My first day in Leh, I mainly stayed at the hotel being sick - must have eaten something wrong.
In the evening, I visited the Shanti Stupa that sits on the top of the hill. It was part of the Peace Pagoda project and built by a Japanese Buddhist in 1991. The stupa promotes peace, commemorates 2500 years of Buddhism and symbolizes the ties between the people of Japan and Ladakh.
In the evening, I visited the Shanti Stupa that sits on the top of the hill. It was part of the Peace Pagoda project and built by a Japanese Buddhist in 1991. The stupa promotes peace, commemorates 2500 years of Buddhism and symbolizes the ties between the people of Japan and Ladakh.
Late the next morning, Carla (an Italian who stayed also at my hotel) and I left for a sightseeing tour of the Leh Valley. We started with the Stok Palace - the former royal family of Ladakh still lives at this palace from 1825. The palace houses the residence and a museum that showcases a lot of paraphernalia.
Stok Palace
View from Stok Palace
Three stupas
Buddha statue near Stok
Due to the lunch break, we travelled a lot further to Hemis Gompa - it's the biggest monastery in Ladakh. It also was the only place where we saw other tourists. We visited the museum that showed statues of Buddha and other deities, tools of a monks life and religious pictures. We walked around the prayer halls and found unfinished mandalas and instruments.
After the biggest monastery, we headed for a very small one - Takthok is carved into the rock and has a house structure in front of it. The name means rock-roof. The monastery was founded in the mid-16 century and is the only of Nyingma tradition in Ladakh. Currently, a new monastery is constructed just a few hundred meters down the road. The 55 monks who should live here, we haven't seen - just the key monk who opened the place for us.
Takthok was the turning point - we drove back through the valley and visited another monastery that we had already seen sitting majestically on a hill top - Chemrey Gompa. Belonging to the Drugba order, the monastery was founded in 1664 and has a big collection of valuable scriptures.
We made two more stops before the sunset - Spituk Gompa - there we still found somebody who opened the monastery for us. At Matho Gompa we were cutting it to close and even for pictures, it got too dark.
We finished the day off by dinner at Wonderland restaurant - while exiting I also met the Israelis again. As internet connection worked only some hours a day if at all and non-Kashmir mobiles did not function in the region, running into people in the tourist district is the easiest way of communication. We chatted a bit about our plans of going to Pangong Lake the next day.
Hemis Gompa
Monk's Living quarters
Mani wheel wall
Big Prayer Hall
After the biggest monastery, we headed for a very small one - Takthok is carved into the rock and has a house structure in front of it. The name means rock-roof. The monastery was founded in the mid-16 century and is the only of Nyingma tradition in Ladakh. Currently, a new monastery is constructed just a few hundred meters down the road. The 55 monks who should live here, we haven't seen - just the key monk who opened the place for us.
Takthok Gompa
Stupas near Sakti village
Chemrey Gompa
Entrance gate
Spituk Gompa
We finished the day off by dinner at Wonderland restaurant - while exiting I also met the Israelis again. As internet connection worked only some hours a day if at all and non-Kashmir mobiles did not function in the region, running into people in the tourist district is the easiest way of communication. We chatted a bit about our plans of going to Pangong Lake the next day.
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