2 weeks in Ladakh in July, To Tour or not to Tour

aivlysweetie

Hi. So I am considering a trip up to Ladakh in early July for just under 2 weeks, in order to make it back to Puri to catch the Rath Yatra festival. I was wondering, in this short length of time, would it be more time effective to plan a trip, be it a jeep safari, a short trek, river rafting, or a combo, through a touring company? Or is it easy enough to figure things out on our own. I usually follow the latter, but since it seems we will not have that much time, I figured maybe splurge a little and have someone help us along the way. ALSO, do you recommend flying up and busing it down, or the reverse, busing it up and flying down (again, short on time). Much appreciated!!!

aivlysweetie

ok how does it all work so you dont get decompression sickness....yeah obviously i dont know much about this stuff...but i suppose bus up is better to acclimatize. any probs with flying back?

Yogesh Sarkar

Aivlysweetie it would be a good idea to take the land route while going in as this will provide you some time to get acclimatized, in case you go in a plane you need to spend at least a day or two in your hotel to acclimatize to high altitude.

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aivlysweetie

yeah i figured just as well...although that bus ride down is a lot faster than going up huh ? oh well, i know it's worth it to do the ride...speaking of, does anyone know of good nondrowsy motion sickness medicine?

vistet

Going by the Manali-Leh road will always be roughest acclimatisation-wise. One would think that travelling on land should be the gradual approach , but within hours of leaving Manali you are at the same altitude as Leh , and climbing.



(orange Manali-Leh road, grey Srinagar-Leh)

The two most common alternatives from Manali are either the exhausting cannonball run , around 20 hours, or spending the night in the tent camps of Sarchu.

Sarchu is more than 700 meters higher than Leh, and altitude sickness hits hardest as you lie down to sleep.

The cannon ball run avoids the night stay at Sarchu only by rapidly going for the passes around 5000, and a looong section around 4500. Basically it´s gamble that you will get down to Leh´s altitude before the worst consequences of hypoxia catches up with you. This sort of works out in most cases, meaning that a lot of people experience headaches and nausea, but if you get snagged at the high section without prior acclimatisation , light years away from safe ascent rates you will become aware of the range of AMS symptoms . Or slip in to unconsciousness after vomiting and ataxia ,something I´ve witnessed personally. It can end up even worse.

Taking a acclimatisation stop for a night or two in Keylong/Jispa/Darcha cuts down the altitude effects dramatically compared to the above , but is still rougher than flying in.
Personally , I love this road and will take any chance to prolong
the trip.

The Srinagar-Leh road is most gentle on your system (one night at 1700 meters, one at 2500, next in Leh ) but involves the political risks of Kashmir. Appears more stable for the moment, but we´ve seen that swing back an forth a number of times over the last decade. Really loved that road , but will avoid it for now.

Short version : take the plane in . After the first night you can acclimatise and start discovering Ladakh at the same time , there are a number of places along the Indus at the same altitude as Leh : Shey , Thikse and many more.

Taking the bus down is a lot more enjoyable , and safer , at the end of your trip. Try working in the Khardung La close to the ride down to Manali , and you´ll probably feel better , or less worse.

TulsaisntFar

wow thats weird, ill be going up for about two weeks and then rushing to rath yatra too. Ill actually only be up there for about a week and a half and my plan is to just hop in taxis and on minibuses and get lost and wonder around but if you had a planned tour operator to work with surely you could get a lot more done and that doesnt seem like a bad idea. Even though ill be taking the bus up im going to have to fly down to delhi on the 11th of july in time to take trains at a slow pace to puri. my flight was through jet airways at 200 USD one way, not cheap considering its an hour flight but i needed to get it to make the trip work. PM me is you have any more questions....good luck.

paul compton

I flew up and back, just take the first day really really easy no matter how well u feel to get over it. I did find i got really odd dreams while there, maybe due to the thin air don1t know :-)

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kolobar

With only two weeks I would fly in and out. You can get cheap tickets on Deccan if you book early enough. It was not possible to buy Deccan tickets on line out of India therefore you will need an agent in India to get it for you.
It is not necessary to rest for days in a hotel after landing except if you feel really lousy. Most sightseeing/monastery in Indus valley (Choglamsar, Shey, Thiksey, Stakna, Hemis, Chemrey, Taktok...) are at the same altitude as Leh so you can drive around already on the second day.
There are loads of agencies in Leh which will be happy to organize anything for you in an instant. In two weeks you can do a short trek (Sham, Stok circuit). There are now homestays in villages (like Rumbak, Skiu, Shingo...) so you can spend few days with local people in their homes. You can squeeze in rafting on Indus, jeep tour to Pagong or Tso Moriri...
You can ease symptoms of altitude by using diamox. It is available in Leh.

kolobar

Ups, I have just noticed I have joined an ancient post. Well, hope it will still make sense to someone.