places of interest in Leh. Notice Siachen Glacier on the top left? it's not very far from Leh. also, see Pangong Tso on top-right corner? we made a 2 days trip to that place.
a stroll on Leh road. this road goes to airport.
some girls. yes, jeans is a regular wear among Leh girls. however, they usually wear it with a traditional style kurta.
the same road. you can see Leh palace in the background.
view from our guest house..
thinking - "abhi itna upar aur jana hai?" :) our first climb to Shanti Stupa.
view of Leh from halfway through to Shanti Stupa. you can also see where the stairs start from.
this is the mantra - 'Om Mani Padme Hum', written in Ladakhi. This mantra is of greatest importance in Buddhism. you can search for it on wikipedia. btw, it's the same mantra that I am wearing on my t-shirt.
wow, see how high we have climbed up. we are close now.
Leh town from up there.
I didn't intend to use flash, but it has really come nice with flash.
This IS Shanti Stupa.
Shanti Stupa platform.
This is Shanti Stupa temple. Amazing place, fills you with a special kind of quietness and calmness.
This place lives up to it's name. It fills you with peace.
Auto-click magic. Pankaj and I.
Turning wheel of dharma. Written in Chinese and Ladakhi.
Inside Shanti Stupa temple. More pics of this temple will come later, from our second climb to this place.
This is Spituk Gompa (monastery in english). turning wheel is a way to offer prayers in Buddhism.
Another view of Spituk Gompa.
Spituk Gompa continued..
again..
the backside view from Gompa, a village.
another view, isn't it awesome? :)
these poles are also regular feature in Buddhism prayer places and even homes.
the thing that you see in the corner is a lock. these kinds of locks were used a lot in old Tibet
pic taken from Ladakhi market, highlight of the pic is Shanti Stupa again :)
Shankar Gompa. this gompa was near our guest house. about 30 min walk from our place.
a view while walking back to main market from Shankar Gompa.
this time with some noise in the form of Pankaj :)
this time in the form of Manu :)
another picturesque view
trying auto-click again. somehow none of our auto-clicked photographs came out good.
what do you see in this pic? yes, Shanti Stupa again :) we kind of loved that place.
guest house princess, our heroine :)
she is grand daughter of the owner of guest house.
ok, so we start our journey to Pangang Tso now. Tso means lake in Ladakhi. This place was on the way to Pangong Tso (or Pangong Lake).
It's interesting how villages look like a green patch amidst a desert.
Pankaj at some place on the way to Pangong.
some place near ChangLa
Pankaj with our Pangong express, a green color scorpio. What's written on his t-shirt? Tashi Delek in Ladakhi. Tashi Delek means Good Luck. :)
random pose. what's written on my t-shirt. I told you. Anyways, it's 'Om Mani Padme Hum'. Great buddhist mantra.
ok, so this is third highest pass of the world. we already met the second highest while coming to Leh from Manali. we didn't go to the highest, but it's not far from Leh.
pure beauty
beauty with some noise :)
Himank is a project of BRO (border road organization). These are the guys who build and maintain these roads. they are known for some really funny road signs - http://projecthimalaya.com/gallery-himank.html
Chang La baba temple. Army people here believe a lot in this temple. It had lord shiva's statue inside (not sure though, we could not look inside because it was too dark).
Himalayan Marmot. The local people here (mostly military men are the local people in these places) call them himalayan chuha (mouse). This is also the place where we met an army guy from Itawa (UP). We talked to him a bit. He told us how the weather is too unpredictable here. It can snow any time.
now the real Himalayan Marmot, posing for us. can you find it?
mountain stream. this is the place where we took breakfast break.
Jonah, Anjali and Pankaj. We shared our trip with Jonah and Anjali. Total cost - 5200. We paid 50%, i.e. 2600 out of it.
Posing like a winner? :) yeah, it feels almost like that. fresh air, fresh climate make you feel all new.
Pankaj in style again :)
auto-click magic. nice photograph, huh?
we are still at the same place :)
what's written on that stone? it's 'Om Mani Padme Hum' again.
lots and lots of mountain sheep.
first view of world famous pangong lake.
Me, Jonah and Anjali on Pangong shore. This lake is known for it's ever changing colors. It feels just amazing to be there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangong_lake.
It's at Indo-China border. 1/3 of the lake is in India, 2/3 in China.
The 1962 Indo-China war was fought here.
mountains far far away are in China.
Pankaj, with Pangong :)
a way of saying 'Tashi Delek' or Good Luck? :)
we threw stones in the lake for a long time. I kinda learned skipping stones there. and also the funda behind it :)
look at the variety of colors in mountains.
from up close to water.
observe how color changes in the next photograph..
see
again, a close-up of water.
water was so so clear. you could see the stones below from anywhere.
beautiful. this lake was magnificent. I still can't figure out what made it so beautiful. peace? may be. there were just 4 of us (and our driver). nobody else for a long long distance.
or, this place just has some hidden power? some inexplicable power
Pankaj and I. We asked a guy, who came later on a motorbike, to take our pic.
He took 2 :)
what do I say now? see for youself :)
again
and again.. see how dark water suddenly becomes with clouds.
our reflections.
you can see the snow caped mountains on the right
Auto-click :)
pankaj clicking me, you can see his shadow :)
Again, mountains that you see at the far end are in China
another one using auto-click. good photograph.
time for some yoga :) ... nay not really, just posing ;)
Pankaj got inspired. :)
It's easier while sitting, so..
It's about 6 pm.
Me climbing back to the road. Sadly the time to go back.
This is Tangse. We decided to take a halt in Tangse while going back. Tangse is about 2 hours from Pangong Lake. This village also has some memories of 1962 Indo-China war.
Children playing cricket on the road. Anjali is kinda surprised by the flash :) We are sitting here to wait for the guest house keeper. He had gone to army camp, only place to have any kind of phone, to call his relative.
beginning of the night in Tangse. see the moon at the top of the mountains and twilight coming from behind the mountains.
twilight again :)
Tangse morning. very beautiful morning. some people washing their utensils. Tangse is a very small village. About 50 houses would be there.
Tangse Metro. Probably something like a mini theater. Interesting thing is that the message is written in Hindi :) Not many people in Ladakh understand Hindi.
Me, sitting on a short wall. the climate was amazing of this place. everything felt so fresh there.
Kids in Tangse. They are going to school :)
haha. this is one pic I like. Kids getting on to the jeep. :)
then they waved, and we waved too :)
standing on the wall. Now, I can only remember how fresh that morning was.
Pankaj, as always in a happy mood :)
a view of Tangse.
another group of kids. The adult guy here, he talked a lot. He hardly understood hindi though :)
this kid was so cute. :)
again :)
she is the lady in whose we stayed for the night. she charged 300/- for a double bed room for a night. pretty cheap actually. she also cooked our dinner and breakfast (charged separately) .. one thing, I fondly remember is how happy she was when we gave her the tip.
mountain stream again :) I love them.
Herd of Yak. Yak is a useful animal in mountains. Milk, wool, bone -- everything is used.
Yaks again. Nomads herd them.
Flying colors at Chang La temple. :)
Two mountains meeting each other at the ground. I like these kind of photographs.
Can you see the construction workers on the road below?
This is Indus river or, sindhu nadi in hindi :)
we are back now. we got a different room this time. this is the view from our room in guest house.
ditto.
I can't recall where is this photograph taken from.
another view from our room. it was very windy at that time. trees can tell you that.
yes, we played table tenis a bit there.
our princess once again. other man is her grandfather, owner of the guest house.
she again. of course she is busy playing. :)
3 generations - princess, her mother, and grandfather.
in the wilds now :)
she is cute, isn't she? :)
wind chimes, they make really beautiful sounds in guest house garden.
view from guest house again.
princess with her uncle. This guy, Tani, is studying in Chandigarh university. He comes to guest house only in holidays.
Next morning. See the paintings on the wall? They are very expensive. They are hand painted and take more than 3 months to complete.
Paintings without any noise :)
We went to Shanti Stupa again. As I said, we loved this place. It was really peace temple.
Taking a break during climbing. You have to take about 4-5 breaks during the climb, no matter how fit you are. There are about 500 steps to climb to reach there.
You can see that it's raining in the mountains on the other side.
Kinda storm. And, it was coming our way.
finally Shanti Stupa again, the magical place.
View of Leh from Shanti Stupa.
Pankaj with Leh in background.
my turn now :)
one more please :)
we together.
it was wonderful. while sitting there, you don't feel anything, and you feel everything. you feel the power of space around you. I remember singing 'trying to find...trying to find, where I have been' of Kashmir by Led Zeppelin there.
2 greatest hitchhikers of the galaxy :)
lot of me, nah?
View of Leh again :)
Welcome to Shanti Stupa temple :)
Buddha statue inside the temple.
This place has something in it. You feel totally relaxed once inside this temple.
Lot of hand painting and other arts.
This painting alone might have costed in Lacs.
Bells on the roof. These bells make beautiful sounds. :)
View from outside the temple.
another view.
Happy Pankaj :)
Shanti Stupa temple from outside.
Buddha statue at Shanti Stupa.
Pankaj and I. Auto-click again.
These sculptures were all around the walls of Shanti Stupa. They show different stages in Buddha's life. This shows 'defeating the devils'.
Birth.
Nirvana.
Photographs of the roof. See how beautifully painted it is.
Leh palace. Used to be a palace actually :) After seeing the palace Pankaj said - "lagta hai raja saab bahut gareeb the (It seems that the king was pretty poor)" .. haha :)
My turn :) One memory - the road to this place went through some poor, backward and not so clean areas. These areas were populated by Muslims mostly. Interestingly, the lady who showed us the way spoke very clear hindi.
View of Leh town from Leh Palace.
Another view. In this you can see the wold's highest polo ground.
Shanti Stupa again. This time from Leh palace :)
some random view, still from Leh palace.
