round the world in sixty days

On our way back to Leh from Tso Moriri we stopped at the Hemis monastery, which is the largest Buddhist monastery in the area.And the Thiksey (also written as Thiksay or Thikse) monastery, which is arguably the most beautiful. Thikseys’ sand mandalas (picture below is not ours), where each grain of colored sand is placed into an intricate design by the monks…were featured in the movie Samsara, the long overdue follow up to Baraka. I highly recommend these two nature films. Unfortunately, the mandalas are destroyed shortly after completion and they were not there during our visit. It was founded in the 15th century, and the building has stunning views of the mountains at 11,800 feet after climbing 12 narrow and steep flights of 600 year old stairs.As we arrived near sunset, most of the tourists were gone and the monks were moving around and getting things ready for evening prayers.There were several temples, prayer rooms, and courtyards to explore, with many relics and art to look at, including the largest statue of Buddha (actually Maitreya – future Buddha) in the area at 49 feet.It was a beautiful and meditative way to end the India leg of our journey. After a night’s rest in Leh, we returned to Delhi, next destination – Singapore!