Legends of Tibet: Ladakh (Lamayuru, Dha Khanu and Nubra).

We have been conducting this promotional tour of Ladakh since 2014 and this tour is always a success.
Why?
First of all, because there is a constant demand for this tour:
we have very frequent requests for 10-day tours and photo tours in Ladakh, Small Tibet.

The main difficulty of short trips to Ladakh is drawing up a tour program to Tibet so that our guests have 10 days in advance:
- there was a vivid and emotional picture of little Tibet,
- to make acquaintance - a real acquaintance with the incredibly beautiful culture of living Tibetan Buddhism,
- to make the travel program really interesting and rich, and photography (if there are photographers in the group) - as diverse as possible.

This 10-day tour to Small Tibet really gives you the opportunity in a short time to visit the three most beautiful valleys and, most importantly, to visit these valleys in the warm autumn - Indian Summer in Ladakh.

Tour routes to Tibet are constructed in such a way that they are radial sorties in different directions from Lech:
- North-West: Valley of Lamayuru is a fantastic landscape photography on a Moon Earth (Moon Land), on the pass of Fotu La in the mountain village of Temisgam.
Visit Buddhist monasteries: Temisgam gompa, Alchi gompa, Bon monastery lamayuru village and Tukmachi.
Here is a remote Aryan village Dancer and picnic from national dishes to prepare will be specially for us.
And-fascinating landscapes of Da Khan.

- South-East: landscapes of the Ladakh valley, incredible Maroon Gorge and the village of Rumce.

- North: Nubra valley + the world's highest car pass Kardung La 5602m.
Visit to the monastery complex Diskit, remote monasteries and hot springs.

And add here the festival of creativity of the peoples of Ladakh with an unforgettable procession of Masks.

The program of this tour to Tibet is really very rich-we travel without days off:
the result is a nice mix of landscape photography (for photographers), visiting remote Tibetan villages Ladakh, Lamayuru and Nubra and an incredible warm autumn in the highlands.

This trip is aimed at active tourists and photographers of any level from any CIS country and the world.
Additional emphasis of travel-photography, which means:
1. Photographers will be able to calmly and steadily take pictures, including in regime time.
2. Tourists will be able to learn the basics of travel photography.

Most of the photos given in the description of the Tibet Legend tour: Ladakh are clickable to large size, just click on the photo and it will open in a new window.
And, again, the photos in the description of the tour, shot by us during our travels in Ladakh and Nubra, and these are the places that you really see and where you will visit, taking into account the schedule of the tour, weather, etc.
In the description of each day of travel in the title gives an approximate mileage for each day and the height of the visited places.

Day 1, September 19: Delhi-Leh (air flight). Acclimatization to the altitude. Walking in the Old Town, 3 600 m.
Flight from the country of residence to new Delhi international airport. 
Transfer inside the Delhi airport from the international terminal to the terminal of local airlines by free bus on the territory of the Delhi airport.
This is our constant practice on photo tours and tours in Ladakh:
flights on which our tourists arrive at new Delhi airport, usually arrive at the airport from 2 to 5 am, and immediately after arrival in Delhi, transfer from the international terminal to the terminal of local airlines and one of the morning flights flight to Leh.
Tickets for flights Delhi-Leh will take so that the time margin between the external and internal flights was at least-3 hours.
The administrator of the project photo Tour will help you to buy these tickets at the right time and at the lowest possible cost.

Flight Delhi - Leh, 1 hour and 20 minutes.
By the way, the flight Lech Delhi-a stunningly beautiful sight, a real action for photographers, as the flight takes place over the magnificent peaks of the Himalayan Range.

Next – we go to our cozy, quiet guest house, settle down, relax after flights, pass acclimatization.
The first day in Lech - acclimatization: drink tea and coffee, talk about the tour program, in the afternoon - go for a leisurely adaptation walk in the center of Leh.

In the evening after dinner-lecture-introduction to the culture of Tibetan Buddhism in Russian.
Hotel in Leh.

Day 2, September 20: Leh. Old town. Opening of the festival of folk art. The parade of Masks, 3 600 m.
The first active day of our tour coincides with one of the most beautiful folk festivals of Ladakh:
Autumn festival of folk art and culture of Ladakh region.

Today in the morning and the whole day we are present and take pictures at the parade of the festival of folk art Ladakh.
This is truly an amazing sight:
a huge parade-demonstration with dances, chants will stretch through the entire Leh and all the Ladakh peoples in national costumes will take part in the parade.

This is one of the most beautiful holidays of Leh, and most importantly for photographers - you can shoot inside the festival - easily and affordably.
The parade also usually includes a Parade of Sacred Masks and snow lions.

In the afternoon we walk around the Old Leh and visit the exhibitions and creative sites of the festival.

Hotel in Leh.

Day 3, September 21: Buddhist monastery of Alchi gompa. Monasteries and gompa Temisgam Decemr gompa, Lamayuru, about 157 km, height 3 000 m.
Early in the morning we go to our first long road on Ladakh, down the great river Indus.
In the morning, visited an authentic mountain village Temisgam:
This is a remote from the tourist routes Ladakh village, where you can get acquainted with how real in our time live Ladakh.
Everything is preserved, as 200 years ago, the age of the village.
There is practically no electricity, stone houses, gardens, in General, such ethnic rampant in all its glory.
Wandering around the village, taking pictures.
Visited Buddhist monasteries Temisgam Gonpa, Gonpa Decarmo.

On the way we traditionally stop at all the most interesting points of our road.
Such points will be very much:
the confluence of the Indus and Zanskar rivers, the village And basgo monastery, an incredible tavern in the small village of Nimo and much more.

Then we continue to move towards The lamayuru valley and find ourselves in an amazing place - in the oldest Buddhist monastery of Ladakh:
Buddhist monastery complex Alchi gompa - a unique Buddhist complex Dating back to the 11th century and is currently under the protection of UNESCO.
The oldest depiction of the Wheel Of samsara in the Ladakh valley is preserved in this monastery.

Then we go to the valley of Lamayuru.
We have to drive about 50 km along the beautiful mountain valley of Lamayuru, on the lower road.
Planned a lot of landscape photography: in Lamayuru we get to the lunar landscapes of Moon Land.

Later in the evening we arrive in the village of Lamayuru, lunch and go to the monastery of Lamayuru.

Borovsky Monastery of lamayuru (Jung, Jun — swastika) is one of the earliest monasteries of Ladakh, its construction is credited to Rinchen Zangpo (958-1055).
The monastery was founded in the XI century, the famous mahasiddhas Naropa, after spending a few years in meditation in the cave.
The monastery got its name from the sacred grain plantation, which mysteriously took the form of a swastika (a swastika with a left-hand movement symbolizes Jungdrun Bon or a new Bonya
Now lamayuru Monastery belongs to the direction of the Buddhist school Drikung Kagyu, but for a long time was a refuge for the followers of the Bon religion.

Evening walk and photography in the village of Lamayuru.
Guest house in Lamayuru.

Day 4, September 22: Lamayuru. Fotu La Pass. Donkar village through Sanjak. Yes Khan, about 162 km, altitude 3,000 to 3 200m.
Early in the morning, before Breakfast we go to the upper reaches of the valley Lamayuru, to the pass Fotu La (4108 meters): 
all morning we will walk in the clouds, and for photographers - a very rich landscape photography.
Panorama of the upper reaches of the valley Lamayuru clickable.

And with Fotu La continue our indirect (usually tourists go by short road) Way to the village of Donkar:
the first part of the day we will spend on a local mountain road passing through the remote Tibetan and Muslim villages of Sanjak and only in the evening will appear in the valley of Da Khan.
There are incredibly beautiful and wild places, almost no one except the locals do not come here.

Dha Khanu: Aryan place - this is the place where Hitler sent the expedition for the Aryan blood.
we will go to the remote Tibetan village of Donkar to visit the family of our friend and partner Sonam in a bright place.

The place is so authentic and really real that there are no tourists here - and even nowhere to eat, there is no tourist service.
The road passes in the middle of a wild stone gorge:

We are going to visit real Ladakh guests-our friends.
It is worth adding that the valley where we go-really incredibly bright, that's what are just such gompa (monasteries) among the colored rocks:

A little about the Aryans of the mountain valley Da Khanu:
It was in these places that Hitler organized expeditions "for Aryan blood", it was here that German ethnographers, having made a lot of measurements of facial bones, skulls, found those who were then called"true Aryans".
Currently, there are two dard tribes in the territory of the former Ladakh Kingdom, which have preserved their native language: dards from the DRA, and dards from the Da (Dha).
The first became Muslims in the 16th century.
The most interesting case is the dards of Da (Dha - Hanu).
They did not accept the faith of Muhammad, but Buddhism was not fully accepted by them – their religious practices are more reminiscent of the ancient pre-Buddhist religion of Bon. 
Thanks to this, they were able to preserve their cultural uniqueness.
Their external dissimilarity and peculiarity lies not only in the shape and facial features, but also in the details of their ethnic clothing.

All men and women wear headgear, the main decoration of which are red flowers of physalis (wild strawberry), which protect from demons and bring wealth.
In all forms of art at the drokpa there are symbols of the swastika and the sun: in carved ornaments on houses, in ornaments of ancient ware and household utensils.
There are also many natural and astronomical symbols.
Drokpa amazing blend of mixed traditions in relation to food they don't eat meat, poultry and cows, but keep them for eggs and milk. Eat only lamb. 
In Ladakh Aryans remained about 2000 people and they live in 5 villages and marry only within their ethnic group.

In Dakar after an eventful day awaits us a real Ladakhi picnic:
our arrival will be cooked a luxurious dinner composed entirely of dishes Mari cuisine Khan.
And we will not have dinner in the guest house, but in the house of our friends, in the guest room:
on special mattresses, lying on the floor and covered with carpets, behind small wooden painted Tibetan tables.
And dinner - evening walk in an ancient ethnic village of Dakar.
And,of course, for photographers - a lot of ethnographic photography, including in the old abandoned houses of the village.
Hotel in the village of Dakar.

Day 5, September 23: the Village of Ekmecic. Lech, about 170 km, height 3 000 - 3 600 m.
In the first half of the day we walk through the village of Donkar, there are houses that have survived for 300 years.

You can go inside the house, wander through the old rooms-in the dry climate of Ladakh old things remain intact, only covered with centuries-old dust and cobwebs.

Then go back and on the road visit the village Takmachik.
This model village, which specifically restored the conditions of life and rural Ladakhi communities in ancestral traditions.
We are located in the guest house and go to explore the village, as well as the evening photography of the DHA Khan valley:
the village of Takmak is located in a very convenient location for regime landscape photography.
Hotel in Leh.

Day 6, September 24: Old Lech. Festival of folk art Ladakh, 3600 m.
Today we spend in Lech:
we walk around the city center, visit exhibitions, workshops of the festival of folk art.
In the afternoon we go up to the Royal Palace of Lech and the monastery of Namgyal Tsemo.

Hotel in Leh.

Day 7, 25th September: Leh - Nubra Valley: Diskit Monastery, Lachung Temple and a gompa Kundur, about 180 km, the height at Nubra 2 800 m.
After an early Breakfast we go to the Nubra valley.
We have to drive about 130 km, spend 5-6 hours on the road (khardung La pass-the highest pass in the world, 5 613 m).
On this day we will stop a lot on the road for walks and landscape photography.

The Nubra valley is undoubtedly the most beautiful in Ladakh.
Here even the rivers become Golden natural pictures in the evenings:

The valley is located to the North of Leh, between the mountain ranges of Ladakh and the Karakoram. 
High mountains, long tongues of glaciers, sand, apricot gardens - all this creates a magical reality.
Here (in good weather) we can see the highest peak of Ladakh-Saser Kangri, height 7670 m.
The name Nubra literally means "valley of flowers". 
You can get to it, breaking the pass Khardong La (5600 m), the highest mountain pass in the world, through which the road is laid, listed in the Guinness book of records.
The valley was once part of the Central Asian route known as the silk Road. 
It was the road connecting Lech with Yarkend and further to Central Asia and Mongolia. 
On this path also has been going pilgrims in Mecca and Medina for Hajj. 
Traditional trade was stopped here only in the 1950s, when Tibet was conquered by China.

In addition to the natural beauty of the valley there are several Buddhist monasteries. 
The main and largest monastery is located in the village of Diskit and stands on top of the mountain. 
Here, in this village not so long ago was built a school of Buddhist iconography and a fairly large Museum "Tanok".
Another large monastery is located near the village of Sumur and is called Samstaling.
Also deserves a lot of attention, quite old small gompa in the village Khundar, dedicated to the Buddha Maitreya. 
Inside the monastery is a very large statue of him.
On this day in the evening we will take a walk in the area of the monastery Diskit.

The second half of the day will be spent in a Buddhist monastery Diskit gompa, Lachung Temple and Hundur Gompa.

The monastery of Diskit is essentially a temple city surrounded by small ethnic villages.
Diskit gompa or Disku gompa or diskit monastery Is the oldest and largest Buddhist monastery in the Nubra Valley.
From the height of the Buddhist monastery Diskit gompa offers incredible views of the valley of Nubra and many luxury car for panoramic photography of the valley.

The Buddhist monastery of Diskit belongs to the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism.
The gompa was founded by chhangzem Arab Zangpo, a disciple of Tsongkhapa, founder of Gelugpa, in the 14th century.
The monastery was initially subordinated to the thikse gompa.
A huge statue of Buddha Maitreya-Buddha of the Future floats-rises above the valley of Nubra.

Lachung temple and Hundur gompa are located nearby, the latter-below the road across the bridge.
In the monastery there is a statue of Maitreya in the prayer hall, a huge prayer drum and images of the defenders of the teaching. 
The convex dome of the monastery is covered with images of frescoes from Tashilunpo in Tibet.
The monastery complex is a huge and beautiful.
By the way, according to legend, Jesus Christ spent his years in these places up to 33 years.
On this day, a lot of landscape and temple photography is planned.
The monastery carries a lot of interesting stories, rooted in the depths of centuries.

If desired, you can attend the evening Puja (service) In the temple of the Defenders of the Dharma of the Buddhist monastery Diskit Gonpa.
On Puja properly to take pictures or just listen to Puja and meditate.

Hotel in the Nubra valley.

Day 8, September 26: Nubra Valley, hot springs. Leh, about 180 km, height 2 800 - 3 600 m.
Early in the morning we go to the hot springs in Panama.
Bathing in hot hydrogen sulfide springs in specially-built bathing rooms.
After the hot springs-go back to Leh.

Along the way there are numerous stops for landscape photography.

In the afternoon-back to Leh.
The rest of the day - self-guided walking tours in Leh, shopping.
Hotel in Leh.

Day 9, September 27: Maroon Gorge. The village of Rumce, about 120 km, altitude 4000 m.
Today, on the final day of the tour we will go up the river Indus in an incredibly beautiful place-Burgundy gorge:

Here breed in the truest sense of the word stood on its hind legs:

Here on the slopes grow stone mushrooms:

And here is a completely authentic, lost in the mountains of the village, one of which we will visit-the village of Rumce:

On the evening fees in a path and a farewell dinner.
Hotel in Leh.

Day 10, 28th September: Flight Leh - Delhi. homecoming.
In the morning-transfer to the airport and a beautiful flight Lech Delhi over the mountains Ladakh.

Depending on the time of departure to the country of residence, you can either spend time at the international airport of new Delhi, or book a tour of Delhi with a Russian-speaking guide.
Evening flight from Delhi international airport to the Homeland.