Advertisement
Published: September 3rd 2007
In the last few days I've seen lots of traditional Ladakhi culture during the Ladakh festival. It runs for 15 days from 1st September and is aimed at Tourists, although the Ladakhi people enjoy the events too. They have taken tourism on board in a big way, and don't seem to mind people sticking cameras right in their faces! They also seem to tolerate some Westerners walking round half naked, whereas the Ladakhi people find it offensive and keep themselves covered up.
The festival started with a parade through the streets of Leh, with groups representing various villages/areas dressed up in their traditional costumes. The procession stopped every now and then so that they could do their dances, often accompanied by traditional music. I can't say I'll be rushing out to buy a CD of the traditional music though - it consists of some energetic drumming, plus several clarinet-type wind instrument that seem a bit screechy and rough sounding to the untrained western ear!
I saw the only Snow Leopard I'm ever likely to see during the show at the end of the parade in the Polo ground - in the form of a pantomime animal consisting of two people.
That evening there was a music concert at the Polo ground, again with the same traditional music, just greater numbers of each instrument. Various troupes of traditionally dressed Ladakhis did songs and dances, mainly in groups of 4 to 6 couples, but a few men/women only ones. The women's singing is quite high pitched and screechy, but the men's is a bit better. Most of the dances followed the same format / style of dancing, which starts off relatively slowly and gradually speeds up, but even then is not too energetic - they are doing this at 3550m after all.
The second day I went to Thiskey monastery (which I recognised from when I was here before, although it's expanded somewhat since). There I saw Chams - masked dances performed by the monks. There were seven dances in total lasting two hours, and for most of the time I was sitting in the glaring sunlight, facing the sun, so I'm not sure how well any photos will come out, but I enjoyed watching them nevertheless. The monks must have been boiling in their heavy garments and masks. The dances are traditionally done during their monsatery's festival at the end of October, but this was a sample for the tourists.
After the performance finished I hung around and had a good look at the monastery and a Thanka exhibition (Tibetian material hangings). Various of the Thankas and some of the statues in the monasteries seem to have taken their inspiration from the Karma Sutra!
That evening I saw my first Horse Polo match back in Leh. It was a very fast moving match, and the horsemanship was superb. To my amazement no one, and no horses, seemed to get hurt as they charged towards each other at full speed waving their sticks. A few times the ball ended up in the crowd and one time it knocked over a rubbish bin. Every now and then a dog would stray onto the pitch, and at times people walked across at the ends, which was OK until the ball suddenly came down that end and then they had to run out of the way!
This morning there was an Archery competition in Leh. When I got there they were letting Tourists have a go - to the amusement of everyone else. I had a try; I don't think I'll be in the archery team though - on my first attempt I pulled back the bow, let go and the arrow dropped at my feet! My second arrow went a bit further after much advice from the bystanders once they'd stopped laughing.
The locals were somewhat better at it, but I left before the competition proper got going as it looked like it was not going to happen for a long while, due to the number of Tourists wanting a try.
Back to SECMOL now to have a go at improving the pump system...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.07s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 5; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0497s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Cousin Sharon
non-member comment
who's entertaining who?
The festival sounds like a great money spinner for the locals and they obviously enjoy watching the tourists make a fool of themselves! I know just how you feel as the boys howl with laughter when my arrow drops at my feet, they are big archery fans. We had a target ( old pirate scarecrow!) set up in the paddock over the bank holiday weekend. Unusually the weather was great and so we were camping up there trying out our new tent- not as exotic as your holiday but very relaxing. I think Michael Palin showed one of the polo matches on his travel program - they looked mad. As for the music don't bring a tape back for the boys! SECMOL sounds like a great place for you to be especially with all the forms of renewable energy they have, should inspire you to come hpome with loads of great ideas. Hope you stay well and happy, enjoying all your updates but would love to see some piccies. TTFN Sharon xxoo