Ladakh trip: Day 10 (19-Jun)

While the bed was admittedly comfortable, getting up required quite a bit of courage, since the whole massive tent sleeping experience just doesn’t make that much sense when it’s this cold. Staying only one night, I still appreciated the novelty, but I wouldn’t recommend it for a longer stay.

After a quick breakfast, we were off to Diskit monastery (yellow hat sect) complex, arriving at around 8:30 AM. It was drizzling for most of the visit, but it was still possible to get around alright. Most visitors to the complex just go to see this one large statue, but Dawa took me up to the actual temple area. It was good that I had him with me, since otherwise I would have thought that the space was closed.

When visiting the earlier monastery, I had not fully understood a lot of the basic information, so I appreciated Dawa being there to explain more. This monastery was actually founded in the 14th century, but much of the current complex is either restoration or even fairly modern buildings. However, the actual temple area is the oldest section of the complex.

This depiction which is found near the entrance to most older Buddhist temples is NOT as I had earlier thought a representation of different sections of hell, but rather a representation of the six different realms in which humans can live. Interestingly enough, in the most advanced realm, humans essentially live as “deities” but they still are not “enlightened”. It is only after one is enlightened that one can leave the cycle of death and rebirth.

Also found at the entrance to most temples are the four guardians, deities who originally opposed Buddha, but with time came to be defenders. They correspond to the four cardinal directions.

I didn’t actually take any pictures in the main temple building, because there was a big sign saying all photos were prohibited. Normally, since I’m not using a flash, I would have taken pictures anyways as long as nobody was worshipping, but Dawa was with me and he is obviously a devout Buddhist, and I didn’t want to cause offense. Still, if you do get a chance to see the temple room, it really is quite different from others which I’ve visited, and in particular if you have a decent guide, it’s definitely worth visiting.

Very near to the temple is the prayer room. While it’s not near as packed as the temple, it’s very beautiful. Again, ideally you would visit this with a guide. Dawa, was more than willing to go into great detail about everything, but I was already a bit overwhelmed, so I don’t remember most of the details.

After spending some time in the prayer room, we walked back down to the car. Clearly much of this area was currently in the process of being restored; whereas, other sections were similarly in need of the same. As we were very high up, there were excellent views of the surrounding area.

I wasn’t especially keen to head over to see the massive statue of a crowned Buddha, but we were already here, so I figured may as well have the whole experience.

It’s hard to appreciate in the picture, but this was clearly a monk off in the distance taking selfies.

This statue, which faces Pakistan was supposedly built to promote peace between India and Pakistan. I couldn’t help thinking that it might actually be counter productive to a peace process. Does a Muslim majority (overwhelming) country really see a huge statue of what for them is an idol, facing them, to be a gesture of peace?

By 10:10 AM we were headed towards Pangong Lake area. Thankfully the road, at least starting out, was not at all crowded and the weather was clear despite the rain from earlier in the day.

It’s hard to appreciate here, but the wall on the walkway headed up to the statue was full of various stacks of rocks which had been left by visitors.

I had hopes that the road would be like this all the way to Pangong.

At 11:20 AM, we hit backed up traffic again. Thankfully this was cleared up by 11:45, and we once again continued on through winding roads, which frequently were in rather good condition, but at seemingly random spots, the pavement would suddenly disappear and it would be all rocks with no obvious sign where one was actually supposed to drive.

At 1:40 PM we ostensibly stopped for a simple lunch, but more importantly Dawa was a bit concerned about the tires, so he took the car for a quick checkup. Here there was also another security checkpoint; I know, it all seemed a bit excessive and bureaucratic, but fortunately Dawa handled everything. Lunch itself could have been worse, but certainly it was nothing to mention beyond that.

By 2:15, we were once again on the road. The mechanic had indicated that yes, some work needed to be done before heading back up a mountain, but we could wait until reaching our final destination. The road here seemed to be in excellent condition, and driving was easy. Of course, there were the ever present mountain peaks in the background.

Finally at 3:25 PM we arrived to Pangong Lake. I had been warned that since the day was overcast, the lake would not look as spectacular as when it was sunny, so one should probably remember that as it relates to my comments. Yes, it was very pretty, and yes the water was crystal clear. However, I honestly thought it was a bit overrated, especially when considering just how hard it was to reach. Furthermore, civilians aren’t allowed to enter the lake, not even in a paddle boat or a row boat, so there just wasn’t much to do. So, should you go? I guess that depends on how much you like looking at lakes and how much time you are willing to spend to get there.

I did rather like these small bunches of flowers growing in the Sandy soil near the lake.

It was rather windy with a temperature of about 3 degrees Celsius (37 F) and my face was so cold I couldn’t really feel it anymore, so that also contributed to my less than ultra enthusiastic appraisal of the lake

There were at least a couple hundred visitors to this particular section of the lake, but as it really is very large, it was easy to find an area far away from everyone else and walk peacefully along the shore.

Yes, I am still happy that I visited the lake area. It IS nice, but I was certainly ready to leave after about twenty-five minutes. Other people seem to really love it and about 500 meters away from the shore there are several tent camps which from the outside appeared to be similar to where I had stayed the night before.

At 5:00 PM we arrived to Tangtse village. This is where Dawa grew up, and his parents still live there and have a homestay.

The kitchen seems to be the main social area of Ladakhi homes. There was a separate large sitting room, but I said I preferred to be with them where they would normally visit as a family. This made sense since I was the only outside visitor at this time.

Dawa’s aunt was washing some clothes in the mini canal next to the house. Most of the water was currently being diverted to nearby crops.

My bedroom was more than adequate with plenty of natural light.

Dawa needed to take the car to the mechanic, so after about twenty minutes, I decided to go out walking on my own to explore both the surrounding immediate countryside and then the village itself.

I absolutely adored the picturesque stream which flowed nearby, so I decided to just walk along it for some time to see what could be discovered.

The picture doesn’t do this pony justice.

There was a large rock formation next to the stream, and it had sort of a natural path that went on for about twenty meters

A view of the local monastery in the distance. Dawa said his mother would be happy to go with me, but I said I preferred to appreciate the town itself and the surrounding nature.

I then decided to turn around and head towards the actual village. I was really glad to be here. The earlier villages I had visited, while no doubt authentic, sort of seemed like romanticized attempts to hold onto the past. This village certainly still had its obvious historical influences, but I suspected that it was actually more representative of what most modern Ladakhi people hope to have. Of course this is my purely personal interpretation.

The entrance to what appeared to be a very nice and modern local government clinic

At 6:50 PM I headed back to the house. I had been a bit surprised to not see a school, since the village seemed quite large, but maybe I just missed it. Also, I was only exploring along the main road, so there was a lot left unseen. I wanted to see more, but it was really too cold for me to still be out walking, especially with the wind, but then I thought to use my surgical mask along with my ear cover and hat. This actually helped a lot.

Almost as I reached the house, I was very excited to finally get a close look at a sort of large black and white bird which I had several times seen from a distance in Ladakh. According to Dawa, it’s a Magpie. I had previously heard the name, but this was the first time I had really ever seen one.

I was back inside by 7:30 PM and ended up watching two hours of NHK World, which they had clearly chosen for my benefit rather than their own. I’m not sure why they thought that would be entertaining (Maybe because it was in English?), but I will admit that I learned quite a lot about “fresh freezing” and bottled green tea. There was also a bit of world news, but the “best Japanese inventions” section was way more interesting.

For a while I tried to keep being polite when Dawa’s mom kept refilling my cup with butter tea, but after refill #4, I just turned the cup upside down and placed it behind me. Anything less, and she just refused my polite protestations and hand gestures of “no thank you”. Since customs around offering and receiving drinks/food seem to differ so much from place to place, maybe we should all institute the practice of giving a short instructional card before someone enters a house. What do you think?

Dinner itself was simple but tasty. The company was wonderful.

As soon as I finished dinner, eating before everyone else because I was obviously very tired, I headed straight off to bed. It was 9:45 PM. I’m not really sure when everyone else ate, but dinner here, like in much of India seems to be eaten rather later than what is the norm for me.

As I stumbled towards the bedroom, Dawa warned me that the road back to Leh might be a bit tiresome since more rain and snow was expected that night, but he assured me that there would still be a way to get me back to Leh with plenty of time for me to get ready to leave the morning of the 21st. I wasn’t really sure how things would turn out, but I was completely certain that the next day would bring plenty more interesting experiences.