India may be a rapidly developing country but it is still, in the minds of scores of travellers, a country of ascetics and ashrams, the birth place of yoga and spirituality.  They expect India can take them on a journey beyond the physical, allowing them an insight into their own minds. Still, if ashrams and sadhus are not your thing, consider Ladakh. It’s like a magic Kingdom, a Disneyland for your senses with no entrance fee and no queues.

If I had to associate Ladakh with one word, it would be peace. Yes, the modern world is invading and there are those who feel even the monasteries are commercial now but Ladakh is still an extraordinary place.

I wasn’t prepared for it. I knew it would be beautiful but that seems too lacklustre a word. Not a day has gone by since I left that I haven’t thought of going back. Maybe it’s the gentleness of the people combined with the vast, often overwhelmingly grand landscape which swallows your heart. Perhaps it’s the hush, which allows your mind to breathe even when your lungs are struggling with the altitude.

Go to Pangong Tso. If you let it, this incredible body of water will transport you to a place in your mind which would normally require hours of disciplined meditation. Words cannot do it justice, nor pictures, nor paintings. It is isolated, silent, nestled away, almost as though it never wanted to be discovered.

Tread softly on its shores, breathe deeply of its air. It’s a privilege to be there. Living in a world obsessed with cosmetic perfection, it seems almost necessary to humble ourselves from time to time by experiencing beauty at it’s electrifying, natural best.