Perched high above the Himalayan town of Leh, a warren of traditional mud-brick houses squats by the ruins of the royal palace and a monastery, appearing to grow out of the mountainside. These homes in the capital of India’s Buddhist Ladakh region, which have stood for centuries, are regarded as some of the best remaining examples of urban Tibetan-style architecture.
Villagers returned home to ruins as flood waters continued to recede on Monday but the toll from the annual monsoon flooding across South Asia rose to 2Â 300, officials said. Tens of thousands are still housed in shelters while millions more are dependent on food and medical aid.
Answering the call of nature over a pit of manure with no flush water in sight and learning how to churn butter may not be everyone’s idea of a great holiday. But in India’s "Little Tibet", the remote Himalayan region of Ladakh, a pioneering scheme to offer tourists the authentic tastes of mountain life is taking off — and could hold the key to preserving a fragile ecosystem.