Ladakh, India

Bound by two of the world’s highest mountain ranges, the Himalaya to the south and the Karakoram to the north, Ladakh is located in the far northern reaches of India, sitting on the western edge of the Tibetan Plateau at an average altitude of 10,000 feet under crystal-clear skies of the purest azure. The landscape is stark, yet incredibly striking, its dun-colored hills dramatically adorned with whitewashed Buddhist monasteries, many of them ancient.