Finding a place to escape this scorching heat? Well, we have a piece of good news here, we have found the coolest place on earth, and we are serious. India’s first natural ice café is now open in Leh and Ladakh and all we can do is to pack bags and move.
What it is?
We all have visited various cafes with unique interior and exteriors, but this one is just amazing. Located at a height of 14,000 ft, the Ice Cafe is located on the Manali-Leh highway and looks like Elsa’s Castle.
Just imagine being surrounded by thick ice in the middle of beautiful Himalayas and sipping a hot cup of tea and coffee. This is the best thing one can ask for in summers.
This café was created during winters, using a natural process by the Border Road Organization officials and some locals.
Inside this giant ice-stupa, there is a restaurant where you can relish delicious meals like local noodle dishes and various hot beverages. This café creates an ambiance that you might not have seen or experienced before.
This huge artificial, but the natural glacier has been built using running pipes under frost lines and is one of the greatest methods to conserve water on the hills during winter. This is how the process works: the water is pushed through the pipes, which is then made to fall on the ground in freezing temperatures in the form of ice. This further leads to building towers out of ice. When spring arrives, these towers melt, the water of which is collected in tanks, and supplied to farmlands.
A member from ice café said that they felt the need to build a restaurant in that altitude as people were coming to visit Ice Stupa and asking for noodles and hot drinks.
Some more information?
The owners aim to use the cafe’s income for organizing pilgrimage trips for 90 aged people in the village. What a lovely idea it is.
This creative idea of these people has made us add this list to our bucket list.
