The Sham Valley is one of the shortest treks in the Ladakh region of India. You’ll often hear it said that this is one of the ‘easier’ treks in this part of the world, but just how easy is it? While there may be more technically difficult trails throughout Northern

Standing in the lobby of our hotel in Gangtok, we wondered whether it was really safe to go north. Should we really go ahead with our plan and try to visit Lachung and Yumthang? Just two days earlier, north Sikkim had received such heavy snowfall that routes were impassable. The

  The British rulers of colonial India loved to ‘summer’ in Mussoorie. Evidence of their occupation is still visible in the architecture they left behind, and in the names of the streets, buildings and even mountains. Subsequent generations of middle-class Indians have continued the tradition of escaping to Mussoorie. Given

At 5 am, Kanchenjunga wakes under a blanket of saffron clouds. The sky is an unnatural shade of pink, but the air tastes cold and clean, and is a welcome change from the grey stuff back in Delhi. Admittedly, I’m hungover and sore from having lost three games of Mahjong.

A sudden crack comes from the direction of the mountain. Dust is rising from behind a rocky crag. Then I see it, gathering speed, ploughing over the scree down the mountainside, a trail of debris behind. I watch as the huge boulder continues unforgivingly, crossing my walking path and slapping

Through the large bay windows ahead of me, I see emerald peaks peer over a blanket of fog. It’s almost 9 AM in this town and the only noise I can hear is the static-y hum of the radio playing inside my room. The peaks are an extension of the

Along with trekking, rafting and the high-altitude lakes, visiting the monasteries of Ladakh is a highlight of any visit. There are monasteries perched upon every second craggy hill, it seems, but some of them are more visit-worthy than others. There are two main monastery circuits that visitors to Ladakh take—to

Dardistan, meaning the land of the Dard people, was once inhabited by this tribe. It used to refer to parts of land between north-eastern Afghanistan, northern Pakistan and northern Kashmir, extending up to a small part of Western Tibet. Even today, in places such as the Gurez Valley in Indian-administered

The Hemis Monastery, 43 kilometres from Leh, is one of the richest and most important monasteries in Ladakh. It is also one of the few monasteries to hold its annual festival in the summer. Therefore, it’s very popular with tourists. If you’re lucky enough to be in Ladakh in June/July,

We have reached the end of the world—or so it feels. After this village, the road stops for vehicles and if you want to travel deeper into Sikkim, you have to walk. However, we are visiting Yuksom during the monsoon, which comes with zillions of leeches. Freaked out as I