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Published: September 4th 2021
Day-3: 25-08-2021 - Leh Palace, Hemis, Thicksey, Rancho, Shey:
Leh Palace. A lot of renovation has been carried out to make it possible for tourists to visit. There are 9 levels (stories). Tourists are allowed up to 5. Palace conveys the simplicity (or lack of wealth) of erstwhile rulers.
Moving on the Leh-Manali road we went up to Hemis monastery first (last point of our itinerary for the day). From Hemis, the road bifurcates to go to Pangong. Those who go to Pangong, Hemis side can be covered on the way, however, you need 3-4 hours to visit all these spots.
Hemis monastery has students of Buddhism. We also saw a banner announcing ‘convocation’. There is a very good museum on Buddhism. It has many idols of Buddha collected from different parts of the word, belonging to different eras. A couple of idols interestingly were from Kashmir region. When we think of Kashmir, we think it as Muslim dominated region (as now most of Kashmiri Pundits have been flushed out). The idols in the museum indicated that Buddhism was prevalent in Kashmir from 7th to 12th century A.D. Muslim invaders were successful in Kashmir and other parts of
India, but not in Ladakh where Buddhism has continued.
On returning from Hemis towards Leh, our first stop was Thiksey. We had a very good lunch at Hotel Chamba. Then proceeded to visit Thiksey monastery. Hemis and Thiksey belong to different sects of Buddhism. Thiksey is also an active monastery with students. The Buddha here is called Maitry Buddha or Future Buddha. A very peaceful and quiet place.
From Thiksey, towards Leh, our next stop was at the Rancho school. There is nothing special about this school but it has earned its fame after it was shown in the bollywood film - Three Idiots. You stop here to take your selfies with the Idiotic Wall. Then move on.
Last item of the day was Shey Palace. Our driver had advised us not to waste time and energy, but we didn’t want to miss anything. So we climbed all the way to find that we would not have missed anything had we not climbed! The palace is on top of a hill (like most other palaces) and it is only in the form of ruins. There is a mandatory monastery up there which was closed.
Sindhu Ghat:
A new tourist spot is made on the banks of River Indus (Sindhu) - to make it look like Ganga Ghat. No comparison.
After confirming that there was nothing else to see there, we called it a day.
Hemis:
