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Getting there and back.We were surprised to find that India is one of the cheaper long haul destinations, especially compared to North and South America. The obvious entry point for onward travel to Ladakh is Delhi International Airport, from here you can get an internal flight to Leh (the capital of Ladakh) or you can spend a bit of time here and get ground transport to Leh.The lure and mystery o …

Backpacking in Ladakh - Indian Himalayas - 2016 - CostsIn general costs are very low - combined with the relatively low cost of the flights then three weeks trekking in Ladakh is an inexpensive option. The costs mount up where the locals are geared up for tourists - for example our taxi ride back from the Markha valley trek cost us about £1.20 for a 30+km, 30 minute ride, compare this with the oth …

Gear List - Ladakh 2016Total gear carried excluding consumables was 8.443kg (18.6lbs), with consumables this rose to 16.235kg (35.8lbs). Gear worn about my person was typically as listed below and I had a long list of alternative and backup gear that was left at the hotel or swapped out for the second trek. Suunto watch80gBuff33gSherpa Tansen LS Trekking Shirt192gHelinox Passprt TL125 Trekking Po …

Getting there and back.We were surprised to find that India is one of the cheaper long haul destinations, especially compared to North and South America. The obvious entry point for onward travel to Ladakh is Delhi International Airport, from here you can get an internal flight to Leh (the capital of Ladakh) or you can spend a bit of time here and get ground transport to Leh.The lure and mystery o …

Backpacking in Ladakh - Indian Himalayas - 2016Ladakh is situated in the far North of India in the shadow of the Great Himalaya Range and as such has closer cultural ties with Tibet than with the lower regions of India. It offers superb trekking in a high altitude desert environment ranging from 2500 to 5000m, and although remote there is a tourist trekking infrastructure centred around the capita …

Photo Gallery - Markha Valley TrekDay 2 - Zingchen to Kanda La CampDay 2 - Approaching YurutseDay 4 - Kanda La (after an extra day acclimatisation)Day 4 - Hiking through ShingoDay 5 - The Gompa in SkyuDay 5 - Tea tents in SkyuDay 5 - en route to PentseDay 5 - Approaching SeraDay 6 - Approaching MarkhaDay 6 - Leaving Markha - in the distanceDay 6 - Rocky Spire at a dry confluenceDay 7 - Ruined Mona …

Trek 1 - Markha ValleyDay 1 - Spituk (3214m) to Zhingchan (3396m)We decided to tackle Day 1 of the Markha Valley trek after two nights acclimatising in Leh, the start of the trek is near Spituk which was a twenty minute taxi ride from our hotel, there's a makeshift checkpoint where you need to register and pay a fee to enter the Heimis national Park (120rupees each {about £1.50} for 6 days). It wa …

Trek 2 - Lamayuru to ChillingDay 1 - Lamayuru (3491) to Phanjilla (3230m)Breakfast at 7.45 was followed by a taxi at 8.30, the hotel owner had booked the transport for us to Lamayuru and had booked the pickup from Chilling five days later, rather than a regular taxi the people carrier was liveried with a trekking company logo so they were likely to be used to the kind of ride and pickup we needed. …