Ladakh is a region of the Indian Himalayas currently undergoing a pro- cess of profound transformation and cultural regeneration. This is a land caught between a traditional inclination towards the arcane or the mysti- cal and rampant progress that threatens the environment and alienates its own inhabitants. Brave and visionary thinkers are trying to reslove this polarisation by offering an admirable form of mediation between the two: how to preserve their identity without turning their back on the world, how to find value in the drive towards modernity while protecting anthropological integrity.