Wed, May 17: Drive to Monasteries near Leh, Ladakh, India

This is our first real day of sightseeing in Ladakh as we headed out along the Indus River.  

The roads in this area of India are littered with very interesting signs admonishing people to drive with care.  Some are boring instructions but most often they are quite creative.

We saw a shepherd moving his flock of sheep...

and a woman in native dress walking along a path near the road.

We saw a lot more stupas, including our very first bright blue ones.

There were some villages in the distance, some with lush green vegetation.

And of course the gorgeous scenery continued for mile after mile.

The first really different area as a geological area called “Moonland”.  This was a heavily eroded area of sediment that, according to legend, used to be at the bottom of an ancient lake that covered the area.  It was very interesting and a little eerie.

Overlooking Moonland... 

is the Lamayuru Monastery.  The monastery buildings climbed up the side of the mountains and were very picturesque.  

The main temple was the Yungdrung Gompa that included a main prayer hall...

and a tiny side cave in which an 11^th century mystic meditated.  

There were also caves carved into the sides of the mountain, presumably for use by the monks for housing or meditation.  The monastery itself was very picturesque against the backdrop of the mountains.

It was rather fun exploring the walkways, stairs and nooks and crannies of the complex.  There were many interesting things to see...

and people to watch.

Today is a day for monasteries as we are off to see the next one, Alchi.  Along the way we saw many stupas...

including a very long line of them on the turn off to the monastery.

Alchi Monastery was built in the 11^th century.  There were a few very small temples and some very interesting detailing on the structures...

good views of the Indus but not much else.  

We did spy a Black-Billed Magpie that has some beautiful blue plumage.

On the way out for lunch we walked through a long street with stalls of vendors selling all types of trinkets.  We had lunch on the balcony of a small restaurant before heading out again.

The next stop was the Likir Monastery, one of the oldest in Ladakh and dating to the 11^th century.  Getting to it required driving down a fairly long valley with beautiful mountains on both sides.  It was also perched high on a hill...  

 with some awesome views of the mountains beyond...

and the farmlands below.

This Monastery was larger and more colorful than the other two we saw today.

The main hall and surrounding walls were particularly colorful...

The various Buddha's inside the buildings were also very colorful.

There was interesting details everywhere...

and there a very large Maitriya Golden Buddha.

Last sightseeing stop of the day was the Hall of Fame, a Museum that commemorated the rescue operations the Indian army performed during the large flood in 2010 and also the high-altitude battles with Pakistan during the 20^th century.  

The museum included an display of the native dress...    

a listing of the many the high passes in Ladakh...

and an interesting description of the agriculture in the area.

The day was actually very good except for the poor advice given by the local travel group that helped Tara put the tour together.  It turned out that our tour took us right by the hotel we had stayed at the night before.  So we got to experience that long stretch of road four times instead of two.  Sigh.  Fortunately the countryside is beautiful so it wasn’t a total loss.