The Indus Valley, Ladakh

Thiksey Gompa, a working monastery for nearly a thousand years


6am puja


Seconds before puja ends


The aftermath

The equivalent of tea towel thwacking


Leaning pillars


Drum


Black and white


Courtyard


Oil


Glazed gaze


Lotus


Upwards


Sunlit peace in Hemis Gompa


... to begin with


Round eyes


Donkey, boots and prayer wheels


Gompa discovery


Walking in Hemis


Overlooking Shey


Offerings - tins of Horlicks included


Painted lady, the Royal Palace in Shey


The only monk we met in deserted Shey


The no smoking ban came earlier in some places


Lone monk


Lush valley


The ruined fort at Shey, once the summer capital of Ladakh


From the fort


Shey Palace


Dining with a view in Stok


Markus


Outside Stok palace