Manali to Leh by Cycle 2 : Keylong to Sarchu

day 7 (around leh) : thikse monastery (jul 15)

After reaching Leh, we decided Saumyen would be taking rest while M N and I would cycle up to explore Thiksey monastery.

mahabodhi intl meditation center (off the route). amit turning prayer wheel at a village outside leh

mohua thiksey monastery g. 3 kids below the monastery

the approach climb to thiksey. mohua can be seen. nandini "the moutain goat" has already reached (of course).

lamps lit up. black white face alingana w shakti

mohua nandini at a ledge overlooking the country surrounding thiksey. mohua nandini amit: doorway: g

lama trainees being given sweets

thiksey, like many monasteries, has a formidable fortress-like appearance; clearly these monasteries were also centers of military power in medieval times.

nandini mohua on the route to the Shey monstery. mohua - helmeted for prayers? stone pile - mani stones. adding a stone to the top brings good fortune.

mohua at choglamsar. indus (looking downstream towards leh) from choglamsar bridge

day 8 - phiyang monastery and zanskar confluence

We found out that the nearby monastery at Phiyang would be holding its annual festival on July 17. These are spectacular affairs with masked dances throughout the day, so we set off early in the morning - the plan was to also explore the zanskar-indus sangam - a roundtrip of about 70km.

As we were entering Phiyang, there was a masked dance coming to an end. Crowds lined every inch of the courtyard, and the balconies above. Foreign tourists far outnumbered desis. After some Tibetan yak milk tea we went on a tour of the monastery. Fortunately, another dance started up soon enough.

as far as we could understand, the masks are supposed to depict the face of evil, to invoke fear and thereby exorcising the actual evil around us.

Phiyang is a relatively small monastery in the Kagyu order. There are about 50 monks, and they take turns doing the dances, which can be quite exhausting. The masks are all made in the monastery itself. The dances, which are part of a tantric rite many centuries old, fully deserve their reputation as an amazing spectacle.

phiyang tsedup masked dance.
mohua saumyen nandini beside the ancient wood-reinforced mud walls of the monastery.

dance with long pipes (dungchen). monk musicians

After spending about three hours at Phiyang, we set off for the zanskar...

zanskar-indus confluence. indus at the bottom flowing in from left; zanskar coming down from the top. mohua nandini - amit the photographer [photo by saumyen]

nandini: revelling in zanskar mud

day 9 - pangong lake (by car, jul 18)

the sun was just hitting the peaks as we were leaving. nandini and mohua looked longingly at stok kangri, the peak they were planning to climb...

we pass by the thiksey monastery while going. stuk nA gompa - while coming back.

we ran into this himalayan marmot dozing on a rock. as soon as we stopped the car and were getting out our cameras, he woke up and walked off. was lucky to get this shot.

Two different blues: saumyen. chorten of stones

lizard

mohua smile. mohua saumyen nandini am: pangong

gull brown headed

this is the son of the owners of our lunch halt at pangong. saumyen amit high 5 in the blue waters

marmot. pashmina goats

mohua bent. nandini horizontal

up close and personal with the yak named "thow". nandini mohua saumyen am: chang la touristy

To end the trip, we had a celebratory dinner at an italian resturant. saumyen even managed to find a french red wine at the local booze hub. at the italian "wood-fired pizza" restaurant - il forno.

* page I: day 0-1: [manali-leh trip homepage]
* page II: day 2-3: [keylong-patseo-sarchu]
* page III: day 4-6: [sarchu-brandy nala-tso kar-leh]

[bumpy trails bicyclists homepage]

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