Kargil -> Uletopo

Saturday, 5 September 2015

A very high altitude day. After leaving Kargil (elevation 9,000 ft) we spent the entire at, but mostly above 10,000 ft.

As we left Kargil we had a nice view of the town.

Our first stop was at Mulbek to see a large image of the Buddha carted into a granite boulder. Unfortunately, a willow tree now obscures most of the sculpture from view.

Hauling firewood

A few km past Mulbek and 2 or 3 km off the main road is the village of Gyel. It is built into a cliff of easily erodible sediments that accumulated at the bottom of a long-gone lake.

View from below. The houses are built into the steep slope below an overhanging cliff.

A man carries fodder to get livestock through the coming winter.

We saw many of these small donkeys loaded with cut grains to the point that it looked as if the grain bundles were moving all by themselves -- the donkey completely hidden.

As we climbed up to Namika La (12,200 ft) the views were stunning.

Sue at Fatu La (13,500 ft). Both passes had stupas and prayer flags. It was cool and breezy at these elevations.

The road descending from Fatu La had many twists, turns, and switchbacks.

A view of the Lamayuru Gonpa (monastery) -- our last stop of the day before getting to our hotel at Uletopo.

Stupas at the monastery.

Our guide, Rinchen, spins the prayer wheels as we walk around the largest stupa.

These stones are carved with compassion verses of the Buddha. As new ones are added, the older stones get incorporated into "mani walls" -- prayer walls.

A passageway in the monastery.

The area around the monastery is called "Moonland" because some thought that the desolate landscape resembled the moon.