Having well rested, today I plan to cover the rest of the attraction on Manali-Leh highway including Hemis monastery, Shey Palace and Thiksey monastery. Since we had fewer places to cover today, started a bit late at 10.30 am. Abdul as usual was before time at the hotel.
We first set out to Hemis monastery that is about 45 kms from Leh. Since the highway is well maintained the ride was smooth and quick. This is the largest and the wealthiest monastery in Ladakh and is situated inside a national park. Abdul told me they declared this a national park since in the past sometime they spotted a snow leopard here, but once declared a park the leopard was never seen again. :)
Hemis is well known for the annual festival where a big Thanka (religious scroll painting) is displayed. I could see the stage over which this Thanka is displayed. This monastery is rich because it has a great collection of ancient remenants of artifacts, stupas, kitchenwares, Bhuddha statues etc.
There was some amount of vegetation here near the monastery, unlike Leh.
The entrance looked exquisite.
And this monastery seemed well maintained
Monasteries and temples here ok with plastic flowers rather than natural ones. Also I have been curious for the last couple of days about this decoration over the windows.
I saw these maroon wooden sticks arranged on top of many structures. I was wondering if they are of any practical use, such as keeping the interiors warm. But Abdul who is generally knowledgeable, was not aware of this.
Once inside the sanctum sanctorum, we get to see the grandiose.
Inside, other than a temple where one can meditate, there is a museum and souvenir shop. Photography is not allowed inside the museum. I spent a lot of time (more than 75 minutes) inside the museum as it was large and had a lot to display. So by the time I came out it was past noon. Anyway we decided to go to Thiksey monastery before lunch. I also wanted to record here that at many places in Ladakh, ncluding in Leh, the lamp posts are the designer ones like this one, rather than the boring ones in our cities.
Thiksey monastery is 22 kms from Leh, thus once done with Hemis we had to travel towards Leh. Thiksey is another big monastery. It is believed to resemble Potala palace (winter residence of Dalai Lama, till 1959) in Tibet.
There are intricate paintings all the way up. And yes all the attractions today you need to climb up. Climbing seems to be people's favorite pass time in Ladakh. :)
On the way up I met these would-be monks having their lunch and some chilling after lunch
The views from the top are again noteworthy.
Once inside we get to see the huge (15 metre high) Buddha statue.
We to stand on a higher floor to see the Buddha face to face. This monastery is well maintained as well.
The Buddhists here seem to love their yellows. Even prayer flags have quite a lot of yellow.
I went up to the very top and it was pretty cold and windy.
After getting down I suggested having lunch. Abdul wanted to have a late lunch once he is back home as he had a heavy breakfast. My breakfast at the hotel was heavy as well. So we headed to Nilza's Bakery about 5 minutes away from the monastery on the highway. I had noted marked this bakery on my map as it had good reviews. I had a quick, light lunch.
Post this we headed to Shey palace. Shey means mirror. There is a lake in front of the palace and water acts like a mirror for the palace, thus the name of this palace,
This palace like that of Leh palace is maintained by Archeological Society of India and they are poorly managed. There is no entrance ticket and possibly valuable history is just lying there for anybody to take home.
While I was climbing up it was sunny and great weather, in some time weather changed drastically. It started raining and was very windy.
As Abdul told me - "One can never trust Ladakh's weather, Mumbai's fashion and a Kashmiri's promise." :).
I again saw this over the ceiling here as well.
But most of all I was deeply saddened by what I saw in Shey palace. On top in one of the levels I saw a large dump of empty oil plastic bottles just lying to rot. This was mismanagement. There is a temple with big statue of Buddha here as well.
Inside this temple I could see a young monk busy with his phone, watching videos, killing the ambience of the sacred place. I told myself that I should have compassion for this monk. He is possibly in his 20s and he has his life ahead of him. He has his strengths and weaknesses, just like me. I need to more patient, compassionate and forgiving.
By the time I walked down to the car, I was slightly wet from the rain. Abdul had planned to have a Paratha while was at the palace, but he did not get one as that particular hotel did not make it that day.
We then headed to the hotel. Hotel had a high tea service for customers and I indulged myself.
After resting and bathing, I went to the dinning hall for the last dinner in Ladakh. I ordered Old Monk with Coke and a Shammi Kabab. That's the only time I had alcohol on this trip.
After a good night's sleep, and a grand breakfast, I set out to catch my flight back to Mumbai. These views never bore me!
Back home I put up the prayer flags!
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