Woke up
with no headaches. Success!
This day
was spent on a relaxing tour in the area where we drive around to see three
major monasteries; Hemis, Thiksay and Shey. They were beautiful but otherwise
classical in their appearance. Imagine an average Buddhist temple in the
Himalayas, how it’s either perched on a top somewhere or almost molded into the
side of a mountain, and you’re pretty much spot on with how these looked.
The
interiors were beautifully painted with the usual Buddhist images. Some of the
paintings were so detailed that you could keep looking at them for an extended
time and keep seeing new small details popping up in the images.
On the
way home from the monasteries we came through the area of the Kalachakra.
People were now on their way home/back to their camps, and seeing most of
150.000 people leaving in one go was utter chaos. Massive traffic on small
roads (apparently they had diverted the “wrong” direction traffic around and
away so they could utilize the entire road for the one necessary direction),
several close encounters, large amounts of honking, dust and heat (long live
AC!) made it an interesting – or maybe even fun – experience to have had. But
thank god it was only that one time we had such chaotic traffic to navigate.
Coming
back we spent the rest of the afternoon in Leh before going to the hotel for
dinner.
Tomorrow
we will be leaving early to go to Khardung La at 5600m, which is the highest
drivable pass in the world, to force some acclimatization. We will be going by
cars up, but bikes will be brought with us which we will drive down back to the
hotel. We will likely be back around lunch time, so hopefully that means we
will have time to go out in the afternoon to see the last of the Kalachakra.
Hemis monastery.
Check out the details of the image!
This friendly fella (and his twin) was found at Thiksay monastery.
9 stupas with Thiksay monastery in the background.
Shey monastery.
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