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Day 3
12-08-08
LEH
Before hitting the bed the previous night, we had a nice dinner in the warm and beautiful kitchen. The Manager, who we later knew was also a school teacher as well as an anchor in the All India Radio Leh, sat with us and gave us good company. He also gave us a lot of information about Leh and its people.
The guesthouse was called New Moon Guest House and was located in a place called Chubi Leh. It was very near to the main market and taxi stand in Leh. It had a beautiful garden with lot of flowers and vegetables. Rooms were neat and clean and are available for anyone (though during season one needs to book in advance) The main kitchen was outside with another one where the guests sit on small stool and have food. Hot water is also available on prior notice; they heat the water in a big boiler in the main kitchen and connect it to the bathrooms.
When we reached the guesthouse the previous evening.. someone was waiting for us there. He was a tour operator based in the Pang gong lake having his own tents and rooms there. He was waiting to give our permits to go to Nubra Valley and the Pang gong Lake.
NOTE: Permits are required to visit these places, one can acquire the permits after reaching Leh also. But you may waste a day (or at least half a day) for this. You can do it yourself or through a tour operator (which will be faster since they have the links). The best option is to arrange it in advance!
However, we had a small problem. The permits had our names but not Sanjay's. Either we had to find someone who would drive us to those places or else reorder our plans and go for local sight seeing the next day. In the mean while Sanjay's permit will be arranged. So we decided to follow the second option.
Since we were doing the local sight seeing in Leh, we all got up a bit late and got ready and started around 10:15 AM. A trip to Leh is incomplete if you don't go to a monastery. So our plan for that day included visiting some monasteries, Leh Palace, the Shanti Stupa (the sunset point) in the evening. After that we could also do a bit of shopping in the evening.
After having a good breakfast of Paratta, Bread, Omlette, Toast, jam, tea / coffee, we started at 10:30 AM. The Manager informed that there is some festival in Tak Thong monastery. So our first visit was to this monastery! On the way we saw the Shey Palace which was undergoing some renovation work. so we couldn't not go in. We stopped at many places on the way to take snaps..
Shey Palace
Shey Palace
The Tak Thong and Chimrey gompa are two important monasteries situated near Sakti 45 km from Leh. Chimrey comes 8 or 10 km before Sakthi and it is built on top of a hill. Tak Thong monastery lies 6 or 7 km after Sakti. Every year they conduct festivals and thousands of people gather together on this occasion. The lamas perform tantrik dances wearing masks of the different deities.
The whole place was crowded when we reached there at 12:30 PM and most of the tourists were foreigners. May be this was the reason the antique (and not so antique) vendors outside the gompas charging 5 times more the actual the cost of anything displayed there!
We saw the dance and enjoyed the ladakhi music in the courtyard of the new monastery of Tak Thong. After hanging around for some more time in that place we went to the old monastry. You need to do a bit of climbing to reach the old monastry but the view from the top was very much worth it!
Prayer wheel near Tak Thong Gompa
Tak Thong Monastery Festival
To the old monastery
Tak Thong Gonpa (the old monastery)
Chimrey monastery
The monastery of Tiksey is situated about 20 km from the town of Leh and is one of the most important monasteries in Ladakh. It is the seat of Tiksey Rinpoche, the main leader of the Gelug School in Ladakh.
This monastery has one of the largest Buddha statues, a 15 metre tall Buddha. Thiksey is one of the most frequently visited and most photographed monasteries in Ladakh. Thiksey is one of the finest examples of Ladakhi architecture. This Gompa is situated on the top of the hill. The 12-storey monastery complex contains numerous stupas, statues, thankas, wall paintings, swords and a large pillar engraved with the Buddha's teachings apart from the sacred shrines and other precious objects to be seen. For the 3 of us, once again we were taken back to the Tawang Monastery one of the largest monasteries in Asia.
Tiksey Monastery
It was almost 5:30 now and we had to go to the sunset point or the Shanti Stupa before sunset. So we went on a race against time and reached there after 1 hr! Anyways we were on time to see the setting sun!
The Shanti Stupa is located on the hilltop at Changspa. It can be reached easily from the main city. The Stupa was constructed by a Japanese Buddhist organization, known as 'The Japanese for World Peace'. It was built to commemorate 2500 years of Buddhism and to promote World Peace. The Dalai Lama inaugurated the Shanti Stupa in the year 1985. This place is also famous for the spectacular views of the sunrise and sunset.
While coming down I took these steps instead of the road!
It was quite dark when we returned to the main market and we decided to get down there. Going to the Leh Palace was out of question since it was late as we all were tired. Sanjay wanted to take rest, so we told him to go back to the guest house, have dinner and sleep. We strolled down the market, did some window shopping, went to the ATM, and internet cafe, ordered some "Free Tibet" T-shirts and returned to the guest house. We had a grand dinner of Roti and Chicken and went to sleep.
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