I got to take a vacation in Ladakh some years back...and it truly is the prettiest place ever in the world. I mean, you've heard that stuff about `Kingdom Of The Gods' hashed and rehashed a million times before right? Well, let me take you to a place which I truly think is the true contendor to that title...

The pic below is of the Sonamarg valley in May taken from the first stage of the High Altitude Warfare School (H.A.W.S) Base Camp at Sonamarg. Sonamarg means `The Valley Of Gold' and on seeing it, i surely cant disagree. Now, Sonamarg is about a good 5 hour drive north of Srinagar, the capital of Jammu & Kashmir. One enters the Ladakh valley after passing through Sonamarg...in fact, its like `here Kashmir ends and Ladakh begins'...The river in front is the Sindh coming down from the glacier...(this is mountain country)...so, naturally its just wonderful and pure and clean like its surroundings...far from the junk of the polluted cities...here air actually doesnt smell of something nefarious...its fresh! And the white on the left side of the image is actually snow...