Baltistan is one of my favourite places in the world.

Wedged between Afghanistan and Kashmir, the Balti people who live here still speak an archaic dialect of Tibetan.

Think crumbling Ladakhi palaces with Islamic latticework, Buddhist carvings cut into a rockface above high-altitude polo matches.

K-2, the second-highest mountain in the world is a horseback trek away.

Over the last two decades, the Aga Khan Foundation has done an extraordinary job restoring the heritage of the region so that today it is one of the best preserved cultural landscapes in the Himalayas.