Ladakh doesn't look like the rest of India — it looks like Tibet spilled over a mountain range, all ochre rock and impossibly blue sky at 3,500 meters. Spent most of the trip acclimatizing slower than planned, which turned out to be the right call: two days doing nothing in Leh before pushing further up to the monasteries at Thiksey and Hemis.
FOOD
Thukpa at a family-run place in the Leh main bazaar, not the restaurants facing the street.
HIDDEN GEM
Thiksey monastery at dawn prayers — arrive before the tour buses.