LADAKH – SPECIALS
The very special Tips
In "Specials" you'll find tips for the organisation of particular tours, for example with children, for seniors or people with handicaps. It is also possible to get to know Ladakh different as by the usual touristic tours: with volunteering-work, staying in a monastery/Nunnery or a internship for example in a school. We deal here with the focus on women, photo/movie and season (winter). If you have special interest in an area of expertise, we can arrange something for you - have a look at "experst". If you have any further questions or need info to some topics we haven't listed here, please feel welcome to ask Yangla Tours.
There is (nearly) nothing we cannot organise for you!
Fascinating Cold
Ladakh in the winter is a very special experience: there are just a few travellers, who like to be in the partly very cold temperatures. In the night the thermometer can drop down to -30°C, at daytime when the sun is there, it can be around 0°C. Due to the arid air the cold doesn't feel as freezy as in Europe. As the annual rainfall is very less around the whole year, you don't have to fight masses of snow, mostly it is more a thin layer of icing sugar snow.
The Ladakhis spend lots of time around the oven in the living-cum-kitchen-.room with talking, knitting and repairing. Next to the get-together with the family the winter is also used for other social contacts. This is the time for most of the weddings and monastery-festivals. There is the several day long celebration of Losar (New Year) in the end of december, too.
Visitors get an insight into ladakhi life, which is undisturbed from the hugh tourist-flood in the summer. For the ones interested in the monastery-festivals this season has advantages, tool. It is even possible to go for a trek. Either you are an adventurous traveller going for the frozen river trek ( see Chadar-Trek at Expeditions), do the Likir-Ang-Trek or the Spituk-Chilling-Trek not sleeping in a tent, but with the local families in a homestay. An experience is a day-trip to the Pangong-lake, where it gets easily -20°C at daytime, the lake being frozen.
Guesthouses offer their biggest room for the night, which will be naturaly heated at daytime by the sun, in some accommodations the rooms are heated with a gas-heater and else there are nowadays hotels with central-heating.
From the smallest to the bigger ones
Ladakh is a good place to travel with children. As the ladakhis are fond of children, travellers with small ones are always welcome. Contact to the locals gets easier with children. For children, a tour the parents would love and enjoy, can easily get boring as the place doesn't offer especially that much for them. For example the daily walking on a trek isn't that much fun for children, so it would be a good idea to take a horse on which they can ride from time to time. The daily distances should be planned shorter so that there is more time for playing or other discoveries. Perfect is a homestaytrek on the Sham-Route, staying with local families and having much contact with animals and other ladakhi children.
We already had quite many different children between 1 and 15 years as our clients so that our experiences have grown. For sure every child is different and the parents know best where difficulties might arise (is it delicate with foreign food, does it like to climb mountains, easy to get into contact, likes animals, what does it like especially etc.) - so the best is to discuss everything so that we can see wether and how a ladakh-tour will be enjoyable. I
Regarding acclimatisation and altitude-problems we have the feedback that usually the children suffer less than the parents - but please allow your child to have some time nevertheless.
We like to provide you with advise - so please get into contact with us!
More is possible than you might think
To travel in Ladakh is physically challenging, but I have seen several travellers, who were moving around in Ladakh despite their physical handicaps of different kinds and who seemed to be quite happy. People belonging to it have been in wheelchair, blind or with walking-aids. As rooms and toilets are usually not wheelchair-friendly, these travellers need either strong helpers or have to be a little independent. We can help you with choosing acoomoodations with entrance and room on the ground floor as well as an itinerary, which will be managable for you.
Depending on condition it is also possible to do easy treks with many helpers and horses. We have seen a mixed group, some were physically handicapped, some had psychological difficulties - but together with their care givers they could achieve a lot. More than they could imagine before.
I am not a specialist for disabilities, but during a talk I think we can clear some points, which are important when thinking of a journey. Especially when having a higher grade of handicap, it is important to talk with us. Usually more is possible than what one might think.
The female aspect
The traditional social position of women in Ladakh is comparativly quite high. Unfortunatly this is vanishing due to influence from outside, which changes the whole social order in Ladakh. Usually the traveller has more encounters with male people. Yangla Tours makes it possible for women to experience a journey with much more contacts to ladakhi women. The staff for some trekkings can be a ladies team, there are female guides, you have the possibility of discussions with the Women's Alliance of Ladakh and visits of the nunneries Chulichan and Temisgam are for sure same as one or more nights in the guesthouse of the nunnery in Nyerma. We also like to arrange contacts to other ladakhi ladies. Informations about possibilities you can get when contacting us.
