The ‘Real’ Tibet
12
Oct, 2025
Ladakh, India
Since the Chinese Occupation of Tibet in 1950 over one million Tibetans have been killed, 99% of Tibet’s monasteries have been shut down, thousands of monks have been jailed and Dalai Lama images have been banned along with sending emails abroad and flying the Tibetan flag. Tibetan culture has been destroyed in Tibet and many of its original inhabitants (including the Dalai Lama) have escaped persecution by taking one of the most arduous journeys on the planet and climbing over the Himalayan Mountains to get to India. So its suffice to say if you visit Tibet you will not see Tibetan culture but an oppressed culture that is now outnumbered by Chinese within their own country.
On the other side of the Himalyan Mountain Range south of Tibet is an areas called Ladakh. Ladakh is a part of India but Ladakh for most of its history was largely influenced by Tibet but because of its prime location in the trade route from east to west it has a large Muslim influence as well.
The architecture of Ladakh is almost identical to that of Tibet, both of residential buildings and of the monasteries and the language is from a Tibetan dialect. The class structure, or more precisely the lack of a sharply defined class structure, is common to Tibet and Ladakh, and is in sharp contrast to the rest of India. So if you wanted to see what Tibet used to look like before the occupation Ladakh is where you should go.
Ladakh does have an equal amount of Muslims to Buddhists but most travelers visit the East where there is largely more of a Tibetan Buddhist influence.
The main hub of the Ladakh region is Leh and it does have an airport but due to its high altitude the weather is quite unpredictable and it is best to have some flexibility in case of flight delays. You can also ride into Leh between June and mid-October (when the roads are open) by bus or shared taxi. The roads are closed 7 months out of the year due to snow coverage and are not passable.
If it is bad weather you might only have a window of 3 months to visit so if you plan to visit we suggest July or August to play it safe. Taking a shared taxi is the preferred method as you can slowly acclimate to the high altitudes. Altitude sickness is very common and the shared taxi should have oxygen tanks if needed. The journey takes 2 days with overnight at a camp base.
Baralacha pass (this is during the summer)
Overnight camp stop on Leh-Manali Highway
One of the highest mountain passes in the Ladakh region, the Tanglang La pass is claimed to be the second highest motorable mountain pass on the planet so get ready as the journey to Ladakh is half the adventure! If you are motorcyclist well there are motorcycle trips and this would be a definite bucket list ride!
If you have ever seen the show Human Planet on BBC one of the episodes features a father taking his 2 kids on a week long journey to school and they are rushing against time before the spring warmth melts the frozen river but they finally make it to the school, this is in Ladakh.
