Its landscape, sky, shooting stars, silence, wizened faces, rosy cheeks, dragons and Zen everything makes Ladakh a quiet place to visit. This ethereal cold desert that goes by names such as 'The Last Shangrila', Moonscape, Little Tibet and so many others all of which ring true, is a land that seldom fails to baffle or surprise.
 

The start and rugged landscape is situated amidst multiple-hued mountains, some smooth enough to rub your cheeks on, others scraggly as though termites have had to go  for breakfast. Miles and stretches of this never-never land, surprised by quaint little vibrant green hamlets oozing wild roses and lavender, fringe the life-giving Indus River. Ladakh is a land like no other. Bounded by two of the world's mightiest mountain ranges, the Great Himalaya and the Karakoram, it lies at two others, the Ladakh range and the Zanskar range.

In geological terms, this is a young land, formed only a few million years ago by the buckling and folding of the earth's crust as the Indian sub-continent pushed with irresistible force against the immovable mass of Asia. Its basic contours, uplifted by these unimaginable tectonic movements have been modified over the millennia by the opposite process of erosion, sculpted into the form we see today with wind and water.

Yes, water! Today, a high altitude desert, sheltered from the rain-bearing clouds of the Indian monsoon by the barrier of the Great Himalaya, Ladakh was once covered by an extensive lake system, the vestiges of which still exist on its south east plateau of Rupshu and Chushul in drainage basins with evocative names like Tsomoiri, Tsokar, and grandest of all, Pangong-tso. Occasionally, some stray monsoon clouds do find their way over the Himalaya, and lately this seems to be happening with increasing frequency. But the main source of water remains the winter snowfall. Drass, Zanskar and the Suru Valley on the Himalaya's northern flank receive heavy snow in winter; this feeds the glaciers whose melt water, carried down by streams, irrigates the fields in summer. For the rest of the region, the snow on the peaks is virtually the only source of water. As the crops grow, the villagers pray not for rain, but for sun to melt the glaciers and liberate their water. Usually their prayers are answered, for the skies are clear and the sun shines for over 300 days in the year.