Today is an easy day. As we had cancelled our hike to the 2nd pass we were more or less free today. Sid came to pick us up at 9.15 am. We then drove to the Alchi monastery. Ringchen got down on the way to go back to his village.
Alchi is one of the oldest monasteries in Ladakh. The
monastery was crowded with monks and nuns due to the Kalachakra. It has 2-3
temples with different deities of Buddhism – Manjushri, Buddha, Avalokiteshvara
etc. None of the temples were renovated since it was built in the 2nd
century A.D. So the paintings on the walls were almost dark coloured. Still you
get the feeling of somewhere in the old times when we stand inside the temples.
Afterwards we moved to Leh. Deep got down at the entrance to Leh. And Sid
dropped us at Gangba. It was nice to be back to something familiar again.
We had a hot shower, unpacked our bags and rested till
evening. Then we went to the town to just walk around and have dinner. Bru was
very keen to have a beer. After a long search we found a restaurant which sells
alcohols till evening. It was a dark unimpressive place. I didn’t like it. So I
told him that we will have the drink here and move to some other place for
dinner. Bru ordered a beer and I had a lemon soda. I didn’t feel like drinking
as I was planning to go to Kalachakra the next day. Also I didn’t feel like
drinking in Leh. May be due to the religious nature dur to the presence of
monasteries, I found Leh little bit sacred.
After finishing the drink we went ot have dinner at a roof
top restaurant in the main square. While waiting for the food I felt some
uneasiness in the stomach. Midway between the dinner I told Bru that I would
like to go back as my stomach is feeling uneasy. We decided to go back to the
homestay. When we reached the homestay both of us had problems with loose
motion. I think the culprit could be the first restaurant where we had our
drinks. I doubt the glass was not clean. Luckily the problem was not severe.
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