Himalayan mountaineering and temple running - Part 1

It was the days leading up to a long mountaineering expedition in the Himalayas and we were jobless. We'd scour the city of Leh for things to pass our time.

The gear was ready, but time didn't pass

Lucky for us, Leh has quite a lot to offer

It's an interesting town, the former capital seat of power of the Himalayan kingdom, now a bustling city full of locals and mountaineers who's acclimatising (and some hippies getting high). The city used to be the residence of the Ladakhi royal family, but after they moved out the palace is mostly a tourist spot; same palace that used to be the residence of the Dalai Lama. Definitely one of the most amazing places I've had the chance to visit

To pass time we drove out of the city, whirling down crooked roads and passes, slowly leaving all signs of metropolis that the modest city of Leh somehow encompassed. The nature in the area is barren and astonishing; it will make even the biggest of people feel tiny.

Tucked away on top of a hill is Thiksey monastery, ancient and humbling. The approach is circling nearer the hilltop and the contrast between the bright Ladakhi skies and the darkness of the indoors is striking.

These giant statuettes of lions were guarding the entrances to the monastery, which still housed around 60 monks practicing their beliefs in these beautiful settings. The place was, like the lions, incredibly beautifully decorated throughout.

Nearly all of the walls were decorated with paintings of fauna and fantastical animals both from around the monastery and from their stories. They were all incredibly well kept and hand painted.

Inside of the rooms a multitude of religious statues were spread throughout; I only have pictures of the idols in the outer rooms as it was (understandably) frowned upon to photograph in the inner chambers. This figures ranged from a few feet to several meters in size.

In some of the rooms tens of individual idols lined the walls. Many of them had cash donations and prayers neatly put in front of them from passing visitors

His holyness himself had a simple shrine prepared in one of the rooms.

We spent days going back and forth between the city of Leh and the different temples and the nature surrounding it whilst waiting to begin the trek. Here we'd walked up to some stupas on another hilltop and the perspective going back down was amazing.

Definitely a very worthwhile trip that has since made me chase the mountains again and again. We should all just put down our phones and laptops, and head straight to the wild