A trip to Leh is an experience, not just a holiday

 

IANS

Leh: One would imagine that Leh, the hottest holiday destination of the country this season, would be teeming with excited tourists. You would have to get past a lot of pushing and shoving to get a glimpse of the 'must-sees' of the place, and the shop owners of the trinkets' stores would be screaming at passers-by for attention.

Strangely, Leh in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir reveals a very different picture; the picturesque little town, cocooned amid the hills, is drowned in calmness. You can savour every little moment and enjoy your holiday in the true sense of the word. Leh, you realize, is not just a destination; it's an experience.

Leh, at an altitude of more than 11,000 feet, is blessed with nature's bounty. Simple things like waking up to an azure blue sky and the sight of snow-capped mountains, or star-gazing at night (you would have hardly seen so many stars in the night sky!) and wishing upon the scores of shooting stars leaves you with happy memories.

Although it has an airport with direct flights from Delhi, Jammu, and Srinagar, most people prefer taking a road trip to Leh. One, because the journey through the changing landscape, whether you go via Manali or through Srinagar, is in itself a lifetime experience. Plus, you get to drive past the 'magnetic hill' (from Kargil to Leh) when your car defies gravity to move a short distance of slight road elevation on its own! And second, as most travel experts would say, a road trip prepares you better in the acclimatization process.

Having said that, while it is only natural for your body to take some time to get used to the low pressure and thin oxygen levels, help is always at hand in case of medical need. The Indian Army base hospital in Leh gets a lot of tourists who take tips on how best to fight altitude sickness. There is also an army medical unit in the snow-laden Chang La Pass - at 17,586 feet, the third highest pass in the world - as well as an army tea stall serving complimentary hot tea!

From Leh, one has to cross the Chang La Pass to reach the breathtakingly beautiful Pangong lake, made more famous by the movie ‘3 Idiots’. The lake, 60 percent of which lies in Tibet, is striking amid the surrounding barren hills. One can count at least seven shades of blue in the water!

The Nubra valley, at a distance of 150 km from Leh, is again a must-visit. Famous for being a cold desert, when there, a ride on the double humped camel, also called the Bactrian camel, is worth experiencing.

Driving on the world's second highest motorable road at Khardung La, at an altitude of more than 18,000 feet, is again a must-do. It's especially popular among bikers who make sure to get embroidered T-shirts back in Leh declaring their feat - a souvenir worth wearing back home.

Another popular souvenir is a string of multi-coloured prayer flags, also available in small size.

All said, Leh in itself has a lot for visitors to see. There is the magnificent Shanti Stupa, the 400-year-old Jama Masjid, and the ancient Leh Palace which, unlike the bedecked royal palaces you see elsewhere like Rajasthan, is a humble multi-storeyed structure from whose balconies you get a bird's eye view of the entire town.

For those looking for adventure, there is much to do - river rafting, kayaking, trekking, and hiking - at close distance. For others looking for a quiet, relaxed time, Leh is best explored on foot.

Shopping wise, a word of caution: be ready to loosen your purse strings because things are generally priced high. Shops are laden with exquisite artifacts, woolen shawls and jackets, carpets, and jewellery in silver with different gemstones.

Tenzin Wangchuk, one of the shop owners, tries to justify the high prices, saying: "The tourist season (between May-June and October) is the only time we can sell our wares. When winter sets in, it snows and we get cut off from the rest of the world. This is the only time to earn some money."

Many of its escalating number of tourists (nearly 180,000 in 2012) are foreigners and Leh is therefore flooded with restaurants and small cafes serving all kinds of cuisine - German, Italian, et al. However, tucking into some momos, thentuk (noodles) and thukpa is highly recommended to complete the Leh experience.

How to get there:

* By air: There are direct flights from Delhi, Srinagar and Jammu.

* By road: Approximate distance from Chandigarh to Leh via Manali is 800 km.
Approximate distance from Srinagar to Leh is 440 km. State transport buses also ply on the Srinagar-Leh route.

Accommodation:

* Leh, being a popular holiday destination, has innumerable hotels, guest houses, and even youth hostels. In the peak tourist season, you can expect the hotel room tariff to start anywhere from Rs.1,500.

Precautions:

* Altitude sickness is a reality; so be prepared. You can consult a doctor beforehand about any medication to be carried. But even if you don't, do not fret. It takes a day or two for your body to acclimatize. Drink plenty of fluids, and don't forget to carry a good sunscreen! 

View the original article here

MoMA exec: Mobile, audio contextualizes in-museum experience

By Lauren Johnson

July 18, 2013

MoMa's new Audio+ program

NEW YORK ? A Museum of Modern Art executive at Mobile Commerce Daily?s fourth annual Nonprofit Mobile Day said that the company?s new mobile Audio+ program is building the future around how the museum plans to focus on cross-device and content-specific digital experiences in the future.

During the session titled ?The Museum of Modern Art: Using Mobile to Expand and Connect the Museum Experience,??the MoMA executive explained how the institution?s new Audio+ program is elevating the museum-going experience. The session also presented a look at how the company has incorporated mobile into sites and applications.

?You have these plain white galleries, and audio is a great way for you to cross that divide between the artwork and the visitor,? said Allegra Burnette, creative director of digital media at the MoMA, New York.

?Audio has always been this way for us to bridge that and provide additional information,? she said.

?As mobile has come and evolved, it gives us more opportunities for contextualizing that artwork and giving people more information.?

Nonprofit Mobile Day, a conference owned by Mobile Commerce Daily parent Napean LLC, was co-presented with the Direct Marketing Association.

Plug into mobile
The MoMA Audio+ program began at the art museum two weeks ago. Consumers can interact with mobile devices that are pre-loaded with an internal app as they walk around the museum to learn about particular pieces of art.

This internal app will replace MoMA?s existing consumer-facing app in the coming months.

The museum has swapped out 2,000 audio wands for 2,000 devices.

Future editions will be rolled out as the museum receives feedback on how consumers use the app.

Compared to the current text-heavy MoMa app, the new version is image-based and lets users look up locations or browse through a map.

Location-awareness is not currently available, but it is a feature that MoMA is looking at adding.

Additionally, text-to-speech, transcripts and video will also be available in the app. The app is less about leading consumers straight through the museum and offers selective content so that consumers can quickly find what they are looking for, per Ms. Burnette.

A camera feature is also proving to be a hit with app users. In the past two weeks, more than 71,000 photos have been taken, 11,000 of which have been shared via email.

Everything that a?visitor does in the app is saved to a path. This includes audio clips, photos and pieces of artwork that consumers browse.

The path can then be synced with an email address, and when the app is returned a link is sent to a consumer?s email.

So far, 11,000 paths have been created, and 40 percent of them have been connected to an email.

The path connects users to MoMA.org and includes a dashboard of their in-gallery activity.

The Audio+ app

According to Ms. Burnette, this is where MoMA sees its Web site going to get a better grasp on mobile data that can be used to influence programming.

?I think this for us is building for the future,? Ms. Burnette said.

?Rather than starting with the Web site redesign and doing this app, we?re doing this experience, and then we?re going to build the Web site,? she said.

?I think we are really creating the building blocks for where we?re going for a digital future that is both cross-device, but also content-specific.?

MoMA is also looking for ways to leverage the email address to reconnect with consumers in a way that follows privacy policies.

Because the app is currently only able to work internally, social networks cannot be integrated. In the public version of the app, more integration with social will be used.

Additionally, the consumer app will include membership so that users can skip lines at the museum.

What is interesting about MoMA?s mobile audio tour roll-out is that if a consumer does not want to take a pre-loaded mobile device with them or there are not any available, employees tell visitors that they can use the mobile Web or download the app for a similar experience.

As a result, more consumers are now using MoMA?s mobile site and app, meaning that the mobile audio tours are affecting how MoMA markets its mobile products.

Mobile art
The museum?s physical location and online presence brings in more than 27 million yearly visitors.

Mobile has made up roughly 19 percent of MoMA?s traffic in the past year. However, in the past month mobile represents 40 percent of traffic, showing?a quick jump.

MoMA began offering free audio tours in 2004, and the first Wi-Fi tour rolled out in 2008.

In 2010, the museum rolled out a mobile site and an iPhone and Android app. The app has since been downloaded more than one million times.

MoMA?s use of mobile is aimed at enhancing the visitor experience and is less focused on donations and revenue.

For example, MoMA has an iPad app called Art Lab to inspire creative play between families and gives users a closer look at the museum?s artwork.

Art Look is the only paid app that MoMA offers. Publicity for the app caused Art Look to be featured in Apple?s App Store, but the museum has not broken even on the cost to produce the app.

The Art Labs app

Ms. Burnette said that the project was successful, but bringing in revenue and money from paid apps is not realistic currently.

The museum has also been trying different pricing amounts to see what sticks with consumers.

The initial price of the app was $4.99 and is now $2.99.

MoMA also uses mobile Web as part of its exhibitions.

For instance, a design-oriented, tech-heavy exhibit called Talk To Me leveraged QR codes on every project label.

Additionally, a Twitter hashtag was added to the label of each work.

When consumers scanned the mobile bar codes they could access additional information about the piece of art.

MoMA uses QR codes on a case-by-case basis for its exhibitions.

Mobile Web also helps MoMA create cross-platform resources for exhibitions, which includes pushing new technologies such as responsive design.

?Just thinking about the exhibition sites, it?s really been about connecting in-museum and online,? Ms. Burnette said.

?It?s about trying to think about cross-devices,? she said. ?It used to be that you had to think about different browsers, and now you have to think different browsers, different screens.

?It has sort of opened up this much more complicated world, but again thinking about pushing new technologies like responsive design that we have done on a couple of Web sites, and?[we]?are headed more in that direction as well."

Final Take
Allegra Burnette is?creative director of digital media at MoMA, New York

Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Marketer. Reach her at lauren@mobilemarketer.com. Follow her on Twitter: @LaurenJohnson.

View the original article here