Lamayuru sits in the lunar landscape. Wind-eroded sedimentary rock that looks like nothing else in India. The monastery on the hilltop is 11th century, the oldest in Ladakh; the morning chant happens at six and the photographs are best from the back road that drops into the village.

The Kargil war memorial at Dras is laid out below Tololing and Tiger Hill. The wall lists the 527 names of the dead from 1999. The army-run cafe sells filter coffee and the soldier guide will walk you through the action if asked. Dras is the second-coldest inhabited place in the world.

Turtuk was the closing village of the 2010 opening. Eight kilometres from the LoC, Baltistan culture and a Balti-speaking population. The apricots are everywhere from late May to August; the locals dry the pits for kernels and grind the kernels into oil. Army permits get checked at the entry.

Pangong Lake comes into view three kilometres out, through a gap in the brown hills. The blue is the colour pictures keep missing. The lake runs 134 kilometres long, two-thirds into Tibet; the Indian end is the western quarter. The wind picks up after two and the surface goes white.