LEH LADAKH PHOTO JOURNEY by Indian Travel Photographer - Jitendra Singh

After a Great PHOTO JOURNEY from Barsana Holi, now Jitendra is taking us to Leh through his phenomenal Photographs.  All these photographs were shot at Leh in the month of Feb last year (Feb, 2012). Let's check out this Photo Journey and enjoy wonderful landscapes, people and culture of Leh.

Leh was the capital of the Himalayan kingdom of Ladakh, now the Leh District in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, India. Leh is the second largest district in the country (after Kutch, Gujarat) in terms of area.

Over the time, Leh has become one of the hot destination for Tourists and Photographers. We always see wonderful photographs from Leh and all these motivate almost everyone to visit Leh, click these wonderful landscapes and come back with great memories to cherish for.

 At Photo Journey, we planned many Leh trips and there are some great plans in 2013 as well. Some of the passionate Photographers have come together to plan a great trip to Leh through Spiti Valley and some of the passionate Bloggers & Travellers are also joining. 

Above photograph shows a wonderful frame from a market - vehicles moving around and people walking on the footpath.

 For most of the folks, it's hard to imagine a vacation at Leh during winters. But trends are changing and now people love exploring Leh during winters as well. Above photograph shows one of the views from Leh - snow covered courtyard.

 Ladakh is a region of India in the state of Jammu and Kashmir which lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south , inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent. It is one of the most sparsely populated regions in Jammu and Kashmir.

Leh also presents great opportunities to explore different cultures, colors and various unique things all around. 

It includes the Baltistan (Baltiyul) valleys, the Indus Valley, the remote Zangskar, Lahaul and Spiti to the south, Aksai Chin and Ngari, including the Rudok region and Guge, in the east, and the Nubra valleys to the north.

Since Ladakh is a part of strategically important Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian military maintains a strong presence in the region. The largest town in Ladakh is Leh. It is one of the few remaining abodes of Buddhism in South Asia, including the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bhutan and Sri Lanka... a majority of Ladakhis are Tibetan Buddhists and the rest are mostly Shia Muslims. Some Ladakhi activists have in recent times called for Ladakh to be constituted as a union territory because of its religious and cultural differences with predominantly Muslim Kashmir.

The economy of Ladakh rests on three pillars: the Indian Army, tourism, and civilian government in the form of jobs and extensive subsidies. Agriculture, the mainstay only one generation ago, is no longer a major portion of the economy, although most families still own and work their land. In past, Ladakh enjoyed a stable and self-reliant agricultural economy based on growing barley, wheat and peas and keeping livestock, especially yaks, cows, dzos  sheep and goats. Animals are scarce and water is in short supply. The Ladakhis developed a small-scale farming system adapted to this unique environment. The land is irrigated by a system of channels which funnel water from the ice and snow of the mountains. The principal crops are barley and wheat. Rice was previously a luxury in the Ladakhi diet, but, subsidised by the government, has now become a cheap staple.

In the past, Ladakh gained importance from its strategic location at the crossroads of important trade routes, but since the Chinese authorities closed the borders with Tibet and Central Asia in the 1960s, international trade has dwindled except for tourism.