Our next stop was a mere 2km down the road: the ancient palace of Shey, a 17th-century palace and monastery complex with (once again) great views and another big Shakyamuni Buddha statue.
Just underneath the palace a statue of Guru Padmasambhava had been erected over the last few years (finishing touches were actually still being applied), this made for some great photo opportunities, as well as the option for a bit of a walk.
This gallery contains 16 photos.
From Hemis we continued to Thiksey Monastery, a large hilltop monastery originally founded 1433 that bears resemblance to the Potala Palace in Lhasa. The monastery belongs to the Gelug school; its main attraction is the Maitreya Temple that was build … Continue reading
We stayed local today, heading out South-East of Leh with Hemis Monastery being the first destination of the morning. The monastery belongs to the Drukpa order, the buildings go back to 1672. It features a couple of temples and shrines, as well as a coffee bar (offering a fairly decent espresso) and a massive, well-explained museum.
About a mile East from the monastery a big stupa (Naropa Stupa) was put up in recent years – this is were the yearly monastery festival takes place now to accommodate the pilgrims and tourists alike.
We got to the outskirts of Leh around midday – with another monastery waiting for us – Spituk Monastery, founded in the 11th century and sitting on a hill just South of Leh’s airport – a great place for plane-spotting (though, I am sure the military will disagree).
From Spituk it was back to our hotel in Leh (where we were ended up in the same rooms as a few days back) and lunch. In the later afternoon we met again, to walk over to a local family and get an introduction to butter tea, its preparation and (of course) an opportunity for a tasting (spoiler: it tasted better than the butter tea, I had tried in Bhutan). With time to spare before dinner I spent some time exploring the residential area around the hotel.
We were leaving the camp in Uleytokpo behind this morning, making our way back to Leh. En-route we took a side trip up Likir valley to Likir Monastery.
We – once more – had the usual tour around the main temples and shrines. Eventually we made it to the big Maitreya Buddha statue outside the monastery.
This gallery contains 16 photos.
We got back to camp in the afternoon. After a break – to avoid the midday heat – we regrouped again in the early evening for the short trip to Rizong Monastery, a Gelupa sect monastery established in 1831. After … Continue reading
This morning we made the ~14km trip over to Alchi and its approximately 1000-year-old monastery featuring several temples with amazing wall paintings and huge Buddha statues. There was strictly no photography inside the monastery premises here – we actually had to leave all cameras and phones in lockers before entering – so, no photos to share here. The temples were beautiful, as were the alcoves in the stupas; the real highlight though was clearly the ongoing celebration in one of the temples – complete with prayer, sutra recitals, music and some rather bored novices 😉
We had plenty of time here, to check out the circumambulation path around the monastery, complete with hundreds of prayer wheels and great river views.
This gallery contains 20 photos.
We left Lamayuru – and after a lunch and a further photo stop (to get the moonland views in) we were heading towards our accommodation in Uleytokpo, a nice camp with great views of the Indus and some of the … Continue reading
This gallery contains 20 photos.
Today we were leaving Leh behind and starting the first part of what will eventually turn into a major roadtrip. Today we were covering the 115km from Leh to Lamayuru, a drive of about three hours (incl. breaks). We had … Continue reading
We had made it back from the city tour in the early afternoon and in time for a late lunch. I could certainly feel the altitude having a toll on my, so had another restful afternoon, again with a pot of tea and my book.
In the early evening the group did come together again for the trip up to Shanti Stupa for sunset. The stupa, complete with a golden Buddha statue – opened in 1991 – sits on a hill overlooking Leh and the valley. We spent time here checking out the stupa, watching people go by their religion – and taking in the great views all around.
