The next morning we made our way back to our home for the vacation, Leh, however not before passing by even more charming scenes of the Shyok river along the way.
We had a slow day and then headed off to Leh to explore the town a bit more. We headed to the bazaar that housed Jokhang, a small Gonpa that is quite literally the spiritual heart of Leh with the lanes heading outward from it into the Leh town. It was probably the one place that had a lot of devotees of all ages on the steps outside chanting to themselves while counting prayer beads. We first hesitantly stepped in as the monks were in prayer, but soon an older monk nudged us to spend more time inside and really see the idols in all their beauty. 
Once outside we walked around the place, rotated the prayer wheels, sat for a bit thinking of the last days of the trip and then headed back into the hustle of the market.
Another spot on our itinerary was the Leh Mosque, also very well within the market itself. It was undergoing renovation and we were only finally able to find it when a storekeeper took us all the way up the under-construction stairs to the prayer room there. On seeing us being unsure of the etiquette to follow, he kindly urged us that we wouldn’t offend anyone and could make a visit. It was a beautifully carpeted room that was otherwise simple. What caught our attention were copies of the Quran decorated in an intricate script. We sat there a while in the calm spot amidst the market noises and then made our way back. Outside it’s completely cement covered and with scaffolding at this point. I daresay it will be a different sight in a few months.
The bylanes of the Leh market are endlessly entertaining- we saw everything from freshly prepared yoghurt and butter, to clothes being dyed, to stores carrying souvenirs, silver jewellery and fabrics, to fresh peaches and radishes sold on the street.
The next day while 2 of our group headed back, the rest of us headed to the Leh Palace from the 17th century AD. At first glance, it’s both very simple having been constructed with stones, wood, mud and sand and majestic at the same time. 
It has 9 storeys, each reached via narrow steps which the ASI has done a good job in using to showcase the history of the place with everything from ceremonial dresses, ornaments and the paintings made of crushed stones and gems.
The upper floors were used by the royal family to live in and appropriately has balconies that provide a panoramic view of Leh, the Ladakh mountain range and the Zanskar mountain ranges. They even have a video showing the history of the place, it’s stories and its reconstruction that’s worth a watch.
Our next stop was the Sankar Gompa. The door to the inner sanctuary was closed, do note that it opens up only early in the morning or evening. 
We, therefore, missed quite an impressive deity with 1000 hands holding various weapons and 1000 heads.
We rested a bit in the assembly hall just outside that was painted with detailed murals in vivid, rich colours. The well-loved garden lit up with the flowers in brilliant shades. 
We then headed to the Shanti stupa, its location and brilliant white colour against the arid background makes it hard to miss even from afar. 
It has 2 levels each with stories painted on the walls. The first level has relatively simple art with 2 deer sitting on either side of the Ashoka chakra and Budhhas image atop it. 
The second level showcases the birth and life of Buddha until his death. 
It was constructed by the Buddhists with the help of the Ladakhis who volunteered labour thereby making it a true work of love.
We ended the day yet again amongst the people of Ladakh trying to absorb as much as we could in the sights, food and sounds of its market. It happened to be the day of Muharram and the area was filled with security personnel with weapons. Hence, coincidentally, starting and ending our trip with the army. One only hopes this little pocket of delicate life amongst the arid mountains that has both harsh weather and the kindest people continues to be a haven of peace for the times to come.
Further ahead and Skarma very kindly stopped to let us have a go at a snow fight. 
This was a terribly one-sided battle with all of us on one side with our snowballs getting powdered even before we threw them and him, the mountain dude on the other side aiming at us with lethal precision and robust snow missiles! With hands freezing and getting even more out of breath with laughter, we left the place swearing to get back at him on our way back.
Something that’s quintessentially Karnataka. Much amused we enquired with the owner and he said he had just learnt it online. We enjoyed all the other dishes too. When he came after we were done, he enquired about the dish and himself said that we may not have liked it because it missed one key ingredient- curry leaves. Finding yummy chitranna with peanuts when travelling the Himalayas was enough of a delicious miracle for us, expecting curry leaves was too much even for his level of dedication to try to cook it for us! Adding to the ambience was their cute daughter who spent the time playing peekaboo with us and the friendly dogs around who chilled out in the sun during the few hours of relative warmth.
Just a few meters before we reached the top to Deskit Gompa, a tire of our car decided to get punctured! Much to Skarma’s amusement, with everyone pitching in, we were done with the tyre change in just a few minutes. The 32-meter statue of the Maitreya Buddha in vivid colours is visible well before you reach the place in stark contrast to the surroundings in neutral hues. 
The monastery is one of the oldest and largest in the Nubra valley and while monasteries are almost always atop craggy hills, it still never fails to make you wonder how they were even constructed there.
And despite its beauty, what was truly wondrous to me was a little kitten that came directly to me and like one’s supposed to, we proceeded to pet it for the rest of our time there. 
We spent some time in the prayer halls and temples within the monastery and slowly made our way back.
Ah well , we’ll deal with Skarma when he comes to visit us in the warm plains on our own home ground – maybe in a dosa-eating contest, another battle for another time.
Just a few stairs up passing by prayer wheels and monks’ living quarters, we reached the courtyard and entered the temple on one side of it. The temple was unlike any we had seen before. It had a very large statue of Maitreya Buddha 15 meters tall where you could see only the shoulder upward and the rest seemed to emerge out of the floor from a storey below to grace us with its presence. The idol had an intricate crown with each section having one diety with its own details bordered with more patterns. It was housed inside a hall with paintings of the stories of Budhha in vivid colours. The wooden pillars held up an equally colourful ceiling.
The predominantly red and white walls of the courtyard and the paintings there presented a brilliant contrast to the beautiful skies in blue.
Inside the assembly hall is when I first noticed the small sculptures made of barley and butter that would be made as offerings to the deity – it was a tradition unique to Tibetan Buddhism.
The 
We even had a few birds making their way along its surface. 
The water, the prayer flags, the mountains of the Changchenmo range and the stacked stones will be a snapshot of the Pangong lake that will stay on with us. R and G took the most lovely pictures in the Ladakhi costume as an apt souvenir from the location. Skarma, our driver, was right to huddle us to the water instead of letting us check-in to the hotel, because quickly, without warning, the sun-set and it was instantly too cold, windy and dark for pictures or to stay by the water.
Before we left, Skarma took us to another viewpoint to the Pangong lake, this time with no other people around and a spot of lavender coloured blossoms. It was the perfect location to watch the gentle ripples and practice skipping stones on the water. We sat by the lovely blue water this time the sunlight a little kinder to us , enjoying our time there before bidding farewell to yet another memorable scene at Ladakh.
We have everything from souvenirs for tourists, silver jewellery to fresh peaches and apricots, but what really got our attention was a chalkboard with a dish that called out to us like no other- Pani Puri! We were so thrilled to have that sweet, spicy and sour favourite that we re-visited the place every evening that we were at Leh. We’d recommend exploring the bylanes of the Leh market- every turn had something interesting to see.
However, it is by the banks of the Indus so we sat a while and watched the mountains and the water gurgling by.
And there it was, our very first view of the perfect oasis amongst the arid mountains and the sands. 
Kyagar Tso, a saline water lake in the Rupshu valley, much smaller than Tsomoriri but we instantly fell in love with it. Since we visited Ladakh at the fag end of the season, there was nobody else around. There were a few wild horses grazing nonchalantly, a cold wind, the golden grassland, the ubiquitous mountains, the perfect sky and us. 
Though small, possibly since it seemed like a reward at the end of a long journey or because of the isolated place that almost seemed like one we had discovered ourselves, this was my favourite among the lakes we’d see on this trip. We spent some time dancing completely out of step and soaking in the surroundings but just because of the cold were soon driven back to the relative comfort of our car.
The place is windy, very windy which means the cold is also amplified as much. However, it felt incredibly unspoilt because there were absolutely no other tourists.
We sat by a stacked pile of stones watching the unmoving water, a huge herd of furry goats with their shepherd, the cerulean blue skies with picture perfect clouds and the unchanging part of the scenery throughout- the rugged mountains.
More company of the gurgling Indus and we reached what now felt like home, the town of Leh.
While it’s intended to instil a sense of pride and patriotism, all I felt was despondency at the sheer futility of war and the tragedy of lost lives of extremely young men in such a violent manner. Specifically, a quote by the Dalai Lama that I saw at a monastery later put the thought well in brief “Since armies are legal, we feel that war is acceptable….” (You can read more 
Incidentally just as we ordered, we had an impromptu performance by a gentleman on guitar of 
Needless to say, I had the best birthday cake cutting celebration ever! Friends, music, laughter and your name in minty fresh tiny granules- one really can’t ask for much more from life. We enjoyed our food leisurely (we’d recommend the mok mok/dumplings and the apricot walnut saffron tea) exchanging rip-roaring wedding stories and doubling up in laughter. Some shopping from the stalls on the way later, walking through an alley, we got to the Alchi Gompa.
Even the clothes of the idols have stories from Buddhist lore drawn on them. The towering idols in the small chambers of the shrine make them somehow even more imposing than otherwise.
We decided to distribute the cake to the cab drivers who had all parked there waiting for their tourists to return. To my surprise, they broke out into singing a happy birthday and then insisted on a picture with us!
And that’s exactly how dear folks, a perfect birthday gets a cherry on top.
