Ladakh - a province situated on the north in Himalayas. Hundreds years of history of belonging to different kingdoms and empires, being a trading crossroad of civilizations. Presently it is India, but really differs a lot. Yes, you can see a lot of Indians out there now, but as well as many natives, who are of Mongolian origin. All region is about 2500 meters above sea level in the mountains, so it is definitely not so hot as Indian lower regions and it makes it a lot different. And due to this fact, the actual touristic period is quite narrowed to few summer months only. Rest of the time it is quite cold out there and mountain roads becomes hardly passable.
And yes, another main difference is obviously religion. This is the land of Buddhism and monasteries. Some are very well knows and easy accessible. Some are far away into the mountains, so you have to drive and walk a lot to reach them, which is still worth anyway...
So, the best time to thist the region are Summer months. And we have arrived there in June flying through Dehli with a group of tourists. Was quite an early flight and after bringing out luggage to the hotel, there was a program planned for this day to visit few places nearby. Quite a pleasant weather of just above 20 degrees Celsius, perfect for some explorations. And the first was Shey Palace
Actually it is palace and monastery and shrine all in one, about 15km from Leh. History of it comes back to 11th century and it was summer capital of Ladakh in the past. Now original palace nowadays remains actually in ruins.
While current Shey palace and Monastery was built in 1655. The architecture definitely contains a lot of traditional Buddhism elements, like white stupas and prayer wheels, rotating clockwise and containing mantras inside
As usual story with Ladkah, you always need to climb by foot quite a lot to reach all those places built on the top of the rocks. But the view from there definitely worth the efforts. Beautiful valleys surround by epic mountains from all the sides with a snowy peaks. Simply amazing
Also there is pretty nice view on the top on surrounding buildings and some small shrines belonging to same Shey palace complex
Quite amazing experience starting form the very first day of the journey around Ladakh. Quite overwhelming with a lot of expectation for the next few days.
Will return to Shey palace in next story to discover inside interior details
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