is done
by the labourers and not by the lamas, for
ploughing by lamas is considered
inauspicious.
It is believed that in the olden days the gompas
stood on the trading route to Tibet and offered
sanctuary to travelers and traders.
All the thirteen important gompas
of Ladakh celebrate their annual festivals in
winter, except the Hemis Gompa which
celebrates it in June or July, lasting
three days. Ladakhis gather
enthusiastically for these gay festivals and
witness folk and religious masked dances.

23. HEMIS GOMPA
The Hemis Gompa was built in 1620 by the king-architect Singe Namgyal who was a great patron of
Buddhism, This is the biggest gompa of Ladakh. It is situated 44 kms from Leh on the Leh-Manali road.
For a visit to this place one has to travel 8 kms via Karu, after crossing the river Indus. Hemis
Gompa is not visible from the road. There are several temples here, which contain stupas and
precious images made of gold. The art pieces glitter with precious stones. There is a valuable store of
thankas in this gompa including the biggest in Ladakh. It is displayed once in eleven years and the next
display will be in 1992. However, they were soon to be in a pitiable plight for Zorawar Singh had
reached the Hemis Gompa after plundering and destroying the other gompas on his route.
The manager of the Hemis Gompa skillfully saved his monastery by surrendering before any more
damage could be done. In 1956, the chief lama of the gompa disappeared never to be seen again. His
absence led to the deterioration of the condition of the Hemis Gompa. A twelve-year-old lama was
enthroned in 1976.
The lamas of Ladakh respect other religions also. In this gompa important posts like that of the motbir
(manager) were given to Kadir Sheikh and Akhon Abdul Hussain who were Muslims. The kitchen of
this gompa is unique. There is a huge vessel of copper whose diameter is 12 m, capable of cooking rice
or thuppa for 500 people at a time. Buddhist visitors donate money to the kitchen.
There is is a courtyard in front of the gompa which is 60 m long and 18 m wide. In this courtyard four
long poles are stuck in the ground at equal distances and four different banners fly atop
these poles. A big worn-out thanka is hung in front of the temple, on which the picture of Chapgon
Gyalshas, the founder of the Hemis Gompa, is painted. Three-fourths of the area of the courtyard is left
for religious dances. The rest of the place is normally full of spectators on such occasions.

25. Thikse Gompa
This gompa is situated about 19 kms away from from
Leh on Leh-Manali road. It stands on a hilltop in the
desert and is visible from a distance. The houses of
the lamas are situated on the slopes of the hill. The
gompa is especially interesting from the
point of view of its architectural
beauty. There are several temples in this gompa
containing images, stupas and wall paintings. The
wall paintings of the main temple are exquisite.

26. Shankar Gompa

Sankar Gompa is a subsidiary of Spitok gompa,
having the same head lama. Sankar is easily visited
on foot from Leh, lying as it does in Leh's suburbs.
About 25 lamas of the yellow-hat sect are attached
to Sankar but only a few live here permanently.
Thus, it is only open to the public from 7 to 10 am
and from 5 to 7 pm. Sankar gompa is about 90
years old but is located on the site of a small
temple that was built about 500 years ago.
 From the street one enters the gompa's front yard.
To the right are a few steps climbing up to the
double doors that open onto the Dukhang or main
assembly hall. The entrance porch has paintings of
the Guardians of the Four Directions on either side
of the entry door. On the left wall of the veranda is
a "Wheel of Life" held by Yama, the deity that
determines a person's future fate after death. The
wall on the right depicts the Old Man of Long Life.

27. Spituk Gompa
About 7km from Leh on the right bank of the river
Indus, this gompa is visible from afar, standing quite
prominently on the top of a mountain. A new temple
has been built here and the old one renovated. There
are some fine "thankas" in this gompa.
The main temple contains many icons of
the Buddha. There is temple of Mahakal that is about
900 years old. This temple was
built by King Takspa Bung . It has a images of Ma
hakal (yamantak) & others. The awe-inspiring image of
Mahakal has 35 arms on each side. It has 8 legs on one
side. The face of the Mahakal is covered throughout the
year & is shown to spectators only at the annual function
in the month of January. The walls of the
temple are decorated with beautiful paintings. One of
the wall paintings has human skeletons on
it. In this temple there is a collection of 16 ancient
masks of different animals, gods & goddesses. The
temple also has a collection of antique arms.
In a room adjacent to
Mahakal's chamber, a big curtain is stretched between
two long poles. People attach their photographs &
currency to the cloth for the fulfillment of their wishes.

28. Festivals
 Most festivals in Ladakh are religious
and take place at the gompas.
Unfortunately for the tourist, most of
these festivals occur in the winter
months. Ladakhi winter is extremely
harsh and most social activities like
weddings, visiting friends and family,
indoor handicraft work and
participating in religious festivals is
postponed till the summers.
 Traditionally, only Hemis gompa held a
big summer festival but in 1983,
Thiksey gompa held its festival in the
summer for the first time. In addition
to the religious festivals, there are
small harvest thanksgiving festivals in
the autumn. In 1983, Leh held its first
Tourist Festival, in the first week of
August.