Jeep Photo Tour to the Winter Mysteries in Ladakh.

This tour is about real Tibetan Buddhism in all its manifestations. You won't see this in the summer in Ladakh.
In the recent past, the valley of Ladakh was the western province of the great kingdom of Tibet.
Ladakh is now part of India.
Due to this happy circumstance, Ladakh, in contrast to the main territory of Tibet, did not undergo occupation and complete devastation by the Chinese Communists.
At this time, perhaps, only in Ladakh, Tibetan religious and material culture remained in its original form.
As before, dozens of ancient monasteries continue to remain a refuge to thousands of monks and lamas, and the religious tradition has been preserved in its continuity since ancient times.
We go to the winter Western Tibet, in the "non-season", when there are almost no tourists, when the most sacred and mysterious Buddhist acts are played.
The calendar of religious holidays for each year is compiled by Buddhist astrologers according to a special Tibetan calendar.
During festivals in monasteries with a large gathering of pilgrims from all over Western Tibet, festive services are held with the participation of lamas of the highest initiations, special rituals during which lamas dressed in colorful costumes and deities masks perform sacral dances - the famous Tam Dance (Cham Dance).
With luck and the presence of good karma - we will see rituals, during which the lamas, entering a trance, demonstrate superhuman abilities - siddhi.
It is also possible to take out on public display the shrines and relics of the monasteries, which can be seen only once a year, during a holiday.
We fall on two Buddhist mysteries - Stoke Guru Tsechu and Mato Nagrag.
We have been taking photo tours to the Winter Mysteries in Ladakh since 2011, and each time this is an incredibly beautiful journey that always presents surprises.

What you need to know about Ladakh:
1. It may be cold (up to -15C at night). But we will live in the best hotel Lech, which is heated around the clock and move in warm jeeps.
2. Altitude: we climb from Delhi to a height of 3,600 meters above sea level. Accordingly, one must be prepared for high-altitude acclimatization.
From our experience of previous tours in Ladakh (winter and summer) acclimatization can take from 1 to 2 days.
Now about the pleasant aspects of this photo tour:
3. Accepting us in Leh will be wonderful people, our Tibetan friends.
These people will help us in Lech to create the maximum comfort possible in these weather conditions.
Jeep drivers who will work on a photo tour have been working with us in Ladakh for a long time and are well aware of what the Soul of the Photographer wants :),
those. in their work, they are focused on the photo tour itinerary, and will also help us in photography at the festival to move inside the crowd with numerous photo and video cameras.
Driving on the route in jeeps, three people in the car. We turn to any interesting place, stop on request.
4. In terms of photographing the ceremony, the Tsam Dance - winter is a wonderful time because there are practically no tourists in Ladakh.
And also because only during the winter Buddhist mysteries in Ladakh you can see the dance-drama phenomenon of the Buddhist oracles. There is no such thing in the summer mysteries.
5. It should also be understood that this photo tour in Ladakh is primarily focused on visiting Buddhist ceremonies, monasteries, monastic schools, etc. But a very unusual landscape photography will be very much - the winter landscapes in Ladakh will be stunning.

Photo tour is aimed at photographers, active travelers and Buddhists from any country of the CIS and the world.

In the description of the photo tour, we tried to give the maximum number of photographs that were taken in Ladakh in February-March 2011 - 2022 - as illustrations of what we really see.
Most of the photos given in the description of the tour Legends of Tibet: Ladakh are clickable to large size, just click on the photo and it will open in a new window.
In the description of each day of travel in the title is given the approximate mileage for each day and the height of the visited places.

Day 1, February 7: Delhi. Flight Delhi - Leh, height Leh 3,600 m.
Arrival at New Delhi International Airport from your country of residence.

We issue an electronic visa, get the luggage and go to one of the terminals of local airlines:
D3 is in the same building
D2 - a little further, you must turn left from the terminal building of international airlines and walk 100 m through the tunnel.
This is a common practice on our tours in Ladakh:
Flights on which members of our tours arrive at Delhi Airport usually arrive at terminal D3 from 2 to 5 am, immediately go to the departure terminal and fly to Leh on one of the morning flights.
Flights for Delhi - Leh we take flights so that the time reserve between the external and internal flights is 3-4 hours.

Flight Delhi-Leh, 1 hour 20 minutes.
The flight Delhi-Leh itself is an exciting photo-action for photographers, the plane flies over the beautiful peaks of the Himalayas.
It is highly recommended that you purchase a ticket immediately book a place near the windows.
For those who want to take pictures of mountain ranges from an airplane, the most successful places will be from 25F to 30F and from 25A to 30A.

Arriving in Ladakh, the plane turns over the valley and sits in the only airport of the valley - in Leh.

Transfer to the hotel, acclimatization.
The first day in Leh will be completely devoted to acclimatization: we drink tea and coffee, talk about a photo tour, go to lunch in the car for an unhurried adaptation walk in Lech.
We will visit the main street of Lech, go for a drive around our neighborhood - we'll stop at Shankar Gompa.
In the evening, our first lecture on ethnographic photography of Buddhist ceremonies in Ladakh will be held ..
In the future, every evening we will meet in the large meeting room of the hotel for master classes, lectures and analysis of photos.
Hotel in Leh.

Day 2, February 8: Spituk Monastery, Spituk Gompa, about 100 km, elevation 3,600 m.
In the morning we go to Spituk Gompa - one of the most beautiful monasteries of the Ladakh valley.

Morning puja in Spituk Monastery, and then a detailed acquaintance with the Spituk Gompa.
Visit Kale Temple, or the Temple of Dharma Defenders of Spituk Monastery.
A blessed pooja for a group in Calais - Temple.
Next, go to the confluence of the Indus and Zanskar.
If we are lucky with the weather, we will go deep into the valley of the river Zanskar.

Winter landscapes of Ladakh are magnificent:
There is almost no snow, only on high peaks, but the fields are completely bare and poplars are like candles.

We will also walk and take pictures in the floodplain of the Indus River:
here in winter, under the influence of cold weather, the earth spreads huge cracks.

By the way, in the winter, flocks of sheep descend from the high mountains to the valley of Ladakh and we will almost certainly have a meeting with our horned warm pashminas:

At the same time, we can take pictures of the little ones and understand the little lambs and goats born in the middle of the harsh Ladakhi winter:

On the way back - visit to the center of Tibetan medicine Me Tse Kan.
Here we will meet with Tibetan doctors and astrologers - if you wish, you can go for a consultation or order a Tibetan horoscope.
Visit the Museum of Tibetan Medicine.
Hotel in Leh.

Days 3 - 4, February 9 - 10: Monastery Stoke. Buddhist mystery Stok Guru Tsechu, about 50 km every day, elevation 3,600 m.
Presence and photography at the Buddhist festival Stok Guru Tsechu in the Buddhist monastery Stok Gonpa.
The celebration is accompanied by the Dances of Tsam and the communion of trained monks with the spirits through the oracle.
Since the holiday takes place around the clock, these two days will be very eventful - events, photography, emotions.
For information:
The sacred rite ritual dance Tsam dance Lamas dressed in solemn costumes and masks depicting gods.
In essence, Tsam is a dance-meditation, during which the gods come to life, as it were, in the minds of not only Lamas, but also pilgrims and are present at the feast together with all believers.

Cham dance is an extraordinary magic, the action is fascinating.

The characters of the Tsam Dance are very unusual, for example, one of the most joyful dances is performed by the Skeletons or the Lords of the Cemeteries.

And this is the Buddhist mystery Stok Guru Tsechu in 2019 - a little video:

Hotel in Leh.

Day 5, February 11: Buddhist monasteries Payang, Likir, Basgo, about 120 km, elevation 3,600 - 3,400 m.
In the morning we will visit the ellbqcrbt monasteries of Payang and Basgo.

The Buddhist Monastery of Payang, Payang Gompa, was built in the 16th century, roughly in 1515.

The monastery belongs to the school of Buddhism Drigung-pa.
Known for the collection of ancient sculptures depicting Buddhist deities, incredible landscapes around the gonpa - the endless pile of white Buddhist stupor chortens:

We will also take a walk to the incredibly beautiful ice stupa - a new system of water conservation and irrigation in Ladakh, and in general we will go through the surroundings.

After exploring the Piang monastery, we will stop for lunch to visit our friend in the village of Piang - drink hot traditional Buddhist tea with homemade cakes, see how Ladakhs live in winter, visit the home prayer room.

The next point of our route is the Basgo Monastery, Basgo Gompa - built in 1680 by the rulers of the Namgyal dynasty, but the town of Basgo has been known since antiquity and is mentioned in the Ladakh Chronicles as a political and cultural center and former capital of Lower Ladakh.
The monastery is famous for the unique frescoes of the XVI century and the statue of Buddha.
Basgo Gompa stands on steep cliffs and has an amazing panorama of the surroundings.

Basgo Monastery itself is very unusual in its stone beauty: sometimes it is difficult to make out - where the rocks end and the monastery itself begins, which naturally grew into claret rocks.

And at the end of the day we will visit the Likir Buddhist monastery.
Buddhist monastery Likir, Likir Gompa was built in the 11th century.
Literally, the name of the Monastery means “surrounded by Nagas” (giant spirits-spirits), it is believed that the monastery is entwined with the bodies of two Nagas - Nando and Taksako.
According to legends, the fifth king of Ladakh, Lachen Gyalpo, chose a place for him.
Currently belongs to the Gelugpa sect and follows the commandments of Tsongkhapa.
Today, about 120 monks live in the monastery and about 30 students study.
Here is the richest collection of tank (Tibetan icons), sculptures and other objects of art, work by skilled craftsmen who transfer their work to young people.

Likir has a unique location - it literally dominates the surrounding space and the huge Buddha statue next to it is visible from afar.

Hotel in Leh.

Day 6, February 12: The monasteries of Tiksi and Stakna, Shay Gonpa and White Stupas of Naropa, about 50 km, altitude 3,600-3,800 m.
Early in the morning we go to the morning puja (service) at the Buddhist monastery Tiksi Gonpa - one of the largest and most ancient monasteries-cities of Ladakh.

Morning puja in the monastery of Tiksi Gonpa is an opportunity to attend an authentic religious ceremony and not just visit, but also take pictures.
This is an incredibly beautiful sight:
the light in Gonpa falls from the windows located near the ceiling and all the worshipers find in sheaves of rays.

By the way, during the puja we will drink delicious salty Tibetan tea - real, like everything that happens around.

After the puja we wander around the monastery, there are a lot of interesting things, we walk around the monastery:
Tiksi Gompa just glows in the winter light.

After the Tiksi Gompa, we stop at a small, but very pretty Boutanovsky monastery of Stakna.

Or rather, we first drive upstream the Indus River to photograph the Stakna Monastery from the floodplain of the river, there is a wonderful film set of the current, and then we turn to Indu and across the bridge to Stakna.

Then we ride along the roads of Ladakh, visit the White Stupas of Naropa, located near the Shay Gonpa monastery.
We wander at sunset among the White Stupas, hang out in time, take pictures of winter alpine landscapes.

In the afternoon sun, there is simply a magnificent light:

Late in the evening - lunch in a Tibetan family:
our friends will take us to a real Tibetan home and feed local food.
You can try Tibetan food, look and feel how people live in the winter highlands, take pictures of Ladakhi portraits in their home — this is something that is rarely available to tourists.
Hotel in Leh.

Days 7 - 8, February 13-14 : Mato Monastery, the Buddhist mystery Matho Nagrang, about 50 km each day, elevation 3,600 m.
These two days we will spend in the unique Buddhist monastery of Mato Gonpa.
The Nagano Mato Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the first month of the Tibetan calendar, in Mato Monastery, the only monastery of the Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism in Ladakh.
During the two days of the festival, masked dances are performed by the monks of the monastery, who are dressed in bright silk clothes and masks in various forms of gods and goddesses.

The festival is famous for the fact that during its holding two oracles appear after a month of meditation (in complete isolation).
The oracles are accompanied by masked dances and the prediction of future events and the fate of people coming from afar (especially for consultation, for prediction, to perform rituals, etc.).
For information:
During the two days of the Matto Nagrang holiday, the monks who are in a trance answer the questions of the pilgrims and predict the events of the coming year.
Sometimes they demonstrate amazing superhuman abilities, running with closed eyes along the edge of the high roofs and fences of the monastery, inflicting terrible bloody wounds with ritual knives.
The next day, the injuries disappear without a trace.

Photographing oracles is prohibited, but before the ceremony, you can go to the reception in a special room where there are oracles and get the blessing of the oracle.
But we found this photo with an oracle on the Internet, the author is unknown, was most likely photographed on the phone, but the photo actually reflects the state of the oracle during the Cham Dance:

Hotel in Leh.

Day 9, February 15: Zanskar river, ice trekking.
Let this day be a surprise.
But what we will see today - honestly, will be remembered for a lifetime.

Hotel in Leh.

Day 10, February 16: Flight Leh - Delhi. Excursion in Delhi.
In the morning we go to the airport and fly to Delhi.
We are once again waiting for a wonderful photograph of the mountain chains of Ladakh from the height of an airplane flight.

Program completion and transfer to New Delhi International Airport.
Night departure from New Delhi airport to the motherland.

From Ilona Kryzhanovskaya:
I first filmed a video camera at the Winter Mystery in Ladakh, in Stok Gonpe in 2011.
There were a lot of impressions then, and if we add to this that I was holding the video camera for the first time in my hands, the quality of this first video will not cause questions).
And, nevertheless, I post this video here, because it gives some idea of where we are going and what we will meet with.

An important addition!
Winter in Ladakh is a very interesting time, and only in winter in Ladakh can you see Retreats for Prostrations:
this is when almost full villages gather and, stretching every three steps, go to the monasteries.
This is a very significant event - we will talk a lot about Retreats during the tour.
Ladakhs of all ages take part in retreats, and even just to look at it - like little old Tibetan grandmothers with prayer drums in their hands, stretching to the monastery and singing mantras - already gives incredible strength in life.

In the meantime, just a video of one of these retreats:

And, perhaps, we will be completely lucky and one day (for example, on the second day of one of the mysteries) the weather will develop and we will go to look at the winter Lake Pangong - this opportunity is also laid on the tour:

In general - we are preparing this tour as winter adventures in Ladakh).
We invite you!