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Ladakh
Adventure
Ladakh
4 Days/3 Nights
Ladakh -> Stok -> Samkar Gompa -> Leh Palace ->
Shey -> Thiksey -> Hemis -> Ladakh
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Day -
01
Arrive Leh, transfer to hotel. Overnight in hotel. Afternoon
walking tour of the city to get acclimatize.
LADAKH:
 Ladakh
is far too kaleidoscopic to be dismissed with a string of
platitudes. Its people, even the meanest peasant, are imbued
with a culture handed down from generation to generation for
thousands of years. Ladakh is the most interesting country
to visit that one could possible imagine. It fulfils almost
all the expectations of the traveler who is prepared to see
it through his own eyes, to experience it through his own
emotions, to comprehend it through his own sensibility.
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Day - 02
STOK: Visible in the distance, at the top of a huge moraine
of pebbles swept down from the mountains, the elegant four-story
STOK Palace stands above barley terraces studded with threshing
circles and whitewashed farmhouses. Built early in the
nineteenth century by the last ruler of independent Ladakh.
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SAMKAR GOMPA : the seat of
the yellow Hat Sect and one of the few gompas built in the
valley bottom, is a 3 km. Pleasant walk through fields. It
houses the chief lama of Spituk and 20 others. The newer monks
quarters are on three sides of the courtyard with steps leading
up to the Du-Khang ( Assembly Hall ). There are a number of gold
statues, numerous wall paintings and sculptures including a
large one of the 11 headed, 1000-armed Avalokitesvara.
LEH PALACE : Looking for all the world like a miniature
version of the Potola in Lhasa, Tibet, the Palace was built in
the 16th century.
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Day - 03
Fullday sightseeing with guide and pack lunch to visit HEMIS /
THIKSEY and SHEY monasteries.
Shey : The old summer Palace of the kings of Ladakh, Shey (
15 km. From Leh towards Hemis ) was built more than 550 years
ago by Lhachen Palgyigon, the king of Ladakh. It stands next to
the remains of a larger construction on the east side of a hill,
which runs south-east towards the Indus. From the Palace you can
see over the fertile Indus plain, north-east to the Thiksey
Gompa and over the Indus to the Zanskar mountain range. Hundreds
of Chortens of the most diverse from and size stand on the
barren plains to the north, separated from the fertile riverbank
along the Hemis road. The old palace Gompa has the largest
golden Buddha statue in Ladakh.
Thiksey : The 500 year old Thiksey monastery, perched on a
hill high above the Indus has about 100 yellow cap monks. On the
right of the entrance to the main courtyard, a new chapel houses
an enormous 15 meter high, seated Buddha figure. The morning
prayer can be witness around 6 AM, but there are also prayers
closer to noon, preceded by long mournful sounds from the horns
on the roof. The monastery mountain is best ascended on foot
although there is also a new road up to the monastery. The
temple of Zan-la is beside the car parking area on this road. On
the walls of the Gompa courtyard are some interesting Tibetan
calendars. In the chapel is a picture near the central Chamba
statue, of Tsung-Khapas, the founder of the Tugend ( Gelupa )
sect. Some steps run up to a roof balcony from which there is
access to the rooms of the head lama.
HEMIS: It is the wealthiest , best known and biggest Gompa
of Ladakh. Its popularity stems from the major annual festival
held here in summer. The festival is in honor of Guru Padma
Sambhav’s birth anniversary. It also has the largest Thanka
in Ladakh, which is unfurled once in 12 years ( next in 2004
). Hemis was built in 1630 during the reign of Sengge
Namgyal , an illustrious ruler of Ladakh. It flourished under
the Namgyal dynasty for the royalty favored for Drugkpa Sect,
which managed the monastery. It is divided into two, the
Assembly Hall on the right and the main temple on the left. The
hall, Dukhang, is also used as a ‘ Green room ’ by the dancers
during the festival. The temple is known as Tshogkhang. The
verandahs have a surfeit of frescoes among them the Buddhist
Wheel of Life ( Kalachakra ) and the Lord of the four
quarters, besides rows of prayer wheels.
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Day - 04
Departure transfer to the airport for flight to Delhi / Jammu /
Chandigarh or Srinager. |
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Package includes: |
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Accommodation of normal room with all 3 meals daily
included on compulsory American Plan Basis.
- Transfers, tours,
excursion by one non air-conditioned Ambassador car
(exactly as per above itinerary).
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Service
of one local English speaking guides in respective
cities during tours and entrance fees at monuments.
- Porterage at airports
upon arrival & departure.
- All taxes.
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Package excludes: |
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