Ladakh, India

Dusty road, passes a height of over 5000 meters, desert, rare oases, with gardens and cultivated fields, and the fragrance of history seems to be permeated it self this blessed land - all of Ladakh. People come to the places even in the Neolithic period, and some where in the vastness of Ladakh can be found cave paintings and petroglyphs left by them. At the end of the 2nd millennium BC by displacing or assimilating the indigenous population, the territory in habited Dard (Indo-Aryan) peoples. Today, their descendants live in compact groups in the valleys of the Western Himalayas and the Hindu Kush. History has once again come full circle, and how they were driven out or assimilated immigrants from Central Asia and Afghanistan. It Hundara below, in places where Islam spread, you haw the strange feeling that you are not in India, but some where in Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. Nubra Valley, on which we drove much - alpine desert, bounded on the north Karakoram, Ladakh and on the south ridge. Little precipitation falls and dense vegetation is found only along the riverbanks. In villages such as Tartuk been established irrigation and locals grow almost everything - from mountain barley and apricots until cabbage and potatoes. In Hundare, the former capital of the kingdom Nubrskogo preserved ancient and very interesting temple - Monastery - Chamba Gompa, dedicated to the Buddha-coming - Maitreya. Another monastery dedicated to Maitreya - Basgo, located near the village oh Nimmu, just 30 km from Leh. Of all the monasteries we visited, besides Chamba Gompa Basgo most memorable Lamayuru. According to legend, in the early 11th century, the monastery was founded Mahasiddha Naropa. The oldest surviving buildings - Sennge-chang, gossip attributes Rinchen Sanpo (958 - 1055). Rinchen Sanpo, being influential and educated man, received a mandate from the king of Ladakh to build 108 monasteries, mostly in Ladakh, Spiti and adjoining regions. So the legend goes. At the height of the tourist season, from June to September, the streets crammed with visiting Leh, forever darting quickly in search of souvenirs for memory. In many stores and shops offers products for every taste and any size, from shawls and women´s jewelry to elephants and horses made of wood, which can raise except that two people. Las week, our stay in Ladakh, we spent at Nimmu rich village near Leh. It was there, it the 20s of last century, was gone for a day Helena Roerich. With us^ no thing unusual happened and we just walked a lot, took off, went into the mountains. (From my article: "Dusty roads of Ladakh". Language of the original Russian). More