Rishikesh
The last few months in India my health and productivity were waning from exhaustion. By the time I reached Rishikesh I was in very low gear and not engaging with people so much, except for with a few friends I was grateful to have around. Focus was going too… Definitely time to go home and [...]
Hampi
The ruins of the Vijayanagara Empire at Hampi are just spectacular. India at its best. Hampi on Wikipedia Hampi on UNESCO
Good Day at Stondge
After the teachings I headed to Stondge (pronounced Ton-day) Gompa, which has to be the coolest monastery in all of Ladakh and Zanskar. It sits high atop a ridge in a surreally beautiful mountain range and has the most spectacular views of Zanskar I’ve seen. Like Karsha Monastery, Stondge belongs to the Gelugpa (yellow hat) [...]
Lamayuru Festival
Lamayuru is one of my favorite places in Ladakh. It’s a beautiful village with an amazing monastery set in a totally surreal mountain landscape. I went to the monastery’s annual festival last weekend. Masked dances (chams) enacting themes from Tibetan mythology are the center stage of these festivals and the house is always packed. (Thankfully, [...]
12th Century Meditation Cave
Over the past few days I’ve traveled by bus to Saspol, a sweet little village about two hours from Leh, to photograph this meditation cave. The mountainside above Saspol is dotted with meditation caves and thankfully they’re off the tourist circuit. The one shown here is the largest and contains 12th century murals on all [...]
Future Buddha
Thiksey Monastery is one of the biggest and wealthiest in Ladakh. It’s of the Gelugpa order (same as the Dalai Lama) and has over 100 monks in residence. This is the three-story, 45 foot Maitreya (Future) Buddha by Ladakhi artist Nawang Tsering. It’s the queen bee of Buddhist sculptures here and probably the most iconic [...]
Stupas at Shey
About 15 km from Leh near Shey Palace there’s a large field with hundreds of stupas in various states of erosion. Stupas are built to offer respect to the Buddha; some house physical relics of the Buddha, mantras on paper or other objects. Apparently the ones at Shey were built by people as a form [...]
Nizamuddin Dargah
I spent two days in Delhi before flying to Ladakh. The first day I slept and the second day I visited Nizamuddin, a poor Muslim area in southern Delhi. At the heart of Nizamuddin is the shrine of the famous Indian Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin, who died in 1325 and was a member of the [...]
