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Ladakh is situated at high altitude (much of it over 3,000 m) straddling the Himalayan and Karakorum mountain ranges and the uppen Indus river valley. Unlike the rest of predominantly Islamic Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh is a predominantly Buddhist area, with most Ladakhis following the tantric form of Mahayana Buddhism of the Dalai Lama (hence the nickname 'Little Tibet') - this is evidenced by the high number of Buddhist monasteries, including Shey, Tikse, Hemis, Alchi, Stongdey and Lamayuru (each called locally a 'gompa' meaning 'monastery'). Ladakhis mostly speak a dialect of Tibetan referred to as 'Ladakhi' - there are some minor differences in language, the most obvious one to outsiders being the use of 'Julay' instead of 'Tashi Delek' for 'hello'.
Ladakh consists of a number of distinct areas (mainly under Indian rule), including the fairly populus main Indus valley, the more remote Zanskar (in the south) and Nubra valleys (to the north over Khardung La in the Ladakh mountain range, the highest motorable pass in the world at 5,602 m or 18,380 ft), the almost deserted Askai Chin (under Chinese rule) and the predominantly Shi'ite Moslem Kargil and Suru Valley areas in the west (Kargil being the second most important town in Ladakh).
The Skardu area, under Pakistani rule and entirely Moslem, is sometimes additionally loosely included in what is geographically referred to as Ladakh.
With the Jammu and Kashmir crisis making the Kashmir valley a no-go area for tourists, the Indian Government encouraged a shift in trekking and other tourist activities to the reltively unaffected areas of Buddhist eastern Ladakh. Tourism thus became a major source of income for what previously was a subsistence, agricultural economy. The main corridor for trade and commerce in the area has also shifted from the Zoji-la pass and Kargil route from Srinagar in the Kashmir Valley, to the high altitude Manali-Leh Highway from Himachal Pradesh. There is one airport, situated at Leh, from which there are daily flights to Dehli and weekly flights to Srinagar.