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Deep gorges, ice-capped mountains, gushing rivers...make travel to Ladakh an unforgettable experience.

Ladakh is the eastern region in the state of Jammu and Kashmir of Northern India, sandwiched between the Karakoram mountain range on the north and the Himalayas on the south. Bounded by two of the world's mightiest mountain ranges, the Karakoram in the north and the Great Himalaya in the south, it is traversed by two other parallel chains, the Ladakh Range and the Zanskar Range. No wonder, it is a popular place for adventure tourism.

The mountain ranges span the borders across Pakistan, India, and China. Ladakh was a critical link in the ancient Central Asian trade route network connecting Tibet, China and Kashmir. The word Ladakh means "land of high passes".

The Indian portion of Ladakh is composed of the Leh and Kargil districts. The Leh district is the largest district of India, covering more than half the area of Jammu and Kashmir.


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The people are an equal mix of Buddhists and Muslims. Buddhists form the majority in the east close to the Chinese border while Muslims form the majority in the north and west. The two religions have blended in Ladakh to create a unique culture. The dominant culture that travellers are likely to confront is Tibetan Buddhism as the majority of the tourist attractions are in the east. Now, many Tibetans from the occupied Tibet flee the Chinese oppression to settle down in Ladakh and practise freely their religion and culture.

Steep gorges and stark terrain make Ladakh an awesome place to visit! Rock carvings have been found in many parts of Ladakh, showing that the area has been inhabited from the Neolithic times. Monasteries and the well preserved Tibetan-Buddhist culture makes it even more attractive.

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Which is the scariest road in the world to be driving on? The unanimous and top-of-the-list answer is the 10-feet wide North Yungas Road running in the Bolivian Andes through the emerald green forests of the Amazon from La Paz (Bolivia's capital) to Coroico, winding through dangerous precipices that plunge down almost 3,600 meters. The road is known as El Camino de la Muerte (Spanish for "Road of Death"). There are no guard rails on this poorly maintained road and when you look out while negotiating narrow hair pin curves, the dizzying abyss down below looks as though the Earth has opened up. Fog and vapors rise up from the valley below, blurring the vision. Waterfalls, or rather the accumulated rainwater, cascade down the hills and fall on the road, often turning it slimy and loosen rocks from the hillsides above.

News reports say that 200-300 travelers are killed yearly along the road.

In these regions, you are required to drive on the left hand side, in contrast to the rest of the country, and the laws mandate that the downhill driver does not have the right of way and has to back up and yield. This helps the downhill driver to keep an eye on the wheel closest to the precipice and help passing other vehicles along the very narrow road.

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