|
|
Leh
Town and around
 |
|
|
Shanti
Stupa, Leh
|
Leh town
offers a number of sightseeing options for the visitors. A historic
town that served as the royal capital of the Old Kingdom, it is dominated
by the nine-storey palace built by King Singge Namgyal in the grand
tradition of Tibetan architecture, which is said to have inspired the
famous Potala in Lhasa built about half a century later.
Above the
palace, on the Namgyal Tsemo hill, are the ruins of a fort, the earliest
royal residence built by King Tashi Namgyal in the 16th century. The
associated temples remain intact, but they are kept locked except during
the morning and evening hours, when a  monk
from Sankar Gompa hikes up the hill to attend to the butter-lamps in
front of the images.
Down in
the historic bazaar, the main sites to visit are the Jo-khang,
a newly built Buddhist temple, and the imposing historic mosque
founded in the late 17th century standing, almost opposite. But
the pleasures of Leh are not confined to the visiting of monuments and
sites. For locals and visitors alike, a stroll along the main bazaar,
observing the varied crowd and looking into the curio shops is an engaging
experience. A particularly attractive sight is the line of women from
nearby villages sitting along the edge of the footpath with baskets
of fresh vegetables brought for sale. Behind the main bazaar, Chang
Gali is less bustling but has interesting little shops selling
curios and jewellery. Further on are the labyrinthine alleyways and
piled-up houses of the old town, clustering around the foot of the palace
hill. In the other direction, down the bazaar, are the Tibetan markets
where one can bargain for pearls, turquoise, coral, lapis lazuli and
many other kinds of semi-precious stones and jewellery, as well as carved
yak-horn boxes, quaint brass locks, china or metal bowls, or any of
a whole array of curios. When tired of strolling, one can step into
any of several restaurants, some of them located in gardens or on the
sidewalks and serve local, Tibetan, Indian and Continental cuisine.
Or one can
strike off away from the bazaar, past Zangsti and the
Moravian Church to the Ladakh Ecological Centre
and appreciate the work being done by this NGO in applying folk
technology to meet the demands of modern life in Ladakh. From
here a footpath across the fields leads to Sankar Gompa, which
is half an hour’s walk away.
Or one
can leave the main road from the bazaar near the Moravian
Church and turn off to Changspa, an attractive suburb
of Leh, lying below the hill on which stands the imposing Ladakh
Shanti Stupa, which can be reached by a winding road. Down past
the Tourist Information Centre in the old dak Bungalow, follow the Fort
Road to Skara, another pretty and prosperous suburb of
Leh town, and admire the earthen ramparts of Zorawar Singh's fort,
now housing army barracks. This road continues onward, swinging
around the village to meet the main highway near a crossroad, where
the roads from Srinagar and Manali meet. A branch of this road turns
southward and traverses the interior of Skara to meet the main highway
near the airport, an excellent drive through the heart of the sprawling
village.
There are
also several attractive sightseeing and walking destinations within
a 10-km radius of Leh. Sabu,
a charming village with a small gompa, nestles between two
minor spurs of the Ladakh range, about 9 kms away from the town. In
the same direction, but nearer town is Choglamsar, with
the Tibetan refugee settlement including a children’s village, a handicrafts
centre devoted largely to carpet weaving and the Dalai Lama's prayer-ground,
Jiva-tsal. And in the opposite direction, about
8 kms on the Srinagar road, is the turning for Spituk village
and its imposing monastery.
|
