Our first views in Leh...

 

The Hall of fame... 

 

The temple in Leh Palace 

 

The Leh town as seen from the Palace windows

 

The shanti stupa... 

On the day of our arrival, we rested for a few hours and then left in the evening to visit three of the local places in Leh city - the Leh Palace, the shanti stupa and the Hall of fame.

The Hall of fame is a museum dedicated to the armed forces and their efforts in Leh / Ladhakh over the years. It depicted the battles fought in the recent past and the territory in question. It also showed interesting glimpses of the history of Ladhakh and its people.

The Leh Palace is an unusual palace to say the least. Unlike all other palaces that I have seen, this one showed no signs of riches - no gold, no grand scheme, no jewels or art work. It was plain for the most part but was impressively located at a high ground in the city such that the whole of Leh could be viewed from its higher reaches. It had a temple in it which was lit by nothing but natural light and some of the photos above try to capture that theme.

The Shanti stupa is a Japanese style monastery in Leh built relatively recently. It has an interesting architecture and the paintings and scupltures on the walls have a story of their own to tell.

By the time we visited these three places, the lack of oxygen was beginning to affect us. Climbing a few steps at he Leh Palace was becoming a difficult task. Though we were not the fittest of specimens, never have I labored with breathing while climbing just a few steps. At the end of the day, the lack of sleep, the lack of oxygen and the sheer fatigue, meant that we only wanted to be taken back to our guest house for a good night's rest.