Day 8 - The Journey back to Leh from Hunder!
Today, we leave back for Leh. The plan was to stop at Diskit along the way and then at Khardung La. Everyone woke up on time, after a much needed sleep after the tiring journey yesterday. The weather was fantastic, clear blue skies and nice breeze blowing. Time for the cameras to come out :p
The moon at 7:30 AM-
And, that's the Sun at 7:30 AM -
And, some amateur photography as well :p
We dressed up and got ready for the breakfast. The Breakfast was again served in an authentic setting - Hot tea with Ladakhi Bread and Butter-Jam.
After the delicious breakfast, we were asked by the Owner's son AB Dar, our host to fill up a Testimonial book. And, we had only nice words to write. He also asked us to write down our Names and Phone numbers - his explanation sometimes enquiries are done by the authorities, and they have to show them who all came and stayed there, and we obliged.
Before leaving - a Pic with AB!
And, with a wonderful stay here coming to an end, we bid Hunder a good bye and off we were towards Leh.
A final good bye to the Sand dunes of Hunder. The pic is from inside the car,. The reflections on the glass almost manage to kill the pic :-( -
Our first stop today would be the monastery at Diskit, where there is a giant statue of Maitreya , the future Buddha overlooking the small town.
Approaching the monastery -
The Statue -
The gate of the monastery -
A few pics of the rest house inside the Monastery. According to the local priest, when the Dalai Lama comes to this place he stays here -
Here, in the monastery we met a 65+ year old American. Most of the foreign tourist we had met on this trip were from the Europe, he was probably the first American we were interacting with. He had rented a Bike from Delhi, and rode all the way to Ladakh from there. Rohit had a pretty long chat with him, so he would probably know more about him - but Kudos to the Adventurous spirit in him. According to him, one day he told his wife that he want to 'do' the Himalayas - and so he was here. After spending some time, we tried to hurry now. As, if we got late we probably would end up in a Jm at Khardung La, as BRO does the blasting in the afternoon everyday and they close the road for that period of time. And, off we were towards Leh. Our next destination of the day would be Khardung La.
On the way while leaving Nubra -
We had skipped stopping at Khardung La due to the bad weather and traffic jam at Khardung La, but had to stop there this time on our way back. After about 2.5 hours of journey through some good roads, we were now at Khardung La. Like all other passes, there is nothing much to do when yo are at the top. You stop, click a pic, and maybe have a tea or some snacks and move ahead. And, that's exactly what we did. We stopped, clicked a few pics, had some snacks and moved ahead.
This was our last stop, in our journey towards Leh. We decided not to stop midway, and reach the guest house directly. One thing we had been trying to find all our journey to Nubra from Leh and back was the Khardung La frog. i had read about it, and knew it was somewhere on this route, but not exactly sure. All the way from Leh to Nubra I was trying to create a frog of the numerous pieces of rocks that were present on the mountains :p. Finally, while returning from Khardung La on our descent, I finally spotted the frog. :D We did not stop for a photo click, but the feeling of not missing out on this strange piece of rock was a feel good feeling :p
A photo of the Khardung La frog from the web-
Around 3 PM, we were finally back to our guest house. After a much needed bath and some well cooked lunch by Bhagirath (the guy at the City heart guest house), we dozed off for a while.
In the evening we were out on the streets again, and finding our directions towards the Leh Palace . We asked a few people and it was supposedly walking distance from our guest house. And, it was walking distance - but nobody warned us that the walking distance also included quite a bit of climbing steep slopes and stairs as well! After some tiring 15-20 minutes from the guest house we were at the Leh Palace. Unless you are an Archaeological enthusiast/fan you wouldn't really find much to do in the Leh palace. So, we did what we know best, click a few pics and move ahead.
The entrance of the Leh Palace -
Castle Tsemo on the hill opposite the Palace. We should have climbed there, but we were too tired to attempt that, so a pic would do for now -
View of the Leh city from the palace -
After we were done with the Leh palace, it was time for some good dinner. I don't remember the name of the restaurant, but it provided a nice view of the city from the top. Below are the pics, of the Shanti Stupa and Leh Palace from the roof top restaurant -
And, this was it for the day! Tomorrow would be our last day in Leh, and the day after we will be leaving back for our homes.
Next - Day 9 & 10: The End!
The moon at 7:30 AM-
And, that's the Sun at 7:30 AM -
And, some amateur photography as well :p
We dressed up and got ready for the breakfast. The Breakfast was again served in an authentic setting - Hot tea with Ladakhi Bread and Butter-Jam.
After the delicious breakfast, we were asked by the Owner's son AB Dar, our host to fill up a Testimonial book. And, we had only nice words to write. He also asked us to write down our Names and Phone numbers - his explanation sometimes enquiries are done by the authorities, and they have to show them who all came and stayed there, and we obliged.
Before leaving - a Pic with AB!
And, with a wonderful stay here coming to an end, we bid Hunder a good bye and off we were towards Leh.
A final good bye to the Sand dunes of Hunder. The pic is from inside the car,. The reflections on the glass almost manage to kill the pic :-( -
Our first stop today would be the monastery at Diskit, where there is a giant statue of Maitreya , the future Buddha overlooking the small town.
Approaching the monastery -
The Statue -
Another perspective -
A few pics of the rest house inside the Monastery. According to the local priest, when the Dalai Lama comes to this place he stays here -
Here, in the monastery we met a 65+ year old American. Most of the foreign tourist we had met on this trip were from the Europe, he was probably the first American we were interacting with. He had rented a Bike from Delhi, and rode all the way to Ladakh from there. Rohit had a pretty long chat with him, so he would probably know more about him - but Kudos to the Adventurous spirit in him. According to him, one day he told his wife that he want to 'do' the Himalayas - and so he was here. After spending some time, we tried to hurry now. As, if we got late we probably would end up in a Jm at Khardung La, as BRO does the blasting in the afternoon everyday and they close the road for that period of time. And, off we were towards Leh. Our next destination of the day would be Khardung La.
On the way while leaving Nubra -
We had skipped stopping at Khardung La due to the bad weather and traffic jam at Khardung La, but had to stop there this time on our way back. After about 2.5 hours of journey through some good roads, we were now at Khardung La. Like all other passes, there is nothing much to do when yo are at the top. You stop, click a pic, and maybe have a tea or some snacks and move ahead. And, that's exactly what we did. We stopped, clicked a few pics, had some snacks and moved ahead.
This was our last stop, in our journey towards Leh. We decided not to stop midway, and reach the guest house directly. One thing we had been trying to find all our journey to Nubra from Leh and back was the Khardung La frog. i had read about it, and knew it was somewhere on this route, but not exactly sure. All the way from Leh to Nubra I was trying to create a frog of the numerous pieces of rocks that were present on the mountains :p. Finally, while returning from Khardung La on our descent, I finally spotted the frog. :D We did not stop for a photo click, but the feeling of not missing out on this strange piece of rock was a feel good feeling :p
A photo of the Khardung La frog from the web-
Around 3 PM, we were finally back to our guest house. After a much needed bath and some well cooked lunch by Bhagirath (the guy at the City heart guest house), we dozed off for a while.
In the evening we were out on the streets again, and finding our directions towards the Leh Palace . We asked a few people and it was supposedly walking distance from our guest house. And, it was walking distance - but nobody warned us that the walking distance also included quite a bit of climbing steep slopes and stairs as well! After some tiring 15-20 minutes from the guest house we were at the Leh Palace. Unless you are an Archaeological enthusiast/fan you wouldn't really find much to do in the Leh palace. So, we did what we know best, click a few pics and move ahead.
The entrance of the Leh Palace -
Castle Tsemo on the hill opposite the Palace. We should have climbed there, but we were too tired to attempt that, so a pic would do for now -
View of the Leh city from the palace -
After we were done with the Leh palace, it was time for some good dinner. I don't remember the name of the restaurant, but it provided a nice view of the city from the top. Below are the pics, of the Shanti Stupa and Leh Palace from the roof top restaurant -
And, this was it for the day! Tomorrow would be our last day in Leh, and the day after we will be leaving back for our homes.
Next - Day 9 & 10: The End!
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