I got my bags packed on a roll heading out there and I'm ready to go looking real good

in my passport photo.

Airmatory Traveler episode 780. Today the amateur traveler talks about rugged

landscapes, snow-capped mountains, Buddhist monasteries, houseboats, and mosques as we do a road trip through Ladak and Kashmir in India.

Welcome to the amateur traveler. I'm your host Chris Christensen. Let's talk about

Laddock and Kashmir. I'd like to welcome to the show Agnes Shimig from Voice of Guides.com who's come to talk to us

about Ladak and the Kashmir in India. Agnes, welcome to the show. Thank you very much for inviting me.

Well, and people are going to wonder if that's a Kashmiri accent, and it is not.

You are not actually from India. So what's your connection with the region we're going to talk about?

Yes, I'm not from India, but I go very often to the country, to other parts as well. I'm working as a tour guide as an

international tour guide and India is one of my destinations and I'm also

doing Laddak and Kashmir trips so that's how I'm connected to the place.

Excellent and why should someone go to this region of India?

I would differentiate the two places we will will talk about that later, Kashmir and Ladakh, both are in the north of India, but they are totally different. I would say that it's a very untouristic place. It was lately discovered. Actually, a Laddak is surrounded by mountains and

till the 1970s there were no tourism at that place. So it's relatively new and unknown. It's beautiful.

If somebody has been to India, then probably remembers it like a crowded place very hectic very noisy but Laddak and

Kashman is totally different.

Laddak is scarcely populated.

The religion is different. It's a very clean place. So it's like being in another country, completely

in another country. It's one of the most beautiful landscapes that I have ever seen in my life. So it's special for several reasons. For the religion, it is Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism.

In contrast to other parts of the country like India is a Hindu country, but Laddak there are a lot of Buddhist.

Actually it's very authentic there.

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