Not so Yangchan Lamo. She had fallen in with us earlier that afternoon as we made our way toward the remote village of Markha, our destination for the day. She was 56, and had been walking for days, with only a small pack to carry her provisions. Though she didn't speak English and our Ladakhi was severely limited, she seemed to enjoy our company and watched over us even more carefully than our guide, at one point rushing forward to free my wife's jacket from a thorny vine. Now, Lamo scooted past our befuddled group, lifted a heavy boulder, and heaved it into the stream, creating just the stepping stone we needed.
Of all Ladakh's impressive features - its soaring peaks, desert terrain, and daunting elevation - none captures the region more completely than its people. Hardy but gentle, they don't just survive but thrive in this challenging environment, wresting from it both sustenance and joy. There is no better way to experience Ladakh - to engage both its people and its geography - than to trek through it.
A high desert plateau pitched between the autonomous Chinese region of Tibet to the east and Pakistan to the west, Ladakh ("Land of High Passes") is part of India, but has more in common with its neighbors. It is the meeting place of two mountain ranges - the Karakoram and the Himalaya - and of two cultures, Buddhist and Muslim. For centuries, it was an important stop along the ancient Silk Road, but today political tensions to the east and west ensure that most visitors to Ladakh approach it from the south.
Surrounded by mountains, Ladakh was for centuries inaccessible for much of the year, its high passes choked with snow from October through May, often longer. Air travel has changed that, but even today flights are frequently canceled because of bad weather.
The region's high paths and roads are open in July and August. When the throngs arrive, they flock to Leh, Ladakh's ancient capital and the center of its tourist trade.
