Our first stop of the day was early, 7am, at Disket Monastery to observe the morning prayers.  The monastery, founded in 1433 for the yellow hat sect, has five temples and over 50 monks living there although most were absent when we visited.  The monks perform prayers twice daily, the morning session, which we were attending, and another in the evening.  We arrived a bit early and spent some time wandering through two of the temples that were open with Suryia explaining the paintings and statues. The call to morning prayers was announced by a monk blowing on a conch shell horn and we moved to the new temple where the monks were gathering,  The monks sat on benches, facing each other, situated orthogonal to the main wall of the temple.  The head monk, in yellow robes, sat on a slightly elevated chair at the head of one of the benches.  At the back of the room in the corner was the monk (and his helper) who were in charge of incense and serving the butter tea and roasted wheat (part of the ceremony and doubling as breakfast).  There was a head chanter who set the pace for the recitation although each monk seemed to have a book (which is a set of individual pages loosely stacked) that they used to follow along.  After about 15 minutes, the butter tea was served, including some to the observers, ourselves and a few others,  sitting on benches around the perimeter of the room.  We stayed for another 15 minutes after that even though the prayer session is an hour long. It was a great cultural experience!

A nice view showing the confluence of the rivers in the Nubra, Shyok and Disket Vallies. Taken from Disket Monastery.

The view looking back as we start to ascend out of the Shyok Valley to head for the pass back to Ladakh.

After getting back to the hotel, eating breakfast and gathering our things we headed back to Leh, reversing our path over the pass.  Since I was now fully acclimatized to the altitude I enjoyed the return journey much more than the initial one, taking pictures of the amazing scenery the whole time we wound our way up to the pass.  We passed the last village at 16,000 feet and at 17,000 feet a beautiful serene lake with a pagoda in the middle of it.  As we meandered up the slope, we passed multiple road construction crews working with shovels and pick-axes, moving dirt and breaking up rocks.  They were stacking rocks for use in other areas or filling in holes- it looked like hard work.  The crews actually camp near the sites they are working and we saw small tent cities out in the middle of nowhere.  Suryia mentioned that the workers earn approximately $3 US per day, come from surrounding villages and spend the summer doing roadwork.  The work is steady as the roads need constant maintenance due to the traffic and weather.  Watching them I imagined I was getting a glimpse back in time to how some of the earliest roads and structures were built….

We saw MANY road construction teams along the way. They varied in size from a few people to dozens.

A beautiful lake at 17,000 feet with a small pagoda in it framed by some amazing mountains!

As we entered the snow line, traversing the avalanche area, Suryia pointed out where there was an avalanche that occurred two hours after we had traveled through the area on the day we came over the pass.  He saw on the news that while no one was hurt, it took two hours to clear the road meaning that many people were stuck at the pass during the interval it took to clear the road.  Given the pass is above 18,000 feet, an altitude where there is half of the oxygen in the air that you would have at sea level, and that a lot of the tourists come from the lowlands, I cannot image how horrible some of those people would have been feeling after two hours at that altitude.  And I am really glad we got through before the avalanche because I would have been one of those feeling poorly! Amazingly enough, we were almost near the pass when I spotted a bicyclist slowly pedaling up the road.  How that guy was breathing, I have no idea!

The road leading to the pass.

Looking back to show the road we traversed on our way to the pass.

The top of the pass was in the same chaotic state that we experienced coming over the first time, although it was a bit easier to get through because we were heading opposite most of the traffic.  We stopped for a few pictures- the scenery still stunned me- and proceeded down into the Ladakh valley.  We got to our hotel without incident and had the rest of the afternoon off to relax and explore Leh.  I went out and wandered around for an hour and a half, stopping in shops and exploring some of the side streets.  There were noticeably more foreign tourists on the streets but the predominant crowds were Indians.  I found out that Leh was packed to the gills because the Dalai Lama was arriving the next day for his yearly trip to Leh to provide a ten-day teaching.  That meant that everyone from all around the region was in town to greet him and attend.

At the snow line, where the avalanche happened a few days past. We are almost at the pass here.

At the pass, feeling good, and enjoying the magnificent views!

The next morning, when we headed out to visit some of the monasteries in the Ladakh Valley, the street from the airport leading to the teaching ground, where the Dalai Lama has a residence, was already lined with people waiting to see him, even though it was hours before he arrived.  There were people everywhere and glancing at the teaching ground it looked like it could hold several thousand. Apparently the government provides a campground for people who want to camp and the area is a mob scene for ten days.  Each day he teaches for around two hours and it is broadcast on radio, available in multiple languages.  What an event!

We soon passed the crowds lining the street and headed across the valley to our first stop of the day, the Matho Monastery.  It was founded in the 1400s, when many of the monasteries in the region were established.  The complex had two temples, a new and old one, as well as a special shrine hosting the whole Buddhist cannon.  What Matho Monastery is really known for, however, is a special ritual that happens in the February/March timeframe, performed by two monks who undergo special training to enter into trances and become oracles. The training is intense and we actually witnessed part of the preparation ceremony; in a small shrine, usually not open to the public, seven monks sat in a U-shape on benches, chanting with drums, cymbals and horns.  Apparently the ceremony lasts the whole day and has something to do with preparing the two selected monks.  So outside of my experience box…

Matho Monastery from the road.

The central courtyard of the Matho Monastery.

After finishing at Matho, we headed back across the valley to visit the Thiksey Monastery, a Tibetan yellow hat sect.  The monastery is a large one and it boasts a large two-story golden Buddha statue in one of its shrines.  You enter on the second floor where you are nearly face level to the statue.  Around the perimeter of the room, the walls were decorated with scenes from various Buddhist stories with different manifestation of the Buddha or his disciples. When facing the Buddha there is an offering table on which was placed everything from water to money to candles to various kinds of food and drink.  Devotees will circumambulate the statue- always clockwise- in prayer.

Temples, whether old or new, had similar layouts to the shrines, except that in the temples the back wall contained the statuary and Buddha figures, along with pictures of the lamas of import for that monastery (usually the Dalai Lama and others). Benches for the monks to sit for prayer ceremonies extended out from the back wall and occupied the center of the room.   The walls are usually covered with iconography and flags and parasols (two Buddhist symbols) hang from the ceiling and along the structural support columns.  Buddhism branched out from Hinduism and thus there is some crossover in icons, terminology, and deities so the pictures and representations on the walls are complex and seeped in lore.  It can get really confusing really fast about who is representing what and why, for those of us not familiar.  Regardless, the artistry is amazing!

The large Buddha at Thiksey Monastery. (Or at least the top half of it, anyway!)

Thiksey Monastery temple. A good example of a typical temple (not all of the monasteries allow photos)

After visiting the temple and shrine to the big Buddha we went up onto the roof of one of the monastery buildings and had some great views of the surrounding valley including our next destination, the Shey Palace. The Shey Palace, built in originally in the 10th century but then rebuilt again in the 17th, was the residence of the royal family that ruled the kingdom of Ladakh.  They ruled until the mid-1800’s and are still resident in the region.  The palace complex is in a state of disrepair, despite some attempts at reconstruction, but the royal temple,  also hosting a two-story golden Buddha, is still in use by the family on special occasions.  (Several-story statues of Buddha are a thing I have run into in other Buddhist countries I have visited— not sure why this is a thing…)

We headed back to Leh and our hotel when we finished at the Shey Palace.  The Dalai Lama had arrived and was in his residence and the crowds had since dispersed although the roads themselves were lavishly decorated with banners and Buddhist flags strung from light post to light post and across the road in a very festive manner.  He will rest for a day or two before beginning his teachings, but unfortunately we will no longer be in Leh to attend. (Bummer!)

The Dalai Lama’s teaching ground in Leh. It is huge and it gets packed when he is present.

A little bit about the food.  I love Indian food- lots of vegetables and sauces and strong flavors and have been enjoying it greatly but for some reason our food theme seems to be “orange”.   Lunches and dinners seem to consist of various dishes with orange sauces, even though they all taste differently.  Some have vegetables, some have the Indian paneer cheese, some have chicken- but all are orange.  One evening there was one dish with the palak sauce (spinach) that I love so much.  The Dahl is also usually orange or a light brown.  It’s weird.  I have sampled them all, and they are all tasty but for dinner last night, which we had on our own, I went to find a restaurant where I could find something green!  Needless to say the bread has also been terrific.

My dinner view central Leh. The main square is just off to the right past the buildings.

And just to finish up with another example of the amazing scenery in this part of the world!