And now we get to the final few posts from India. In a fit of nostalgia, I rationalized a trip to 2 more Indian states (making a total of 17 Indian states/territories visited out of 36), since I didn’t have to rush home after school ended for the year. Originally, Zeeshan and I were going to visit Kashmir but the terrorist action there had us change our destination to Leh (pronounced “Lay”) in the state of Ladakh. Many people wax poetic about the beauty of Kashmir, but personally I cannot image how Kashmir could be more beautiful than Leh. Stunning.
I met up with Zeeshan at the Delhi airport for a long layover (delays). Since I had very little sleep, I was thrilled there were these comfortable couches to rest on. As expected, there was also beautiful artwork.
The flight from Delhi to Leh afforded beautiful views of snowcapped mountains and barren, high desert landscapes: at 11,483 feet (3500 meters) Leh is higher in altitude than Quito (the first day I was a bit lightheaded!). Zeeshan enjoyed taking photos and videos on the plane as he had the window seat. Between the two of us, we got these wonderful shots.
First view of Leh:
Located in the northeastern most part of India, and surrounded by China and Pakistan, there was the expected high military presence arriving in Leh. We even landed in an Airforce base – no photos allowed. During the flight, Zeeshan and I had fun guessing who on the flight was heading to their Leh posting: all members of the Indian military must do at least one tour in the area. Upon landing we learned our guesses were correct: we saw the young men line up to meet their commanding officers (or their underlings) before heading to their destination.
We met our driver Sonam and headed to our hotel which highlighted the Tibetan influence of this region. There was even a signed photo of His Holiness the Dalai Lama – no he didn’t stay here but the owner had visited Dharamshala and gotten the signature. Still impressive. After checking in and having some cardamom and cinnamon tea, we headed downtown to register again (we had to register in the airport as well – just another reminder of where we were, politically speaking).
Our first stop was at an imposing building perched on the cliff of a mountain: Leh Palace (the local name is Lhachen Palkhar). This 17th century palace was completed by the legendary local king, Senge Namgyal, making Leh the epicenter of his kingdom. This palace is an excellent example of the vernacular architecture of the Himalayas, a very Tibetan style. However, it is known for bringing together influences from Kashmir, Baltistan, Tibet, Nepal and mainland India. Namgyal’s reign was prosperous, and tributes paid for many Buddhist monasteries in the region. He was also able to repel some Mughal invasions. But when his kingdom did fall, the conquerors closed the local trade routes and the area fell into to economic distress. The palace was abandoned by the royal family after an invasion in 1834-40 and remained as ruins until restoration began in 1982.
Driving up to the palace was a bit of a headache as the road is narrow and there are a lot of vans and cars bringing tourists. May I suggest providing shuttle busses?! I did have some fun joking with one driver about how close our two vehicles were, while our driver was out directing traffic!
The palace is 9 stories tall and has over 100 rooms, with the floors getting smaller as they went up. Built in only three years, the process of building the palace was fascinating: materials came from all over the region, with workers standing in a row for 28 miles passing stones from one to another. Two key architectural features you’ll see in the photos below are the wood porch and the two-banded texture of the stonework. This porch also combines Mediterranean and local decorative motifs.
One enters the palace on the 2nd floor through the Lion Gate, which must be situated facing east for the rising sun to shine on it.
We climbed the stairs up to the 4th floor where began our visit in the main courtyard. This is where royal functions and cultural events were held.
Up again, on the 5th floor, is an open chamber probably used for royal functions, although historians are not very sure about the purposes for all the rooms in the palace. There is also a balcony here, overlooking the courtyard and the town below, where the royal family probably watched performances.
The open chamber is also the only section with artwork still on the walls. It made me realize how stunning the palace must have been in its heyday.
The 5th floor also houses a famous Buddhist temple, complete with a monk continuously reading prayers. The two Buddha statues had such loving and happy expressions.
Climbing from floor to floor was challenging, lots of very steep stairs and small openings.
It was fascinating to see the carved support beams throughout all the floors and rooms.
The decorative style below is what intrigued me the most on the tour. From afar I couldn’t tell what it was but using my zoom lens I saw the design is made from the ends of sticks.
On the higher floors, it was fun to see how the layers became a patchwork of roofs and rooms.
Also interesting is how the windows evolve, from simple slits on the lowest floors (where the workers lived and worked), changing to ornamental designs on the upper floors.
Not photographed is how above the 5th floor, the walls get thinner and the rooms larger (for the royals). Also, by the 6th floor brickwork was used to lighten the load on the lower floors. On another note, the 6th floor afforded us some interesting views.
The royal apartments were on the 7th floor but none of those rooms were open, so I settled for these photos!
The 8th floor (which had rooms for important meetings) was closed so we were limited to walking on the roof and seeing the 9th “floor.” Here is a room called the tse zimshung (main room) and is believed to be reserved for worship. An interesting note is that the palace was originally an eight-story building, but since nine is an auspicious number in local culture, the ninth floor/room was added. The views here are stunning, showing the rear of the mountain upon which the palace rested. That side is much greener; clearly a higher economic bracket lives here.
The higher I climbed, the fewer women I saw which helped me feel noble and proud that I pushed myself.
Leh is one of the highest inhabited places on earth and it is a high desert. The word for Ladekh actually means Land of High Passes. These photos were taken with my zoom lens and show the nearby snow-capped mountains, part of the Indus Valley and Ladakh Range which runs parallel to the Himalayas. There was also a monastery on the neighboring hill which some brave souls climbed to visit (you can get there by car but we didn’t go).
Our next stop was the stunningly beautiful Ladaklh Shanti Stupa. As the world’s highest Shanti stupa, standing at 11,841 feet above sea level, it symbolizes world peace. As with all major stupas, buried deep within are holy Buddha relics. This was built by the Nipponzan Myoholi Buddhist order of Japan, a group that has built many such stupas around the world. Building began in 1983 when the Dalai Llama laid the foundation stone and ended in 1991 when it was inaugurated.
The views from here, along with the evening light, allowed for some wonderful photos. A photo-tour group from the US, poised to take photos of the sunset, though I was confused as they were facing away from the direction for the sunset. I guess they were going for golden views on the mountains. Me, I just enjoyed the artwork, clear blue sky and mountain views.
Check out the views:
All around Ladakh you see local women knitting with thick wool. I bought myself a hat since I will be in NY for the winter and took a photo of the woman from whom I bought the hat! I loved how she was so shy at first!
The walk up and down the hill to the stupa afforded a few nice photos and one funny photo.
The ride back to the hotel was interrupted by a group of neighbors cutting and loading a huge tree onto a truck. Waiting for them to finish afforded me an opportunity to see how walls here are made with the local style of mud bricks. Then it was a quick dinner and a good night’s sleep!
