People who love travelling are always on a lookout for destinations that will offer them loads of opportunity to explore as well as enjoy. I am one such person who never misses a chance to visit a new place. Till date, the places that I have visited have been diverse and colourful, from the golden deserts of Rajasthan to the silvery beaches of Goa, from the green backwaters of Kerala to the red sandstone historic buildings of Delhi itself (I am based in Delhi by the way).

Visiting all these places have been special, but one trip that is still etched in my memory was the one to Ladakh. It was around two years back when I realised that though I had visited some of the most beautiful places in India, I missed out on the spectacular beauty of Ladakh. The urge to capture Ladakh’s beauty in my camera grew as I planned my trip meticulously. My travel agent in Delhi, who I knew for years now, helped in every possible way. He got in touch with his contacts in Leh and made arrangements on my behalf.


Reaching Leh
On the scheduled day, I boarded a flight to Leh and was received upon arrival by the representative of my travel agent. He was a person in his middle ages and seemed extremely knowledgeable about the area. I was glad that I had such a person as my guide and companion. Travelling alone was not in the least desirable. He took me to a hotel which was in the town itself. The owner himself received me. This was a wonderful act of courtsey and warmth. Later, my guide informed me that it was not unusual to find owners behind the front desk of many hotels, the hospitality and personalised services here was unmatched in other parts of the country.


Acclimatisation
I was given a comfortable room and told to rest. My guide, then left me in the hotel with a friendly advise to rest. Leh is a high altitude area and it is extremely important to acclimatise well before starting an exploration of the area. Of course, there are people who do not take time to adjust to the lower atmospheric pressure, but since I did not wish to spoil my trip, I followed the instruction to rest for a couple of days like an obedient child.

However, these two days were, what I love to call, enlightening. I spoke to local Ladakhi people and came to know that around 50 percent of the people in Ladakh (90 percent in Leh district) are Buddhists and heavily influenced by the Tibetan Buddhism. This form of Buddhism is known as Lamaism. A number of monasteries stand at fascinating locales of Ladakh region and a whole lot of them celebrate annual festival that are striking. Apart from these, I gained a lot of knowledge about the local customs and traditions of the Buddhists in Ladakh.

I now knew that apart from the striking beauty of the area, the distinct culture of Buddhists was going to be the highlight of my trip.

Exploring Monasteries Around Leh
I was more than happy when I learnt that my guide had arranged for a visit to the monasteries of Leh region. From Leh, there are two routes along which nearly all the monasteries of the region are located. The first route took me on a visit to Shey, Thiksey, Stakna, Matho, Chemrey, Takthok and Hemis while the second one to Spituk, Phyang, Likir, Alchi, Ridzong and Lamayuru. We spent almost two days to complete a trip to all these monasteries.

The first day, on a hired taxi, we set out quiet early to reach Thiksey monastery. We skipped Shey gompa just because we wanted to be a part of the early morning prayer ceremony of the Thiksey monastery. The monastery which is around 17 km from Leh, has its prayer at 6 am. We took part in the prayers along with a number of monks, who I noticed were within an age group of six to sixty years. The monastery itself was very beautiful. It housed a 15 m tall statue of the Buddha which was made at the orders of the Dalai Lama. Hemis monastery is known all over the country for its annual festival, but despite taking a trip to Ladakh, I missed out being a part of it for the simple reason that it had passed of just few weeks before. So, I had to contend with a round of exploration of the monastery. There was a huge gilded image of Shakyamuni or the historical Buddha and a statue of the founder of the monastery, Stagshang Raspa.The paintings, murals and statues of Stakna, Chemrey, Takthok and Matho also caught my attention. On the way back to the hotel, we visited the Shey gompa as well.

The second day too was spent exploring the monasteries around Leh on the other route. One of the most impressive this time for me was the Phyang gompa with its hundereds of wooden and bronze statues of Buddhist gods and goddesses. The Phyang Museum and the Lake were the other highlights of this monastery. The architecture of Sum-tsek, a three storey high temple of the Alchi Monastery, my guide told me, was unparalleled in the entire Himalayan region. The three giant figures of four armed bodhisattvas were extremely attractive here. What was little uncomfortable, however, was the lack of electric light within the Alchi complex. We had to carry our flashlight. Photography, too, was not permitted. My guide told me that it was extremely important to follow the rules and regulation regarding photography in Ladakh monasteries.

Lamayuru monastery was the last monastery that we visited on our second day. This is one of the earliest existing monasteries in Ladakh. A monk of the monastery took us around and showed the Naropa Cave, the place of meditation of a Kashmiri yogi of the same name. The complex also had a life size image of Vairacona Buddha. That night, we stayed at Lamayuru and the next morning proceeded towards Kargil.


Kargil And Rangdum
What was instantly noticeable was the change of landscape which was till now barren, it now gave way to lush green fertile land. We drove to Mulbekh, which is 51 km from Lamayuru and then proceeded to Kargil, 47 km away. Kargil, itself, was not an impressive place but we stayed there at night.

Next morning, we restarted our journey and covered a distance of 130 km to reach Rangdum monastery. Enroute we, saw the mighty Nun and Kun massif that are amongst the most difficult to ascend peaks of Ladakh. The Rangdum monastery appeared more like a fort to me. The central prayer hall here was the prime attraction. The area around Rangdum was very beautiful so we spent the remaining hours of the day exploring them. The local people were willing to talk about their culture and lives and showed us the area around the monastery. It was a great time as I got an opportunity to click several photographs.


Padum And the Monasteries Around It
The next morning, we headed for Padum, 110 km away. It took us around 6 hours to reach there. We checked into the hotel on arrival and spent the rest of the day roaming around. Padum also has some worthvisiting monasteries around, so we spent a major part of our two stay here in exploring them. The most important ones that we visited were Zangla, Karsha , Sani and Tongde monastery. The first has the distinction of being the largest monastery of the Gelugpa order while the latter is counted amongst eight holy spots for Buddhists.

Return Journey
My trip to Ladakh was drawing to a close. On the tenth day of my trip, I headed back to Kargil and then proceeded to Srinagar covering a total distance of 465 km. All through my return journey, I kept on thinking about my next trip to region. Despite spending so many days, I somehow felt that there was a lot more to discover. I knew needed to come back to see and know more. For now, however, I had explored a considerable portion. And then, clicking photographs of the landscape and people, which had initially drawn me to the place, was well fulfilled. I now had snaps that could well make up an entire album.

From Srinagar, I caught a flight back to Delhi with memories that, after two years, are still fresh.

Jayant, Delhi, India