instructions for ladakh

Any situation in the mountains can change suddenly and things can turn very dramatic in a moment, especially weather conditions which can result in roadblocks, cancellation of flights, missing your flight, getting stuck in the middle of the road till either roads get cleared or you get external help. So, best is to be prepared than be sorry! The following effort is to ensure that you are prepared, not to scare you. So, don’t get paranoid, just prepare yourself. If preparation is done systematically then holidays become more enjoyable at lesser cost and effort. 

We have made an elaborate effort to describe the useful material  related to your holidays in Ladakh to ensure you enjoy your holiday! Now it’s your choice what to carry and what not to carry.

  1. MUST: The first and foremost thing is if you have anykind of health issues then you must get yourself examined by an expert medical practitioner for high altitude issues. You must plan your holidays in Ladakh only if your medical advisor gives you a thumbs-up. 
  2. WHAT TO CARRY
  3. Personal water bottle is a must to ensure that we all don’t contribute to the plastic menace.
  4. Clothing: Since, Ladakh region is cold even in summer, you won’t need to wear fresh clothes everyday, therefore its suggested not to carry over-packed bags with extra clothing.
  5. Temperatures in Ladakh ranges from -3 to +30 degrees Celsius in the summer and from -30 to 15 degrees Celsius in the winter. It gets extra cold suddenly due to wind chill effect and. The weather can get cold pretty quickly as soon as the sun sets behind the mountains. You will certainly need warm clothing for Ladakh even in summers.
  6. The best way to handle this tricky weather is to carry ‘layers of clothing’, so you can remove and wear as per the temperature and keep a jacket handy.
  7. A pair of hand gloves
  8. Woolen head gear, preferably covering the ears and neck 
  9. Inners/ thermals two pairs. 
  10. Comfortable waterproof shoes  to walk on rough terrain, preferably.
  11. Woolen socks. Carry enough for a week to ten days. 
  12. Days can be warm, so carry full sleeve T-shirts or cotton shirts, to guard from sunburns. 
  13. Hand towels. 
  14. A  personal towel (lightweight).Carry cotton brim hat to protect your face from UV. Taurus being a mobile camping having space for your basic comforts, can’t afford to provide you laundry facilities. 
  15. PERSONAL TOILETRY & SANITARY ITEMS: Please carry own toiletry for your trip, bring small items and avoid carrying big bottles of shampoo, toothpaste and big soap cakes. It adds weight to your baggage for air travel.
  16. Lip Guard, cold cream, vaseline, moisturiser, 
  17. Sunscreen of SPF30 or higher.
  18. Dark Glasses with UV protection.
  19. PERSONAL MEDICINES  If anyone is using some specially prescribed medicines and motion sickness, please carry little more than the supply needed for the number of days, you never know how weather will play. 
  20. We will provide you basic ‘first aid kit’.
  21. Hand sanitizer is a good item to carry in your pockets. 
  22. OPTIONAL / Misl.
  23. Glucose:  Glucon C/D is a good for hydration and instant energy. Carry couple of small packs with you.
  24. Normal polybags with zip lock of various sizes to carry wet items. 
  25. Money: Please carry enough cash, as ATMs could play crafty sometimes for the poor net connectivity.
  26. Carry your Credit/ Debit Cards. 
  27. Carry a small light (preferably a head torch). 
  28. Chocolates and nuts. 
  29. Items of your own choice to munch while travelling/ excursions. 
  30. Crepe Bandage: for twists etc. 
  31. HEAD TORCH is a must for outdoors. It is available on line from Decathlon for Rs.200/400/-.
  32. Cellphone chargers and power-bank (battery pack).
  33. Data Cables for charging and downloading. 
  34. OTG adaptor for plugging in pen drives etc to your cellphone. 
  35. Carry a small sling bag to carry items of daily use (power bank, phone, hand sanitizer, sun lotion, lip guard, hand towel, water bottle). 
  36. NoteBook, pens and pencils for personal notes. Pens, pencils, colors, crayons, chocolates, toffees for distribution among local children.
  37. DOCUMENTS
  38. Carry your ID cards (of various kinds) preferably Aadhaar card with a few photocopies. 
  39. Few passport size photos of yourself and two xerox copies of  your flight tickets. 
  40. Please carry enough photocopies of all these documents. 
  41. We will appreciate if you could provide us a list of contact details of your close relatives and friends/ office for emergency. 
  42. You should also carry your medical insurance card (if you have one)
  43. CAMERA GEAR & RELATED EQUIPMENT If you wish to carry your camera gear on your holiday you may consider the following:
  44. Make a CHECKLIST and ref it while packing
  45. Your camera, lenses and filters ( Polarising, Neutral density and graduate) suitable for landscape and portraiture.
  46. Enough memory cards with card reader 
  47. Lens cleaning kit. 
  48. Chargers for your mobile, camera and all other batteries. 
  49. Battery life in cold climate is less than its normal performance, so please carry extra batteries for everything.If you love to use flash, please bring along portable flash with off camera cable or trigger. 
  50. Camera Release Cable which is also called remote release. 
  51. Sturdy tripod for long exposures, you will need it for astrophotography. 
  52. Laptop if you need to shoot a lot and check the results on the go
  53. Portable Hard Drives (preferably 2 for backup) made for hard conditions. 
  54. We will provide you Indian sockets of AC 220 volts for charging.
  55. Please carry conversion plugs suitable for your equipment Camera and lens protection covers or any means to guard your gear from dust. 
  56. Please don’t carry drones. 
  57. MOST IMPORTANT SPECIAL NOTES
  58. Baggage: please carry your stuff in soft bags only, no hard cases onboard Taurus. We shall have no room onboard Taurus for any hard bag or suitcases, lockers with individual locks will be provided onboard Taurus. 
  59. You are all requested to maintain cleanliness on board Taurus.
  60. INTERNET & CELL-PHONE NETWORK 
  61. Only Post-Paid numbers work in Jammu & Kashmir. 
  62. The BSNL, Jio, AirTel provide cell-phone services and internet; Airtel is available at limited places only.
  63. Your stay at guesthouses/ hotels is as per the check-in / check-out timings of the hotel.
  64. Breakfast and dinner at these establishments is included in the tariff, where prescribed. 
  65. Meals on excursions and travel are NOT included in the tariff, please pay directly.   
  66. Before booking your flight for Leh, please check with your airline what they allow as cabin baggage and what as check-in baggage. 
  67. Please check the list of restricted items, before packing your bags. 
  68. Please carry large heart to enjoy these outdoor holidays as sometimes unexpected pleasant and no so pleasant situations and events spring up. We are coordinators of different services for your holidays and not your travel agent.  
  69. Must bring your own water-bottle, which we encourage in effort to reduce plastic trash. While onboard Taurus you will get filter-water to replenish your bottles (at no extra cost).
  70. WHAT TO KNOW
  71. Pick up and drop (airport Leh) only as a whole group which. If your arrival is after the main group then we will help you coordinate your transport from the airport to the place of stay or our camp, you pay directly to the driver. If the interval between the flights of participants is not more than 30 minutes, then the transport will wait for the second batch to arrive and join.
  72. Your stay is on double sharing basis aboard Taurus and hotels/ guest-houses/ camp/ homestays. If its one group (family and friends) then the occupation of accommodation is planned by the group, otherwise the crew will allot on rotational basis, means if Taurus is  Accommodation onboard Taurus is on rotational basis.
  73. When you are onboard Taurus and in a static camping, we will offer you lunch as the time and circumstances permit. The lunch while travelling on
  74. However if you wish to ensure single occupancy, being single traveller, it’s available on “single supplement” basis.