10 Not To Do Things In Leh Ladakh

10 Not To Do Things In Leh Ladakh

• Never Visit Leh Ladakh without a Proper Plan

When you are planning to take up a trip to Ladakh, make careful planning and also know that it will take several days to complete. Before you embark on your travel, you should familiarise yourself with the area, route that you travel, and the weather, plan an itinerary, determine your lodging options, availability of food, and emotionally and physically prepare yourself. If you’re going on a road trip, you’ll need to pay special attention to your vehicle. Have it serviced, and anything that appears to be a risk should be rectified or replaced. Know all the places where you can fuel your vehicle. A physical map would be recommended to be carried along so that you can mark up the important things that have to be noticed soon.

• Do Not Go By The Distance

Many people start planning their vacation by calculating the distance. When they see a distance of 500 kilometers or more, their first idea is that they can easily cover it in one day. In Ladakh, however, time and distance do not actually function together. You cannot make the mistake of speeding even on a straight, newly laid road. There will be dips in between, which if you are traveling at a high speed, can seriously damage your vehicle. There will be periods where your speed will be restricted to only 15-20 kilometers per hour. Crossing passes and rising up a twisty tight road at 60-70 kilometers per hour is impossible.

• Do Not Take Your Eyes Off Your Child

If you’re traveling to Ladakh with your children, you’ll need to keep an eye on them at all times. They’ll be far more delighted to be in a new place than you are. They’ll still run and jump around, exerting themselves in the process. This exertion will cause them acute mountain sickness (AMS), and cause of which the youngsters will be unable to express what they are really feeling properly. Keep an eye on their eating habits, don’t allow them to become too tired, keep them safe from the cold and hard environment, and keep an eye out for any signs of mountain sickness. For further information on the measures, you should take when bringing kids to Ladakh. Along with that, there are also people from all over the world to explore this beautiful land. Keep them safe from all the strangers that are found there.

• Do Not Ignore Acute Mountain Sickness

Acute mountain sickness or AMS is actually a term that most people are so unfamiliar with until they begin planning a trip to Leh Ladakh. It has happened the same for me as well. I had no idea that things like acute mountain sickness (AMS) or high altitude sickness existed. These kinds of sickness should not be ignored. Almost everyone has visited a hill station at some point in their lives, but we have never experienced or considered mountain sickness. We tend not to take it seriously because we have never experienced it and have no idea what it feels like when AMS strikes. This might completely detract from the enjoyment of your trip. One has to be equipped with proper medications for the same.

• How to Handle Acute Mountain Sickness in Ladakh?

To begin with, AMS feels very much like you’re suffering from a high temperature. You must think about it carefully. It’s much more crucial if you’ve booked a flight to Ladakh. No matter what age group you belong to, how good an athlete you are, how many hours a week you spend in the gym, or how many Himalayan trips you have had. If you’re visiting Ladakh for the first time, you’re almost certain to get AMS. Some people experience very few symptoms, while others experience them for a day or two. Proper precautions can be taken to lighten the effects of the same. But, in the end, your body requires time and rest in order to acclimate, and there is no way around it.

• Do NOT camp in the Middle of Nowhere

When it comes to camping at Leh Ladakh self-camping is a lot of fun, and Ladakh is an excellent location for it. However, you must be quite cautious when deciding where to pitch your tent out here. Self-camping in a rural place with no one nearby for miles is not a good idea because for many reasons like if you need any help there would not be anyone for you. Stay as close to a human settlement as possible. If you want to self-camp, choose a location that is close to an established campsite, a Dhaba, or a villager’s home. Bad weather, wildlife, and dogs all pose a threat to people who are planning to camp in the middle of nowhere.

• Do Not Think Of Going Topless

Many people do this, especially in Ladakh’s high-altitude passes. People go crazy when they are photo addicts and Instagrammers. They would do anything to get some likes on their posts. They’ll take off their shirts, go topless, and then try to take some of their macho photos with their bikes in front of the sign that reads the pass’s name. While this may appear to be a fun picture to share with friends and others, it has some bad effects on oneself like it has severe ramifications. Standing at the top of a pass with your body exposed to chilly air puts you at a high risk of becoming unwell, which will almost certainly ruin the rest of your trip. It’s about a minute of enjoyment, but the repercussions can be deadly.

• Do Not Think Of Taking A Dip In The Lake

This is something I’ve learned from my own life. I am probably one of the few people who thought it was a good idea to swim in Pangong Tso. This happened more than a decade ago on my first trip to Ladakh. Back then, Ladakh was still a little barren, and I and a companion were the only two tourists on the banks of the Pangong Tso lake. We strolled in the lake till the water reached our thighs, sat down, took a brief dip, and ran out, thinking it would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Pangong is a saltwater lake, and the saltwater has found its way into all the wrong areas. We couldn’t even wipe it off because there was nowhere to do so. However, there was genuine anxiety that it was something really deadly and that we might have perished as a result. Our entire time in the water was measured in seconds, not minutes. Yet it was enough to numb our bodies for the following hour, give us a severe headache for the rest of the day, and give us cold for the remainder of the journey. I could have drowned if I had lost my footing while sprinting in and out of the ice-cold water. It’s possible that I experienced heat shock or hypothermia.

• Never Ever Underestimate The Roads Or The Terrain

You as a traveler may have taken countless road trips or traveled extensively, and you may have gotten your fill of off-roading, but you must not be overconfident when tripping to Leh Ladakh. The roads here are difficult to navigate and might be dangerous if one doesn’t actually really care about the same. You should still take this ride slowly and cautiously. Keep in mind that you are driving through a region that gets buried in snow during the winter, and the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has to keep these roads clear every year. One minor blunder can send you off the road and downhill, or at the very least cause catastrophic damage to your car.

• Do Not Take Non-Local Rented Vehicles for Sightseeing

Non-local taxis, self-drive rentals, and motorcycles leased in cities other than Leh are only good for getting you to Leh. It is not permitted to use it for sightseeing in Ladakh, and you should not incur the risk. Locals have attacked and vandalized similar vehicles in the past, and some tourists have been injured, according to reports. If you arrived in Leh in a non-local rental vehicle, please leave it parked at your accommodation and rent another vehicle to explore the rest of Ladakh.

• Do Not be an Over-Confident Fool

After seeing this fellow try some antics when riding down from Khardung La to Leh on my recent trip to Ladakh, I’m adding one more point here. What happened next? Well, there was a stone he couldn’t avoid, and he experienced a horrible fall because neither of his feet was on the ground. In fact, he was only a few inches from the edge of the cliff. He would have fallen down the hill like the old Jack if the fall had been a little harder. Please don’t try this at home. Ladakh is a place to enjoy the natural beauty of the region, not to brag about what you can or can’t do on a motorcycle or in a car.