Monastery Visits

Leh Sunday 25 July 2010 7:45am

I walked towards the bottom end of Leh early this morning. Among the interesting things I saw was a Montessori School, several packs of dogs, a few cows and a couple of donkeys. One of the donkeys was obviously pregnant. I t was wanting to go down to the river but one of the local dogs was very intent on rounding it up an stopping it from moving that way. When I returned 10 minutes later the dog was asleep and the donkey had got to the stream.

I'm anxious about not having heard anything from the trekking company. I was very curt with the waiter when he asked me what time I wanted breakfast this morning - how can I answer the question when I don't know what time the monastery trip today is. When I look at the other groups at the hotel getting briefings from their guides I wonder why I'm not having one - but they are European guides and I'm doing it the Indian way. While in many ways it is a blessing my phone doesn't work here it would be nice to be able to ring the travel agency and ask what is going on.

Leh 6:30pm
The briefing (and my god was it brief) has finally happened. Mike who is a travel agent from Delhi and doing a different trek rang the manager of the trekking company and put a bomb under them. It turns out I am in a party of 1 (plus guide/cook, horseman and 3 horses) which is really what I wanted.

Today I did the monastery tour with Caroline from Paisley, Mike from Delhi and Maresha from Mumbai who will be climbing Stok Kranze. It is not a technical climb but does involve a night climb to the summit (6400m) over an ice field. I thought a bit about going them on their trip but it is tougher than I'm sure I can manage.

The trip was to leave at 9:30am. I went up to my room at 9:25am to use the toilet and when I got downstairs at 9:29 they had gone without me. About 30 minutes later a taxi turned up an took me about 5km down the road where the rest of the party were waiting for me.

The morning was spent visiting the monasteries at Shey, Thiksey and Hemis. These monasteries are 17th and 18th century. Thiksey was closed for the day was the Dalai Lama is visiting a monastery about 100km away and the monks have gone to hear the Dalai Lama. Thiksey is reputed to have the best restaurant in Ladakh but I didn't get to try it.

At Shey a lot of families were visiting. It seems it is important for even small children to walk up all the steps to the monastery. One family was making very slow progress with one parent holding each hand of a toddler who kept lifting his feet off the ground. They very patiently waited for the feet to go back own. At the progress I saw I think it would take about 2 hours to get up all the steps.

The monasteries all charge admission - that would be their major income. Shoes come off inside the temple but are allowed in other parts of the monastery. There was a great deal of food and money being placed before the Buddha in the Shey temple as well as the usual offering of incense. In another room oil lamps were being lit. People bring oil (cooking oil) with them an pour it into the lamps which are giant saucers with a candle floating in them. The candle looks like an ordinary wax candle to me but somehow it manages to heat and burn the oil it is floating in.

Hemis is up a very steep very narrow road climbing for about 5km from the Hydro Electric scheme at Mattserling. It is much bigger than the other monastries. It has a museum in which photography is prohibited. As well housing every day items like knives, tea bottles and locks - all rather old - it also has scrolls several hundred years old which contain orders for the running of the monastery. They are beautiful - brightly coloured silk with black hand writing.

The others had been to Nepal or Ladakh before and were raving about Momos -steamed dumplings which are a traditional Tibetan recipe. We went to a Tibetan restaurant in Leh for lunch. It was a holy day so only vegetarian food was being served so I got vege momos rather than meat ones. After lunch we went top Spituk monastery. I thought this monastery was rather ordinary inside but the setting is stunning. It is perched on top of the rocks on a bend in the Indus River. It looks out over the valley for miles both up and down stream. My trek will start tomorrow at the bridge below the monastery and I could see the dry sandy river terraces that will be the first few hours of my trek.

I had a long debate about packing a sleeping bag. It wasn't on the gear list but I was sure I would nee one and there was room in my bag. In the finish I left it out because I was 10kg over weight limit. I am now hiring one from a local gear hire company (As it turned out this was for the best as my own sleeping bag would not have been warm enough at 4500m).

I have repacked everything into plastic bags inside the pack liner bag inside the duffel bag. I think it will stay dry in the unlikely case of rain. I have also weeded out some things I won't need. I went across the road to the Tibetan goods shop and bought a small bag to put these things in. The power was off again and it was only after I got back to the hotel which has a generator I realise how rusty the buckles are.

Leh 8:30pm
The fun of getting cash in small towns. The hotel does not accept Visa and wants me to pay for my meals before leaving for the trek. I have also bought a guide book from the hotel and i on't have enough cash to cover the bill. There are 2 ATMs in Leh. One is in the State Bank of India (a government department) and is only available during bank opening hours. The other at J&K (Jammu & Kashmir) Bank is out of order. I went to Western Union to get a cash avance on my credit car but they wanted my passport. So it was back to the hotel to get to the passport an then back to Western Union. What I thought woul take 20 minutes was over an hour.