I thought long and hard about whether I should write about the Nubra Valley at all. I really did not want too many people to find out about it. It is one of those places I stupidly, selfishly want to stay forever as romantically unspoiled as it was when we visited almost two years ago (at the same time knowing that our visit is part of the beginning of the end to any place being unspoilt by tourists). But since most travel agencies in Leh advertise trips to the Nubra Valley, I guess it is not so unknown anyway.
The Nubra Valley in Ladakh
Tourists need a permit to visit the Nubra Valley and the maximum length of stay the permit allows is seven days (which is good, because otherwise I might move there).
The Nubra Valley is the northernmost part of India a tourist can visit and it lies behind the highest motorable mountain pass in the world, Khardung La. The valley is one of the most sparsely inhabited areas in India and it is surrounded by some of the highest mountains in the world: the Karakoram and the Ladakh mountain ranges.
There are Buddhist gompas (monasteries) from the more famous gompa in Diskit to small whitewashed monastery buildings perched on brown rocky mountainsides. There are mani walls: long walls made out of mani or prayer stones – stones inscribed with Buddhist prayers. There are giant prayer wheels in the most unexpected places; white Buddhist stupas (chortens) line the roads; there are miles of high altitude desert and there are camels and sand dunes. Wild Lavender grows everywhere in bright purple bushes and in the more fertile areas near the Nubra and Shyok rivers, the fields grow apple, apricot and the local speciality: sea buckthorn.
The Road to the Nubra Valley
The Nubra and the Shyok rivers divide the valley into two different parts. On one side are the towns of Diskit and Hunder, and on the other Sumur and the village of Panamik: the northernmost place in India a tourist can legally visit. The seven days the permit allows are enough time to explore both sides of the valley, although many visitors head to Diskit, one of the main tourist stops here and home to one of the most visited monasteries in the valley.
PS. My boyfriend has expressed concern that, based on some of my previous blog posts and some of the photos, people might think that I have driven through India on a Royal Enfield Motorbike myself. So just to make clear: he did the driving, I sat on the back (and prayed, a lot: especially on the mountain roads in Ladakh). He tried to get me to drive, but as I’ve written this previous post, it did not go so well.
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