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(continued from previous blog entry) Not far west from Leh lies the village of Phyang, separated from the capital city by one of those seemingly endless ridges of mountains which make Ladakh a land of interconnected valleys. Originally, the provincial government had planned to build a road through Phyang to connect it with the Nubra valley in the north, but the villagers had opposed the idea and eventually the road came to be built near Gangles village instead, across the now famous Khardung La mountain pass. Instead the main reason to visit Phyang is the goempa located here.
The highway out of Leh is lined by military camps and several units have their homes here. Bases are swamped with buildings in various state of construction, corrugated steel storage facilities and hordes of the ubiquitous Ashok-Leyland trucks that you can also see kicking up dust on virtually every road in Ladakh. With crews coming from all over India there's also a small Hindu temple by the roadside to cater to the outsiders. All base entrances are decorated with colourful unit mottos of the more dashing type, such as "Duty Unto Death" or "The Mountain Tamers". It is also customary to paint
The Indus river snakes its way through Ladakh
Leh sits between the great Karakorum and Himalayan ranges.small rocks and boulders in white and other colours and use them to build huge unit insignia mosaics on the mountain slopes behind the bases. Apart from regular army and air force units there are also paramilitary units such as the Ladakhi Scouts, local eyes and ears of the army in the region, and specialized in high altitude operations. Further out on the outskirts of Leh sit a few industrial facilities; flour mills, manufacture of the local seabuckthorn juice and facilities belonging to Indian Oil.
The highway creeps along the Indus river until a smaller road in the middle of nowhere veers off north towards Phyang village. Apart from farm houses, smaller shacks and half-finished huts made of bricks can also be seen on both sides. Sonam explains that new buildings are being constructed here as shelters for people who lost their homes in the recent mudslides in August last year (more on that later). A bit further up the valley the village comes into view, and perched on a small hill in its center sits a medium sized 16th century goempa belonging to the Kagyupa lineage, one of the red hat schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It is thought
The Indus river snakes its way through Ladakh
Leh sits between the great Karakorum and Himalayan ranges. that the monastery was founded by Tashi Namgyal, then King of this domain.
A small ridge shoots out from the hill and it is plastered with various stupas in different styles. A stupa can come in many sizes and slightly different shapes, but common to them all is that they act as miniature temples and during the construction one or several relics or other holy items will have been placed inside them. I remember Sonam's words that their are eight types of functional stupas but I am really at a loss to recap on which they are.
Around the monastery are terraced farms, their fields now a dull grey and brown. Huge piles of logs lie at the entrance, construction is everywhere it seems. Walking up the winding stairs we meet a few workers carrying wood on their backs, other than that there's not much action around. A lone black pooch and an old monk sit outside the monastery kitchen. Before entering the main temple we pop in to have a look; it is a very dark room with only some light trickling down from a well in the ceiling. Something is smoking inside a huge vat. What
do monks typically eat here, we wonder. Sampa, explains Sonam, a sort of barley flour which you mix with the infamous butter tea, creating a sort of sticky porridge. Sounds delicious.
The caretaker monk responsible for the temple joins us and brings a weird key for the ancient Tibetan style padlock sitting at the foot of the door. I'd write more about whose depictions we saw inside the temple halls but since I don't have any photos from there I am really at a loss to remember.
On the way down from the monastery Sonam asks us if we'd like to make a visit to the local monastic school just next door to the goempa. Of course! Nearing the building we can hear the unmistakeable sound of learning by chanting, each student chanting to himself creating a wonderfully sublime cacophony of voices. The next obvious sign is the pile of sandal shoes outside the classroom entrance. Entry is made past a thick curtain and inside it is semi-dark and the bright light of the gorgeous Phyang valley view coming in through the windows blinds your momentarily. As your eyes adapt we find inside the first room a dozen
or so kids in the 7-10 range sitting on their beds, each in a red robe, and each with a book in front of him on the bed, but now curiously and shyly looking up at the visitors. Sonam explains that the kids board here, most are locals and some are Tibetan, their parents doing construction work here at the goempa.
In the room next door sit half a dozen older students and in the third classroom we meet yet another group of older kids who are studying English together with their teacher. When not teaching he specializes in traditional dances and frequently joins a dance troupe in performances abroad. Apparently they even made it to Sweden and Stockholm not long ago. We say goodbyt and walk down the hill to the car again. Kay spots the most adorable little pup and tries to photograph it as it dodges in and out of some logs by the side of the road. We jump in the car and bump our way down the road back toward Leh again and the next item on our agenda... (continues in next blog entry)
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Dancing Dave
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ROCK ON ROCK...LADAKH
Ladakh is one of our dream destinations...but due to the narrow time of year for access, we keep putting it off. Thank you for reviving our interest.