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In and Around Leh

In and Around Leh

Leh Palace-Tsemo Gompa-Sankar Gompa Having toured Ladakh valley, it’s time to explore Leh and its surrounds. This tour involves some stiff climbing, and is best left to last—the two earlier jeep excursions should have comfortably acclimatised you to high-altitude walking. In Leh town, walk to the end of the main street, head up the alley …

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Summary : Having toured Ladakh valley, it's time to explore Leh and its surrounds.

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Leh Palace-Tsemo Gompa-Sankar Gompa
Having toured Ladakh valley, it’s time to explore Leh and its surrounds. This tour involves some stiff climbing, and is best left to last—the two earlier jeep excursions should have comfortably acclimatised you to high-altitude walking.

In Leh town, walk to the end of the main street, head up the alley by Tibetan Crown Curios (overlooking the market square), and follow the trail all the way up to Leh Khar Palace (15 minutes). Situated atop Tsemo Hill, overlooking the town like a silent sentinel, this is the old palace of the kings of Ladakh, and was built in the mid-16th century by King Singe Namgyal. It has never been the same since the Kashmiris shelled it in 1815—which was soon after the royal family moved down to Stok (the royals still live at Stok palace). This bombardment inflicted heavy damage on the towering eight-storey palace, and left lots of holes in the floors for tourists to fall down. For this reason, you’ll only be shown a few bottom-section rooms.

These house a three-headed Buddha with 1000 arms, a 700-year-old image of Avalokitesvara (an important disciple of Buddha), Hindu figures such as Kali and Durga, some 600-year-old thangkas, and an assortment of dead antelope masks. The palace is open 6 to 9 am, 5 to 8 pm, and if the resident monk is out shopping you need only knock on the door and cough a bit for an enterprising young tout to let you in. After cursory tour of the palace, he’ll direct you to the courtyard below, where a nodding lama bangs drums, clangs cymbals, and intones everlasting prayers without drawing br eath

.This is undoubtedly impressive, and you may wish to give a donation. But, bed warned, this will encourage your guide to lead a lung-wrenching assault on Tsemo H 11—guiding you at breakneck speed up to Tsemo Gompa, above the palace. His favourite wheeze, if no more ‘donations’ are forthcoming, is to leave you a crippled w eck at the top. But don’t worry; it’s actually far easier to get down again than it looks. The gompa itself was built in 1430, and contains a fine three-storey seated Br ddha. It is open only from 7 am to 10 am. The main reason for climbing up here (2 minutes from the palace, if fit) are the views. From the top, you can see right ac oss the valley, and down into Leh town. Photography is generally best in the early morning or late afternoon, when there is least glare.

lack in Leh, take a pleasant half-hour (3-km, 1 3/4-mile) stroll—past Ali Shah’s Postcard Shop, turning left at Antelope Guest House, and up to Sankar Gompa. This is c fairly active monastery, inhabited by some 20 monks of the Gelugpa or yellow-hat sect. You’ll probably be shown only three rooms. One has an impressive figure of the 1000-armed, 1000-headed Avalokitesvara; another has a Tara. There are fine views over the valley from the roofs, and if you arrive at 6.30 am you may catch the monks Wring mournful trumpets to summon fellow lamas to prayer. The best time to visit, however, is the early evening (5-7 pm) when the well-run, well-lit monastery lays on efreshments for visitors.

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