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Accommodation in Leh
Leh is absolutely glutted with accommodation, most of it refreshingly
neat, clean and excellent value. Budget travellers in particular are in
for a treat. Most of the town's reasonable guesthouses are immaculately
whitewashed traditional houses, set on the leafy outskirts, with sociable
garden terraces that look onto green fields. Rooms in Leh's mid range
hotels come with en suite shower toilets and piped hot water, while
upmarket accommodation is limited. Off-season, prices can be slashed by as
much as sixty percent.
Rooms in family houses, grouped in three main areas, account for the bulk
of Leh's plentiful budget accommodation. Karzoo and Suku, northwest of the
main street, are very central but become tourist ghettos during high
season; if one is after peace, quite, idyllic countryside and mountain
views, head for Changspa village, fifteen minutes' walk west of the
Bazaar. More in the thick of things are the mainly Muslim houses of the
old town. Crouched in the shadow of Leh palace, these are inexpensive and
full of atmosphere.
Dzomsa Laundry
Situated on a strategic corner between upper Thaka Road and Old Fort Road
at one end of the market square, the Dzomsa Laundry provides a vital
service in ecology sound washing, using literally means "meeting
point", also serves delicious fresh apricot juice, which one can
drink while sitting out side watching the world go by. If one has got
empty mineral water bottles, one can recycle them here and have them
filled with safe drinking water.
Libraries: The Ecology Centre's excellent library
(Monday-Saturday 10.00 am - 4.00 pm) keeps books on everything from
agriculture to Zen Buddhism, as well as periodicals, magazines, and files
of articles on Ladakh and development issue. Serious students of Buddhism
should check out the CIBS library in Choglamsar (Monday - Saturday 10.00
am -1.00 pm & 2.00 - 4.00 pm), where the helpful librarians speak
English.
Meditation:
Small classes are run by the Mahabodhi society in Changspa, which
specializes in Vipassana.
Mountain Bikes: Mountain bikes may be rented through Highland
Adventures in the Hotel Ibex complex.
Pharmacy: For Tibetan Medicine, try Dr Tsewang Rigzin Larje,
whose clinic is by the old bus stand, south of the main bazaar, stock
fresh film of all kinds, including slide film. If it's closed, try ND
Dijoo & Sons on the main street. Also look around the area beside the
Jami Masjid.
Post: The post office is at the Main Bazaar (Monday-Saturday
10.00 am - 1.00 pm & 2.00-4.00 pm). For parcels, go to the GPO
(Monday-Saturday 10.00 am - 4.30 pm), out of town on Airport Road, whose
unreliable poste restante counter is tucked around the back. One can also
receive letters through the Tourist Information Centre on Fort Road.
Yoga: Small classes for all levels are run by a western teacher at
Thanglang house, Changspa (Monday-Friday 10.30 am - noon).