18 Days: Delhi- Srinagar – Kargil – Rangdum – Padum- Karsha – Tongde – Mulbek – Lamayuru – Alchi – Basgo – Leh – Hemis – Nubra Valley- Delhi
Yves Bourgeon
Yves Bourgeon went to Laddakh for the first time in 1975. He has accompanied trips since 1980. Passionate about India where he has been working as a guide for the past forty years, he has studied the different spiritual traditions, with Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa for Tibetan Buddhism BKS Iyengar and Kaivalyadhama Center for Yoga and SNGoenka for Vipassana meditation. His professional experience in accompanying trips were also quite diverse in starting with New Frontiers to diversify then with Apsara, Ananta, Equinox (Switzerland). He also collaborated to build and support long stays in India for the "Religions Sciences Department" at UQAM (University of Quebec in Montreal). Yves speaks Hindi.
Arrival in Delhi On arrival welcome and transfer to hotel near the airport. Delhi the Capital of the Republic of India is a fascinating city with complexities and contradictions, where the past co-exists with the present. Many dynasties ruled from here and the city is rich in the architecture of its monuments. Delhi is not only the present metropolis of India but also a necropolis. Located on the banks of the river Yamuna, Delhi has witnessed the rise and fall of many cities over the last five millennia.
Overnight in Delhi.
First visit of the city with the famous Mughal gardens of Shalimar (moonlight) built by the lake by Emperor Jehangir for his wife Noor Jahan and gardens of Nishat (pleasure) built by Asif Khan.
Installation on a house-boat, these boats were created in the early 20th century that the British can enjoy the beautiful scenery and the cool climate.
Overnight on the houseboat.
Mountain road, our first stop will be at Sonamarg for lunch, if the fishing was good we can enjoy trout.
We spend our first pass at over 3 000m, the Zojila 3 528m, a good way to acclimatize to the altitude. We cross the village of Drass, the second coldest place in the world to be occupied year-round, but we are in summer and the cold is gone.
Overnight in Kargil.
Drive south on the banks of the River Suru. The road is in relatively good condition until Sanku (about 100 km) and a sometimes chaotic track, sinking towards the Nun Kun (7084m) that is discovered to Panikar. The show is great, with peaks over 7000 meters which bar the horizon to the south. We cross the Arrival Rangdum Gompa, where we visit the monastery founded in the seventeenth.
Night in fixed camp.
Road south to Pensi La, pass at 4400 m, following the Doda valley to the capital of Zanskar: Padum (3570 m). Installation for three nights in a lodge, simple but clean. Discover the sumptuous site Karsha, del'écoleGelugpa, founded in the tenth century. With thirty buildings and about 150 monks, it is certainly the most important in Zanskar. The valley view at sunset is superb.
Overnight in Padum.
Road jeep to the high valley of the Tsarap. Stop Ichar Bridge. Then walk we go to visit the village, beautiful oasis nestled on a rocky outcrop. Boasting thirty houses this village was once fortified to protect against South invasions. About 200 residents live here year round and fight against nature to protect their crops of barley, peas, cabbage and potatoes. Despite some exodus since the arrival of the road, this authentic village is still today a miracle of humanity at the heart of this high desert. On our way back we stop to visit the old monasteries unsung Mune and Bardan. Return to the lodge and visit the Gompa Pipiting and famous Chortens surrounding and date of the Kanishka era (2nd cent.).
Overnight in Padum.
Zangla road to where we baladons to the castle and to the nunnery. Walk through the village of Zangla. On the way back visit the monastery of Tongde.
Overnight in Padum.
We leave to Rangdum. At Sani we take the time to visit the village and Gompa. Phey stop for a nice stroll through the village and up to the nunnery. Rangdum arrival in late afternoon.
Night in fixed camp.
Still under the benevolence of Nun and Kun, we take the road which joins Kashmir. We will make a stop at the village of Parkachick superbly located opposite the gigantic twin peaks of Nun and Kun. Parkachik is the transition zone between the Buddhist world and the Muslim world. Arrival at Kargil hotel late afternoon.
Overnight in Kargil.
top before the sculpture of Maitreya 7m high. Arrival and visit Lamayuru, amazing promontory whose beauty contrasts with the arid valley. According to legend it was built in the late sixteenth: the King, the victim of the revenge of a Naga after building a canal at Hemis Monastery, contracted a declared incurable leprosy! He was cured by a monk meditating in a cave on Mount Kailash. To thank him, the king had built Lamayuru and awarded him many privileges. Discover the village and monastery.
Drive to Alchi, one of the most interesting sites of Ladakh (XI and XII): finely crafted paintings typical of Indo-Kashmiri art. One last stop to discover the fortress Basgo, ancient capital of Ladakh between the fifteenth and seventeenth, strategic site to control the caravans between the top and bottom of Ladakh.
Overnight in Leh.
Route Departure for Matho Monastery, founded in 1410 by DorjeDukpa only Sakyapa influence monastery in Ladakh. Continue to Tiksey. Visiting this magnificent monastery complex with many statues and frescoes remarkably maintained. We will go to the bottom of the valley to the monastery of Hemis, the largest and richest of Ladakh, founded in 1630 on the way back we stop at Shey, the ancient citadel of the rulers of Ladakh.
Overnight in Leh.
From Leh, at 3515 m, the road rises in the clean desert landscape to the entire Ladakh. It will climb to La Khardong ("The" = cervix) which peaks at 5 652m, we just go through the highest road in the world. The view is awesome, the excessiveness of the Himalayan mountain ranges let the smug traveler. Diskit, the main town in the valley is protected by a beautiful monastery (the Gelukpa order) perched whose access is marked by 108 chorten. The city is located at the widest point of the Shyok valley at the foot of the mountain away from the river. The houses are scattered and streets are actually paths lined with large and tight thorny bushes to protect crops camels, donkeys, goats and sheep that live in total freedom. When China invaded Tibet in 1950, it has also invaded the desert region of Sinkiang north of the Karakoram. All these borders were suddenly closed and the caravans were en route remained blocked to return to the foot of the Karakoram. The beautiful Bactrian camels could never reach the Gobi desert, and rivers quiet days on the sand of the Nubra.
It was the left bank of the Nubra valley.
Many houses scattered among fields of barley and wheat. Sumur is the first major town in the valley. Sumur has a large monastery that is a seminar for future monks of the valley, and hosts 60 young monks.
Walk 2h altitude up to 3300m above sea level, this hermitage monastery of the fourteenth century on the cliff in a clump of trees seeming to spring from the stone. Magnificent view of the valley and Siachen River.
Return by the same route to Leh.
Overnight in Leh.
Hotel near the airport. Flights are subject to depart of the climate; we took a safety day to account for frequent delays.
Overnight in Delhi.
Visit to the Indian capital.
Flight into the night to France.
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