June 16, 2016
Week 64: Three days in Leh: good food, rest and monasteries
We spend three days recuperating in Leh.
Our hotel is in a quiet area between the Leh bazaar and the backpackers area of Changspa. We walk to the bazaar to do our shopping, and the other way to pick our choice of restaurants catering to western palettes. We can get pad Thai, enchiladas, sandwiches or banana pancakes, but sadly no beef burgers or steak.
Leh has lots of bakeries, we see German, Swiss and French bakeries, they all carry a similar assortment of cinnamon rolls, croissants, cookies and cashew or almond patties. Very nice (all of it), we stock up on these goodies for our ride to Srinagar.
Our bikes are a bit dirty after the last week, they get cleaned, the chains lubricated with a dry lubricant (so it does not pick up the dust) and bolts checked. Patrick’s rear tire is getting pretty bald, but it will make it to Srinagar. Just about everything we have needs laundering.
We meet up again with Rocio, she is staying in the cheaper part of town and is getting ready for an adventure over Kardung La (supposedly world’s highest pass). We are not even tempted. Tanglang La was plenty high. Dan has decided to take a shared taxi or bus to Srinagar.
There are a couple of sights in Leh that require some strenuous hiking. First is the Palace, which is a bit of a rip-off. Foreigners get charged 200 rupees to enter the building which is mostly empty and undecorated. It only offers nice views over the city. Higher up on the mountain is a monastery and a fort. A monk collects a small fee from foreigners, and the meeting hall is worth it. The fort is also a shell that is under restoration. On the other side of town just past Changspa is a long flight of stairs that lead up to the peace pagoda which also offers nice views over the city.
We spend one full day on a taxi-tour of some monasteries south of Leh. Starting with Hemis, Stakna, Matho and Stok we drive from one place to the other, with an impromptu stop at a local bow shooting event where we get served “chang” and a meal. Each gompa has its own highlights; all are beautiful and “real”. The only thing that is missing is the stink of yak-butter used for lubrication of the prayer wheels, burning and of course added to tea we found when in Tibet.
After three days we have put on some weight, seen enough sights, washed all our clothes, cleaned the bikes and stocked up on enough goodies to get us to Srinagar, our last stage in India!
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