Heaven on Earth

Have you seen heaven on earth? I have !

  

 

....arid mountain breeze, picture-perfect Gompas, colourful prayer flags enfolds this magical land of 'High-passes'.
Like many, I too am a travel enthusiast and Leh-Ladakh has been amongst the top places in my travel bucket list and finally in the fall of 2013 I visited this intriguing, 'freezing high barren landscape'. Yes, this was my first impression as I got down at Leh airport.
There are many ways to reach Leh, most starting from Delhi, So my sister & I flew from chennai to Delhi and yes, unfortunately we chose the boring & the easiest one, the daily morning flight from Delhi to Leh.

This is one place to where one cannot just pack a bag & leave. We were warned to give acclimatization utmost importance and factor in day 1 just for that. We had to start taking Diamox tablets 2-3 days prior to our trip to aid acclimatization and treat altitude sickness like nausea, breathlessness etc...along with this good SPF sunscreen is a must.

First Sight as you come out of the airport

As we got out of the airport, we were received with a placard, warm smile & friendly hello :) ....these 2 attributes were something we got to see throughout our trip, people of Ladakh are very friendly & content, we city dwellers can learn these qualities from them.

From here we were taken straight to our accommodation, we stayed at Hotel Tso-kar on Fort road, my sister was keen on a place closer to the countryside but i managed to convince her that we should stay near the market...attributes of a born "shopaholic". 

As advised or rather ordered after a light breakfast we slept the rest of the day off, also thanks to the long journey from Chennai to Leh.

Hotel Tso-Kar 

That evening we explored the area around our hotel & shopped a little at the Tibetan refugee market...the colourful red & turquoise set in Tibetan silver jewelry are very hard to resist...asked around & made plans for the next day..oh I also made a friend, a fellow jewelry designer, a native but works out of London and has a shop in Leh during the summer.

Day 2 was dedicated to the rich artistic creations of the Buddhist ex-Kingdom. Our hotel manager sweetly made all the sightseeing arrangements & permits required & also gave us a great deal :-D

We started to Alchi Monastery, en route our first stop was "Kargil Hall of Fame", do I need to say more...

 

Hall of Fame

View from Hall of Fame

Our next stop was the 'Pathar Sahib Gurudwara' - 

After a peek at the Magnetic Hill ( I still think it was gravity) we finally headed to Alchi Monastery/Alchi village, one of the oldest monasteries in Ladakh situated on the banks of river Indus, know for it well preserved wall paintings. Our next stop was Likhir monastery.

Alchi wall painting 

Alchi Monastery

Indus  from Alchi

Mane/prayer wheels - Alchi

           

Likhir Monastery

Likhir Monastery

Likhir Monastery

                     

           Future Buddha - Likhir 

       

The next day early in the morning we set out to the famed Pangong Lake, after a few hours across steep uphills & very rocky roads the view we got to see made it all absolutely worth it..I just cannot explain the magnificence of what we saw in words, nor can picture capture the magnanimity of this splendor. We were told, true essence of this place can be got only if we camped there at night, unfortunately for which we had no time. But for the few hours we spent there itself we got to see many shades the sparkling water camouflaged into. 

 

 

 

3 idiots climax scene location

Changla-pass, Sangam (the spot where River Indus & Zanskar meet),  glaciers, greenery & water that follows you everywhere are other things we got to see en route. Unlike many places in India,people of Ladakh surely understand the value of water & know how not to abuse it. We also saw a mountain of multani mitti, of course multani mud trafficking happened.

Our last day at Leh was spent in leisure, while my sister decided to hire a scooter & visit more monasteries like Thiksey, Hemis, Shey & Shanti stupe; I spent a lazy day exploring the market & picking up souvenirs.

 

Sangam of Indus & Zanskar

 

 

Shanti Stupa

 

Thiksey Monastery

Future Buddha - Thiksey

In our excitement to visit Leh, we did not realize that out of our 5 days trip, 2 days actually goes off in getting to & from Leh, so we actually have only 3 days there, one will need a minimum of 5-6 days in Leh. So we did not get to visit Nubra Valley, camp at Pangong or ride up Khardung-La - the highest motorable road. 

This is a place one can never get bored of how many ever times they visit...so I might go again & may be next time around I will choose to take a road-trip from Manali to Leh!