Kashmir?

therachface

Hi,
I am flying to Leh next week but a friend who used to live in India has just told me that it is not safe to be travelling to Kashmir at the moment. Has anyone any advice? My plan was to go to Leh, see some sites around there then overland it to Delhi. I don't plan to go West of Leh toward Kargil or anywhere. Is my friend being overly cautious or should I take his advice and skip Kashmir?
Thanks,
Rach

jyotirmoy

There is no place in the world which can be labbeled unconditionally safe. Leh and Ladakh is wonderful now so do visit.
I spent some time at your country at the National Univ at Galway as a visiting lecturer I really loved that spell

dzibead

Your friend has probably been reading about violence around Srinagar and other areas in the far west of the state of Jammu & Kashmir. Although Leh is in the same state as those areas, Leh is worlds apart and the situation there is vastly different. Frankly, I'm surprised that someone who used to live in India would be confused about this. It's the kind of misconception I see in people whose only knowledge of India comes from skimming headlines! Go to Leh!

jyotirmoy

Yeah dzibead just do it & go there

machadinha

What about overlanding it from Leh to Delhi though?

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dzibead

That's a well-traveled route and not known for violence or sectarian attacks. Landslides would be the biggest risk there!

If the OP were traveling to Leh from Delhi overland, there might be some risk from improper acclimatization to altitude. But she (he?) will be flying in to Leh and so will have spent time at 11,500-12,000 feet, so going over even higher passes on the way back shouldn't be a problem.

jyotirmoy

I would suggest overlanding Delhi- Ladakh it helps you to acclaimatise

machadinha

<cross-posting>

Yeh, that's what I thought, just trying to help OP along Therachface (and welcome to IndiaMike ), do you intend to travel through Kashmir proper at all (see e.g. map here)? There is a Ladakh & Zanskar sub-forum here as well, maybe this query should better be moved there?

jyotirmoy

Dont miss Sonemargh in Kashmir. There is a wooden hut of Kashmir tourism near the glacier. Stay there if you have a good sleeping bag. The day trippers leave in the afternoon and then the place is all yours.

dzibead

Some of vistet's posts in various threads here have suggested that instead of helping acclimatization it might be more risky, especially if the ascent isn't slow enough and the overnight stops are at altitudes that might be even higher than Leh, because it's much riskier to sleep at high altitudes before acclimatization is complete than it is to just be at them for a while when you are awake. It only takes about 24 hours after flying into Leh to be fully acclimatized to the altitude there and in the entire immediate vicinity. Traveling up to Leh overland and flying back to Delhi might be a more dramatic introduction to Ladakh, however. Doing the reverse might be a bit anti-climactic - leaving the amazing Tibetan Plateau and the Western Himalayas and descending back to "hum drum Dehli" ( ) ... well, OK, there's nothing "hum drum" about anywhere in India.

therachface

Hi, thanks for all the advice! I have booked the flight from Delhi to Leh already so doing the opposite isn't really an option.
So I don't really have an itinerary. Just have to be back in Delhi around the 14th or so (arrive in Leh the 1st). I've been in India for 3 months but have been in Chhattisgarh and Eastern Madhya Pradesh so have no idea about what to do between Leh and Delhi so all advice appreciated! And if anyone else is travelling to Leh around this time I would love to meet up and maybe share travel costs?
Cheers,
Rach

shashank.aggarwal

Another fact : The tourists in Kashmir have been on the rise for past several years, and fortunately you do not see Srinagar or Kashmir is headlines any more (for wrong reasons)..

And if I remember correctly tourists have not known to be harmed in that area...maybe someone else could back it with facts or numbers..

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vistet

Rant warning : people have been known to regret giving me the opportunity to talk about respiration physiology. The practical side : just as there are diving tables there are safe ascent norms that are based by the experience of professionals in the field , go to ismmed.org for this.

Just to add some element of schizophrenic suspense I´ve decided to argue against myself - or how I´ve been perceived.
no I really said ... thump !

Sorry about the interruption , back on track again : the arguments against the Manali-Leh road are that (1) the ascent is far from gradual , and (2) the response to altitude is not gradual. The first part is fairly obvious if you look at an elevation profile : within hours of leaving Manali you are at the same altitude as Leh and climbing , and you´ll never be substantially below Leh´s altitude after that. The highest sections are at the same levels as the Chinese EBC .

The second part seems wildly illogical : everybody knows that higher elevation means lower oxygen content in the blood , so adaptation should logically be a gradual process as you increase the altitude. Sadly enough the brain stem has never been informed.

Acclimatisation involves a number of physiological responses , some of which kick in in a matter of seconds (like higher pulse rate as you pop out of the plane in Leh) , others (building new blood vessels) are completed in weeks to months.

Faster and deeper breathing (hyperventilation in medicalese) is obviously a major factor , but is hampered because of how breathing is normally regulated . The three most important factors that regulate breathing are :
1. acidity levels in the blood (pH)
2. carbon dioxide levels
3. oxygen levels

.. in that order : the reason why we start a new breath is not that the oxygen runs low , but the build up of carbon dioxide . This mean that you have lower work capacity when you arrive in Kathmandu or Srinagar , but that there is no acclimatisation response , since pH and CO2 are normal. Going higher than that , and lying down which always means lower efficiency in breathing , triggers moderate hyperventilation when oxygen levels have dropped enough, but is still hampered by the CO2/pH regulation mechanism. The optimal altitude level where you start this reaction is within a fairly narrow range : sitting in an airplane is easily handled (2400 meters) , flying up to Leh or Lhasa (3500/3660) can be painful. Long and short of that : no point in faffing about in Kathmandu or (probably) Srinagar , go fast to 2000 + and make your first stop there. Solang (2500) could be considered as an alternative to Manali.

After remaining at low oxygen levels long enough there is a fundamental shift : acid balance is shifted to a more alkaline level , which allows you to increase breathing by up to three times of the already increased level. This transition takes place somewhere around the third night (span 2-5 days).

Increased red blood cell production becomes effective at the end of the first week , a lot slower than most expect.

As i remember it the Tourist Reception Centre has been bombed twice , BBC posted some hard-to-forget pictures of soldiers under fire as it went up in a ball in flames behind them.

The official travel advice for UK citizens mentions :
"# On 11 July 2006, eight people including six tourists were killed and forty injured in a series of grenade attacks in central Srinagar.
# On 1 June 2006, 26 tourists were injured in two grenade attacks against their buses near Dal Lake, Srinagar.
# On 25 May 2006, four tourists were killed and seven others injured in a grenade attack on a tourist bus in Srinagar.
# On 22 May 2006, two people were killed in an attack on a tourist coach on the outskirts of Srinagar. Three grenade attacks in Srinagar on the same day injured over 40 people."

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dzibead

So, Rach, aren't you glad you asked?

therachface

I'm still confused
I've been reading the UK embassy warnings and they say that Ladakh is fine...