262
highway, 4km south of centre. Taxi transfers cost ₹150/190 to central Leh/Changspa. Passing public minibuses to town cost only ₹5 but are usually packed full. TAXI Leh’s little micro-van taxis charge from ₹75 per hop. Flagging down rides rarely works; go to a taxi stand to make arrangements.
Commanding a fine valley panorama around 2km north of the palace beside the Leh road, isolated Hotel Skittsal (%242051; www.skittsal.com; s/d ₹1500/2180) has a neotraditional facade and giant Buddha seated in the garden. However corridors are straight from The Shining and dated rooms have rucked carpets.
South of Leh
MATHO
% 01982
To visit Stok and Matho and then return to Leh via Thiksey and Shey, you’ll need a vehicle that’s small enough to cross the very narrow Indus River bridge at Stakna. STOK
Ladakh’s former royal family now keeps a low profile life, dividing its time between a private mansion in Manali and the stately Stok
JAMMU & K ASHMIR (INCLUDING L ADAKH) L A DA K H
Palace (admission ₹50; h9am-1pm & 2-7pm MayOct). Vaguely potala-like and with colourful
window frames, the three-storey palace is undoubtedly photogenic despite a giant telecommunication tower that looms directly behind. Inside, the handful of rooms that are opened to visitors display family treasures, including the queen’s ancient turquoise-andgold yub-jhur (crown) and a sword that the king’s oracle managed to bend into a knot, Uri Geller–style. The palace’s attractively appointed cafe (tea ₹15, sandwiches ₹60) has open terrace seating with gorgeous views. Across from the palace, a short alley leads to the 350-year-old Stok Abagon (suggested donation ₹20), the decrepit former home of the royal physician (bring a torch). Stok’s peaceful main lane winds up past whitewashed farmhouses, crumbling old stupas and, after 1.4km, bypasses the modest Stok Gompa, where royal oracles make predictions about the future during Stok’s important Guru Tse-Chu festival (February/March). Another kilometre south, buses from Leh terminate at a pair of simple food shacks known as the trekking point. Ten minutes’ walk upstream from here on the path towards Rumbak, the village’s last house is the misnamed Hotel Kangri (%20 1009; per person half-board ₹350), a very authentic homestay with wall murals and a full-blown Ladakhi kitchen. Along the main road about 200m north of the trekking point, Yarsta Guest House (%242087; d half-board ₹700) is set in a garden amid poplar trees. Two top-floor rooms with beds and plenty of windows share a clean, tiled bathroom.
Sakya-Buddhist Matho Gompa (%246085; admission ₹20) is perched on a colourfully
stratified ridge above Matho village. Most of the early-15th-century monastery has been replaced by more modern structures in recent years and the top-floor museum is only one room. However, it’s still well worth the bumpy trip from Leh for the scenery en route and the exceptional valley views. During the monastery’s famous Matho Nagrang festival (February/March), a pair of monk-oracles performs daring physical challenges while effectively blindfolded by mop-wigs, ‘seeing’ only through the fearsome ‘eyes’ painted on their chests. They also engage in ritual acts of self-mutilation and make predictions for the coming year.
SPITUK & ZINGCHEN
Founded in the late 14th century as See-Thub (‘Exemplary’) Monastery, impressive Spituk Gompa (admission ₹20) is incongruously perched overlooking the end of Leh airport: don’t photograph the militarily sensitive runway – soldiers are watching. The gompa’s multiple mud-brick buildings tumble merrily down a steep hillock towards Spituk village on the Indus riverbank. Overlooked by the gilt-roofed Skudung Lhakhang, a photogenic courtyard leads to the very colourful Dukhang containing a yellow-hatted statue of Tsongkhapa (1357–1419) who spread Gelukpa Buddhism. A Buddha statue on the other side of the room’s main image supposedly incorporates an odd relic: Tsongkhapa’s nose-bleed. On the very top of the gompa hill is a three-tiered latho (spirit shrine) and the small Palden Lama temple hiding veiled deities in a smoke-blackened rear section. For treks, the pretty two-house oasis of Zingchen (Zinchan, Jingchian) makes a much better starting point than Spituk village, as the first 10km of the Spituk– Zingchen road is a sun-blistered masochistic slog. A Leh–Zingchen taxi ride (₹1300) should allow stops at Spituk Gompa and at photogenic spots in the monumentally stark canyonlands that start 6km before Zingchen.