6^th July 2008 ~ Pangong Tso – Hamis – Leh

We were up and ready by 8am and left Pangong with a plan to visit Hemis Monastery on the way to Leh and rest in the evening. We were planning to have long drive the next day.

We saw these pashmina goats on the way. Don’t know what they were fighting for!!

Without many breaks we passed by Tangtse in an hour’s time.

The weather was cloudy and created an impression that it was still early in the morning, even though it was past 10am.

After a while the sun came out and the snow clad mountain peaks started glowing in its radiance.

The sun was in a playful mood playing hide and seek with the clouds. After a while felt that it’s going to rain.

And sure enough it started to drizzle. By 11.30am we reached Chang La pass. By then there was a small hail storm. And then we saw this group of bikers passing by.

The rain picked up and I decided to get into the confines of the car to save my camera. Took photo of Chang La Baba Temple while we passed by.

Nature has a chameleon way to change its colours and I witnessed a perfect example; Though it was still dark and raining, the distant mountain peaks were glimmering under an opening in the sky. While outside of the car Pradeep was trying to take a shot with Nitin holding an umbrella for him, I tried the same shot through the car window. Though the output was a little hazy thanks to water droplets on the glass but this keeps reminding me of an amazing experience.

We moved on further, passing by the group of bikers we met at Chang La Pass.

Saw this ladakhi lady enjoying changing shades of nature.

Throughout the day, the sky showed patches of opening up, but the overwhelming clouds ensured there was never a completely open sky. It stayed cloudy most part of the day but that allowed me to capture some amazing shots in various hues.

It is said - “Beyond the mountains there are mountains again....”

After Karu on the way to Hemis we found this beautiful structure amidst the rugged terrain.

Situated at the foothills of Indus at a distance of 45 km from Leh, the monastery has access to motorable roads. Travelling to Hemis monastery itself is a thrilling experience and the surroundings make the journey a memorable one.

We reached Hemis at around 2pm. We were greeted by this bunch of kids with amazing attitude. Few others were quite young. It’s a tradition that one boy from each family enters monkhood. Young boys come for other reasons as well. Sometimes a child is orphaned or a family can’t financially support all their children so one or more are taken in by the monastery.

Pradeep and Nitin got busy taking portraits of this guy, and I followed suit.

After spending a good 20-30 mins with them we decided to look out for food. We were hungry. We found a small canteen where rice, noodles and Manchurian was available. Ordered food and hogged in. After a full stomach we set out to explore.

Hemis Monastery is revered as the largest monastic institution in Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir in north India. The monastery has more than 200 branches with more than 1,000 monks in the Himalayan region. The Tibetan Buddhist monastery belongs to the Drukpa Lineage or the Dragon Order of Mahayana Buddhism. Gyalwang Drukpa, Tsangpa Gyare Yeshe Dorje founded Drukpa Linegae in the 13th century. King Sengge Namgyal re-established it in the 17th century.

Hemis Monastry is the wealthiest monastery in India and famous for its rich collection of ancient remnants like the statue of Buddha made of copper, stupas made of gold and silver. Monastery also has sacred Thangkas, murals and various artifacts.

It has an amazing double height structure

The Tibetan style architecture of the monastery is very colourful and attractive. It is divided into two parts – the assembly hall known as Dukhang and the temple which is called Tshogkhang. The huge courtyard of the monastery is also worth a visit. All the celebration and public functions are held here. Verandah is decorated with colourful wall paintings of Buddhist Kalchakra. It was lovely place and still those colours look so fresh.

Nitin made a friend of this guy who was there at the monastery. He was quite happy as Nitin gave him a camera to click a photo.

Apparently there are 500 resident monks here but there are only 30 to 40 present at any one time. The others are out in the villages, usually the home village, to be available to the people for teaching and support. Often they are considered the spiritual advisor of the village. Most of them do return if there is a visit by the head Lama or some other important dignitary. There is a wide age range of monks from about 6 to around 80 all dressed the same in their red robes.

It was almost five and we decided to head back towards Leh.

There was a bunch of kids playing near monastery and I couldn’t resist myself clicking

And we started our journey towards Leh passing by some scenic visuals.

I could just remember one song… “Country roads, take me home, To the place I belong”

The weather was amazing and I was happy looking at the way colours of the mountains were changing.

We reached Leh past 6pm and directly went to Alimjan guest house. After freshening up we went back to the market for dinner. We settled ourselves in II Forno. Ordered cheese chilly toast followed by pizza - this place was known for best pizzas in town. J. We retired for the day as tomorrow going to be long day.