After acclimatization on Day 1, our journey on Day 2 started on bike. We explored places within Leh on our own. We asked locals for directions and one of them was kind enough to lead us to Leh Palace by himself(though my husband initially suspected that he was going to kidnap us because of the narrow shortcut roads the stranger lead us to). We visited
Shanti Stupa, Leh Palace, Hall of Fame and Spituk Monastery on Day 2.
Shanti Stupa:
Shanti Stupa was built as a symbol of
peace(Peace Pagoda) by a Japanese Budhist. It's location, scenic view and the temple itself do really inspire peace and silence. It hosts Buddha idol and stages of Buddha's life over a two level structure. We sat there for some time with absolute silence around us. There's an actual shrine and a cafe nearby with a great view.
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| Shanti Stupa |
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| View from Shanti Stupa |
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| Shanti Stupa View |
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| Shanti Stupa Buddha Depictions |
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| Shrine at Shanti Stupa |
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| View from the Shanti Stupa Cafe |
Leh Palace:
Leh Palace is the former
royal palace of the Ladakh King,
Namgyal. Namgyal
monastery is nearby the palace, which we couldn't visit. It has
nine levels with beautiful views along with the view of Shanti Stupa. You would need a ticket to visit the place. It hosts few pictures and
paintings, but we couldn't see much as it was quite dark and the lights were off(power cut problems?). There is also a
shrine inside the palace, which looked quite mystical hosting a God with several heads and another with several hands(probably Bodhisatva and Mahakala, as far as I can remember) along with the Buddha statues. I expected Buddha, but this was the first time I saw other Gods in a Buddhist shrine. The shrine also had several
old books wrapped in cloth.
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| Leh Palace |
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| Leh Palace Entrance |
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| Inside Leh Palace |
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| Shanti Stupa from Leh Palace |
Hall of Fame:
Hall of Fame is a
museum and a war
memorial - it has enormous amount of information about wars, soldiers, weapons and Ladakh history. It also has "
Shaurya Sthal" as a tribute to the fallen soldiers in wars.
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| Hall of Fame |
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| Hall of Fame Entrance |
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| Shaurya Sthal, Hall of Fame |
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| Hall of Fame Museum |
Spituk Monastery:
Though Leh Palace already introduced me to the concept of other Gods apart from Buddha, I wasn't prepared for the huge eight handed statues, demon looking ones and
Kali - all of whose faces were covered with a veil. The faces are unveiled only during the annual Spituk festival. It was dark by the time we visited the monastery and I was little spooked by the entire experience! Like all the places in Leh, this one provides great views with Tibetan prayer
flags fluttering in the wind.
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| Spituk Monastery |
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| Spituk Monastery |
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| Spituk Monastery View |
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| Spituk Monastery View |
There are many more local places within Leh city which you can visit like Namgyol monastery, Shankar gompa, etc. But it would be great to sit in peace and enjoy the views and silence at each place you visit without any hurry. Leh is one place where I stopped worrying about missing out on a place I won't be able to visit, because every place I visited was beautiful with breathtaking views. Complete your trip by evening as it gets dark very soon, especially if you are on bike, it gets super cold too.
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