Indus Valley Drive : Hemis, Thiksey and Shey

Just before the Stok expedition, we spent a day in visiting nearby places of Leh for acclimatization. As it was part of the schedule from IndiaHikes, all the arrangements were done by them.

We started from the hotel "Snow Lion" at around 8-45 am to Hemis monastery with Kashi, Rajesh, Sayanthan and Piyush in the cab. I have read a lot about Ladakh travelogues which i eagerly wanted to fill my eyes. The 1.5 hour drive to Hemis monastery along the river Indus is really exquisite. After vising that place a month back, i am still wondering how can such barren lands are so gorgeous? Nature is amazing, no body can beat her.. Of course you should have the sensor to capture it!

Road to destiny

Indus

Hemis is one of the oldest monastery of Ladakh which is isolated, far from the Leh city. Hemis Monastery simply conjures up an image of magnificent snow covered peaks, alpine green valleys and high altitude passes. It reflects the Buddhist culture and living life in harmony among such harsh climatic conditions of Ladakh. There are a number of shrines around this great courtyard, all of them of considerable interest.

View from Hemis monastery

View on the way back from Hemis

We started moving on from Hemis after spending around 2 hours. When i saw the river Indus on the way for the first time, i esteemed her for the cause of one of the earliest urban civilization of all time. Could not move on without stopping by the river side & getting on to water. Stopped at couple of places on the river side for the photography later on before we reached Thiksey monastery.

Thiksey

View from Thiksey

Thiksey monastery is located on top of a small mountain looking like the entire Gompa is standing on top of platform. It is beautiful in terms of its size as well as the structure type, the way it is built. It has a huge statue of the Lord Buddha and also the Godess. It houses couple of shrines of different monks. It is believed that more than eighty monks lived there. The view from top of the Thiksey is mesmerizing. In fact Stok can be clearly visible at the very far end.

After having a cup of tea, we planned to move ahead to Shey palace which is 15 minutes drive from here. There is big lake in front of Shey, palace is located on the small platform up the hill. Since other guys were tired a lot, me, Kashi, Sayanthan went inside the palace. As all the Buddhist buildings are similar, we quickly glanced over the palace not spending much time. After couple of photo shots, we head towards Leh. 

Spent some time here for shopping, soon i got a sever headache and i started moving back to hotel, to take some rest. Do not want to strain myself as the big day was waiting for me to start the Stok expedition tomorow.

Stok