LADAKH
 ladakh is a land of high passes on the borderland of india and Tibet. It is an integral part of the jammu and Kashmir state and consist of three main populated region. The first in leh and the upper Indus valley. This is the cultural heart land of ladhak where many monasteries and places reflect the deep Buddhist heritage of the region. The zanskar valley is the second region. It is a comparatively isolated valley to the south of the Indus valley and its high culture is also Buddhist. The main region of ladakh includes kargil and the suru valley. This region west of leh down the Indus valley, was an integral part of baltistan unit 1947. it support an Islamic culture that can be traced back to the 15th century, when the region was converted to islam. The khampa the nomadic shepherds who roamed the Tibetan plateau were the first inhabitants of ladhak. Their horizons were restriced to the high windswept grazing areas, and it was not until the coming of the mons, Buddhist missionaries from india.
In 7th century the migration of the tibetas from western Tibet or guge slowely began to display the dards. These early rules provide ladakh with its first authentic history. Forts and places, such as that of shey, were constructed and the power of ladakh for the forst time stretched beyond the Indus valley.
LEH TOWN & LEH PALACe
 Leh the capital of ladakh, is in a small fertile valley north of the Indus river. The town is at the base of the trail leading to the kardung la, the first of the high passes formerly crossed by trading caravan as they made their way to the karakorm pass and the markets of kashgar. Even though these trading routes have been closed since 1947, the leh bazaar retains much of its character and the victory fort and the king’s place reflect ladakh’s rich cultural history. The captivating Leh Palace rises from the edge of a hill overlooking the town and stretches out towards the indigo sky. A miniature version of the Potala in Lhasa, the Leh Palace is one of the major attractions in ladakh. The palace was built in the 17th century and had nine storeys , but it is now dilapidated and deserted. It was the home of the royal family until they were exiled to Stok in the 1830s. Above the palace, at the top of the Namgyal hill, is the Victory Tower, built to commemorate Ladakh's victory over the Balti Kashmir armies in the early 16th century. This palace built for King Singge Namgyal, now houses the Ladakhi branch of the Indian Government's archaeological conservation organisation
PLACE TO VIST ITS SURROUND
HEMIS MONASTERY
 The monastery at Hemis is one of the most important in ladakh. It is the principal monastery of the drukpa order and the head monk administers all the associated monastery in the lladakh and zanskar region. It was established in the 17th century under the patronage of singe namgyal, and since then has enjoyed the financia; support of successive royal families. The monasteries provide caretaker monks for the monasteries at leh, basgo and shey.
Each year the hemis festival attract more then its share of local visitors and tourist. It is held during the full moon in june, and is attend by monks and their families who have travelled from throughout ladakh and the zanskar valley. The highlight of the festival is a series of masked dances commemorating the deeds of the Buddhist figurehead padmasambhava, the sage who introduced tantric Buddhism to the himalaya. Once every 11 year a huge tanka (painting) one of the largest in
the Tibetan world is displayed on the walls of the hemis courtyard. The next showing will be in 2002.
THIKSE MONASTERY
 The site of Thikse in the Indus valley makes it one of the area most impressive monasteries. It was founded in the early 15th century, along with likir and spitok, as the monk from Tibet spread the world of the reformist gelupka order, which is now associated with the Dalai Lama. The assembly hall is on top of the hill, with the monks quarters below. The library at Thikse is supposedly one of the best in the west himalaya and a multi-denominational chapel has recently been constructed proof indeed of the continuing vitality of Buddhism in ladakh.
SHEY PALACE
 Shey was the first place of the upper kingdom of ladakh. Its foundation can be traced to the earliest history of ladakh, while the inscriptions on the rocks below the place date from the time when Buddhism was first introduction to the western himalaya. The place was occupied by members of the ladakh royal family unit 1834, when they were exiled to stok. Since then, many of the building have fallen into disrepair and the lake at the base of the hill is now marshland. In the last decade there has been some restoration of the Buddhist artefacts, including the two-storeyed sakyamuni Buddha originally commissioned by singge namgyal.
SPITUK GOMPA
 Spituk Gompa is on the hill top near Indus. The Gompa was founded in 11th century by Od-De The Gompa was named Spituk (exemplary) by Rinchen Zangpo, a translator came to that place and said that exemplary religious community would rise. Initially it belonged to the Kadampa school then during the life time of king Gragspa Bumide made it Gayluk Pa order.
The Spituk festival held every year from 17th to 19th days of the 11th month. It houses a collection of ancient masks, antique arms, icons and numerous thankas. Higher up the hill is the Mahakal Temple, containing the shrine of Vajrabhairava. The terrifying face of Vajrabhairva is unveiled only at the annual festival in January
STOKE PLACE MUSEUM
 To complete the upper Indus cultural circuit the imposing place of stock is an hours drive south across Indus valley from leh. It was built during the 1840s to house the ladakhi royal family after they had been exiled by the dogra army. The rain queen of stok has assumed responsibility of the maintenance and reconstruction of the ladakhi palaces in stok, leh and shey. The exhibits at the stok museum include many of the important royal tankas, while the collection of headdresses is the most impressive in ladakh. It is planned that the museum pieces will eventually be moved to the leh palace, when sufficient funds are available.
ZANSKAR AND PADUM
The Zanskar region is a small and isolated Buddhist kingdom wedged between the main himalaya and the zanskar range. It comprise two narrow valley the stod valley in the north west and the Tsarap valley in the south east which converge at padum, the administrative center of the region. Here the valley widens to support the several outlying village and monasteries which form the nucleus of the kingdom. It extends of te north of padum for nearly 50 km, where the zanskar river enters the impressive gorges of the zanskar range as it flows down to the Indus valley.
The khampa, the nomadic shepherds who originally roamed the grazing pastures of the Tibetan plateau, would have been familiar with the high passes into zanskar or the Indus valleys were established. In the 11th century the eminent scholar Ringchen Brangpo wanted the zanskar valley selecting sites for the 108 monasteries the were to be founded throughout the west himalaya. At the same meditation at the site of sani monastery. A few years later the dogra general zorawar singh led his army over the umasi -la during his conquest of ladakh and the zanskar. In 1834 he reduced the power of the royal families in both padum and zangla to a nominal status and established the fort at the village of pipiting just north of padum. He is also said to have paid a small fortune to hire a local guide to lead his army directly across the passes of the zanskar range to the Indus valley in order to mount a surprise attack on the kingdom of ladakh.
PADUM
The capital of the ancient king of zanskar and padum is the present day administrative headquater of the region. The middle of Zanskar Valley Padum is the most important town of Zanskar as it is connected with the road from Kargil and can be reached after 10 days trek from Darcha (Lahaul side) . It has all important govt. Offices and is connected with phone. It is only in padum that there is a community of muslim constituting nearly half thetownship population, its origin in the area dating from mid 17th century. Lately padum has become a famous as a trekking base and a popular tourist desination in zanskar region.
FAMOUS TREK SURROUDING IT:
Padum to lamayuru via singho –la
Padum to leh via cha-cha-la rubrang la and arkha valley
Padum to darcha via shingo-la
Padum to darcha via phitse-la and baralacha-la
FAMOUS MONASTERY:
Karsha
Karsha is the largest and the most important monastery in zanskar region it lies North to Padum towards Yalang and can be reached after crossing uhe Dida river (Stood river). The monastery, which is picturesquely built on a rock high oboe the Doda River, can be seen fron a distance. The monastery houses more than 150 yellow capped monks who are headed by younger brother of Dalai Lama. The monastery was built in the 15th century and contains beautiful statues of Buddha,Shakyamuni, Tsongkhapa and Avolokeshwara. The wall paintings are very attractive and depict the life of Buddha and his disciples and number of Bodhisattvas. It also contains a big library. On the way to the monastery one passes the Chamber Ling temple, which dates back to 11th century. Over night at camp. Easy stretch on the often hot and dusty bank of the Zanskar River. Above Riman, small stream and shelter formed by the rocks. Before Pishu, make a little detour to see the longest handing bridge over the Zanskar. It leads to angle. From Zangla, a trail goes to Padum via Tsazar and Thongde. An attractive campsite below the village of Pishu
PHUKTAL MONASTERY
 The Phuktal monastery appears to be sprawling out from a huge up the left bank of the Tsarap into splendid gorges. After one and half hour, cross a bridge. Fifteen minutes later, you arrive at a small tributary to the Tsarap, beautiful clear water cascading down. A ledge leads to a small plateu sprinkled with chortens and religious banners. From there one can see the Phuktal monastery, one of the most spectacular sights in Zanskar. Phuktal belong to the traditional of the gelupas(yellow-hat-monk). The monastery is like a honeycomb, cut into a rock under a gigantic grotto, and has 70 monks. The library, three large and one small prayer rooms, the kitchens, abbot’s chamber, chorten and the ringdom gompas, all are worth, seeing. In the cave over the monastery, there is water hole whose water level never recedes, even after taking out any amount of water from there. Water is said to have healing power. There is also a stone tablet left by Alexander cosma de koros, an Hungarian, who explored Tibet and lived in this monastery in 1826-27. The spring that gurgles deep in the cave is still out of bounds to women.
OTHER FAMOUS MONASTRY OF ZANSKAR:
Sani/ zonkal/ bardam/ rangdum/ zangla we can be reached easily from Padum.
FAMOUS TREK SURROUDING IT:
Padum to lamayuru via singho –la
Padum to leh via cha-cha-la rubrang la and arkha valley
Padum to darcha via shingo-la
Padum to darcha via phitse-la and baralacha-la
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