Zanskar Trek Rangdum to Phuktal 24 Days & 23 Nights Zanskar Dream Trek

Package Itinerary

• Day 1 Delhi – Leh flight, Arrive at Leh (3,600 m), Airport pickup, Check into Hotel, Relax.

  Welcome to Leh, after your long flight from your hometown to Delhi, and meet with us at Leh airport. Most of the flight arrives in Leh in the morning time and the rest of the day is free to relax and acclimatize to the altitude of 3,600 m as well as visit Leh bazaar.
  
• Day 2 Leh Acclimatize: Sight-seeing Shanti Stupa, Leh Palace, Tsemo Gompa, Spituk

  Today sightseeing around Leh, visit the Royal Palace of Leh from the 16th century, and continue through the fields of Sankar monastery, which adjoins north Leh. Continue to the Shanti Stupa and finally end your day with a visit to Spituk Gompa. Our driver will pick you up from the hotel at 8:30 am after breakfast. Finish your day before lunch and you will have time to go for lunch at Leh Market.
  
  LEH PALACE
  Leh Palace, also known as Lachen Palkar Palace, is a former royal palace overlooking the city of Leh in Ladakh UT, India. It was constructed circa 1600 AD by Sengge Namgyal. The palace was abandoned when Dogra forces took control of Ladakh in the mid-19th century and forced the royal family to move to Stok Palace. It is nine storeys high; the upper floors accommodated the royal family, while the lower floors held stables and store rooms. Much of the palace is in deteriorated condition, and little survives of its interior decorations.
  The Palace Museum holds a rich collection of jewellery, ornaments, ceremonial dresses and crowns. Tibetan thangka or paintings, which are more than 450 years old, with intricate designs still retain the bright colours derived from crushed and powdered gems and stones. Structures around the palace's base include the prominent Namgyal Stupa, the colourfully muraled Chandazik Gompa Avalokitevara, and the 1430 Chamba Lhakhang (Maitreya Buddha) with medieval mural fragments located between the inner and outer walls.  

  SPITUK MONASTERY
  Spituk Monastery, also known as Spituk Gompa or Pethup Gompa, is a Buddhist monastery in Spituk, Leh, in Ladakh UT, 8 km from Leh. The site of Spituk was blessed by the Arhat Nyimagung. It was founded by Od-de, the elder brother of Lha Lama Changchub Od, when he came to Maryul in the 11th century. He introduced the monastic community. When Lotsewa (translator) Rinchen Zangpo came, he said that an exemplary religious community would arise there, and so the monastery was called spituk (exemplary). During the time of Dharma raja Gragspa Bum-Ide the monastery was restored by Lama Lhawang Lodos and the order of Tsonkhapa was introduced and it has remained intact as such till present. Founded as a Red Hat institution, the monastery was taken over by the Gelugpa (Yellow Hat sect) in the 15th century.
  The monastery is home to 100 monks and a giant statue of Kali (unveiled during the annual festival).
  Every year the Gustor Festival is held at Spituk from the 27th to 29th day in the eleventh month of the Tibetan calendar.
• Day 3 Leh Acclimatize: Sight-seeing Shey, Thiksey, Stakna, Hemis & Matho.

  A full day of sightseeing and visiting the most important place in around the Indus Valley. You will have a guide for this day trip, especially for Gompa. There are many places to visit but we have chosen five sights which are suitable for a day trip. Leaving from the hotel at 8:30 am after breakfast you will visit first Shey Palace, then Thiksey. Thiksey monastery, which is at a distance of 27 km from Hemis, this monastery is the oldest monastery of Gelugpa School in Ladakh. The great Lama Paldan Shesrap built it in the 14th century. Here you can see the big statue of the Future Buddha.  Continue to Taktok and Chemdey and return to visit Hemis monastery which is 45 km far from Leh and it takes a 90-minute drive. The great Mahasiddha Staktsang Raspa along with great ancestor Singey Namgyal built this biggest monastery in the 16th century. Continue to Matho then we drive to Stok which is situated opposite Leh at a distance of 14 km, Stok visits of Royal Palace built in 1825 AD and the palace has great collections of antiquity. Continue to visit Matho situated 10 km from Stok, which has a 10th-century complex. Finally back to Leh and final preparation for trek.
  
  SHEY PALACE
  Shey Monastery or Gompa or the Shey Palace are complex structures located on a hillock in Shey, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) to the south of Leh in Ladakh Union Territory, northern India on the Leh-Manali road. Shey was the summer capital of Ladakh in the past. It contains a huge Shakyamuni Buddha statue. It is the second largest Buddha statue in Ladakh.

  The original palace, now in ruins, was built near the Shey village by Lhachen Palgyigon, the king of Ladakh (then called Maryul), in the 10th century. The Moghul noble Mirza Haidar Dughlat stayed here during his invasion of Ladakh in the 16th century.

  The current Shey Palace and Monastery were also built in 1655 on the instructions of Deldan Namgyal, in the memory of his late father, Sengge Namgyal, below the first palace. The monastery is noted for its giant copper with gilded gold statue of a seated Shakyamuni Buddha. The statue is so named since Buddha was the sage (muni) of the Sakya people who resided in the Himalayan foothills and their capital was Kapilvastu. It is said to be the second largest such statue in Ladakh.

  Shey was the old capital of the upper Ladakh region. When the Dogras of Jammu invaded Ladakh in 1842, the Namgyals abandoned the palace and fled to Stok (they made it their permanent residence) on the opposite side of the Indus River. It is conjectured that the fort found in ruins, not dated, above the present palace at Shey, belonged to this period of invasion. Subsequently, when the political dictates necessitated shifting of the capital to Leh, even then the importance of Shey continued since it was a mandatory requirement of the Namgyal kings to father their heir apparent here. Wikipedia…
  
  THIKSEY MONASTERY
  Thiksey Monastery or Thiksey monastery affiliated with the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. It is located on top of a hill in Thiksey approximately 19 kilometres (12 mi) east of Leh, in the Ladakh region of northern India. It is noted for its resemblance to the Potala Palace in Lhasa Tibet, and is the largest monastery in central Ladakh, notably containing a separate set of buildings for female renunciates that has been the source of significant recent building and reorganization.
  The monastery is located at an altitude of 3,600 metres (11,800 ft) in the Indus Valley. It is a twelve-storey complex and houses many items of Buddhist art such as stupas, statues, thangkas, wall paintings and swords. One of the main points of interest is the Maitreya Temple installed to commemorate the visit of the 14th Dalai Lama to this monastery in 1970; it contains a 15 metres (49 ft) high statue of Maitreya, the largest such statue in Ladakh, covering two stories of the building.
  In the early 15th century, Je Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug School—often called "the Yellow Hats"—sent six of his disciples to remote regions of Tibet to spread the teachings of the new school. Tsongkhapa gave one of his disciples, Jangsem Sherap Zangpo (shes rab bzang po), a small statue of Amitayus (the sambhogakaya form of Amitabha), containing bone powder and a drop of Tsongkhapa's own blood. Tsongkhapa directed him to meet the King of Ladakh with a message seeking his help in the propagation of Buddhism.
  The King, who was then staying in the Nubra Valley near Shey, loved the gift of the statue. After this meeting, the King directed his minister to help Sherab Zangpo to establish a monastery of the Gelug order in Ladakh. As a result, in 1433, Zangpo founded a small village monastery called Lhakhang Serpo "Yellow Temple" in Stagmo, north of the Indus. In spite of his efforts, the lamas who embraced the Gelug order were initially few, although some of his disciples became eminent figures over the years.
  In the mid 15th century, Palden Zangpo continued the monastic work started by his teacher, Sherab Zangpo. He decided to build a larger monastery here that was dictated by an unusual event that occurred while choosing a site. Legends narrate that Tsongkhapa had predicted that his doctrine would prosper on the right bank of the Indus River. This prediction came true when the Thiksey Monastery was established. This was followed by others such as Spituk Monastery and Likir Monastery, which are also situated on the right bank of the Indus.
  According to legend, Sherab Zangpo and Palden Zangpo were performing sacred rituals near the Yellow Temple. The torma offerings were then taken to a rock outcrop to be thrown down to the valley. As they were about to throw the torma into the valley, two crows appeared and carried away the ceremonial plate with the offering of torma. They then placed the torma at a location on the other side of the hill. When Palden Zangpo and his disciples began looking for the torma, they reached Thiksey, where they found that the crow had placed the torma on a stone in perfect order and in an undisturbed condition. Palden took this finding as a divine directive to build the monastery there. Source Wikipedia…
  
  

  STAKNA MONASTERY
  Stakna Monastery or Stakna Gompa is a Buddhist monastery of the Drugpa sect in Stakna, Leh, Ladakh Union Territory, northern India, 21 or 25 kilometres from Leh on the left bank of the Indus River.
  It was founded in the late 16th century by a Bhutanese scholar and saint, Chosje Modzin. The name, literally meaning 'tiger's nose' was given because it was built on a hill shaped like a tiger's nose. Of note is a sacred Arya Avalokitesvara statue from Kamrum, Assam. Stakna has a residence of approximately 30 monks.
  It is the only Bhutanese Drukpa Kagyu monastery in Ladakh, headed by the Je Khenpo in Bhutan, whereas the other Drukpa monasteries in Ladakh are of the Gyalang Drukp's school, based at Hemis. This split in the Drukpa Kagyu lineage occurred in the 17th century when there was a dispute over who was the true reincarnation of the 4th Gyalwang Drukpa. Wikipedia…
  
  HEMIS MONASTERY
  Hemis Monastery is a Himalayan monastery (gompa) of the Drukpa Lineage, in Hemis on the bank of the Indus River, Ladakh UT, India. Situated 45 km from Leh, it was re-established in 1672 by the Ladakhi king Sengge Namgyal. The annual Hemis festival honouring Padmasambhava is held there in early June.

  Hemis village is located 40 km southeast of Leh on Leh-Manali Highway and under-construction Bhanupli – Leh line. Hemis Monastery existed before the 11th century.

  In 1894 Russian journalist Nicalas Notovitch claimed Hemis as the origin of an otherwise unknown gospel, the Life of Saint Issa, Best of the Sons of Men, in which Jesus is said to have travelled to India during his 'lost years'. According to Notovitch, the work had been preserved in the Hemis library and was shown to him by the monks there while he was recuperating from a broken leg, and his Sherpa guide translated it for him. Notovich's version of the manuscript was translated from Tibetan to Russian to French to English. However, historians view Notovitch as having fabricated the evidence, which he allegedly admitted himself. Bible scholar Bart D. Ehrman states that "Today there is not a single recognized scholar on the planet who has any doubts about the matter. The entire story was invented by Notovitch, who earned a good deal of money and a substantial amount of notoriety for his hoax."

  The Indian Pandit Swami Abhedananda claims to have read the same manuscript and published his account of viewing it after his visit to Hemis in 1921. Abhedananda claims on the book jacket that it was translated for him with the help of a "local Lama interpreter", and it substantially matched Notovich's publication. After Abhedananda's death, one of his disciples said that when he went to the monastery to ask about the documents, he was told that they had disappeared.

  The Hemis Festival is dedicated to Lord Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche), revered as the representative reincarnate of Buddha. He is believed to have been born on the 10th day of the fifth month (non or jyestha) of the Monkey year of the Tibetan calender, as predicted by the Buddha Shakyamuni. It is also believed that his life mission was, and remains, to improve the spiritual condition of all living beings. Therefore, on this day, which comes once in a cycle of 12 years, Hemis observes a major extravaganza in his memory. The observance of these sacred rituals is believed to provide spiritual strength and good health. The Hemis festival takes place in the rectangular courtyard in front of the main door of the monastery. The space is wide and open, save for two raised square platforms, three feet high with a sacred pole in the center. A raised dais with a richly cushioned seat, a finely painted small Tibetan table, and ceremonial items – cups full of holy water, uncooked rice, and tormas made of dough and butter, along with incense sticks – are placed. A number of musicians play traditional music with four pairs of cymbals, large-pan drums, small trumpets, and large-sized wind instruments. Next to them, a small space is assigned for the lamas to sit.

  The ceremonies begin with an early morning ritual atop the gompa, where, to the beat of drums, the resounding clash of cymbals, and the spiritual wail of pipes, the portrait of "Dadmokarpo" or "Rygyalsras Rinpoche" is ceremoniously displayed for all to admire and worship.

  The most esoteric festivities include the mystic mask dances. The mask dances of Ladakh are collectively referred to as chams performances. Chams performances are essentially part of the Tantric tradition, performed only in those gompas that follow the Tantric Vajrayana teachings, and the monks perform tantric worship. Wikipedia…
  
  MATHO MONASTERY
  Matho Monastery, or Matho Gonpa or Mangtro Monastery or Mangtro Gonpa, from the Tibetan "mang" that means "many" and "tro" that means "happiness", is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery located 26 kilometres southeast of Leh in Ladakh UT, northern India, on the banks of the Indus River. The village of Matho is located at the mouth of a deep gorge running out of the Zanskar Range and across the Indus. It is directly opposite Thikse Monastery.

  Matho and Skidmang in the eastern Ladakh (130 km to the east of Leh) are the only example in Ladakh of the Sakyapa sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Because Matho does not lie on the main highway from Leh, it sees fewer visitors than Hemis, Thiske or Shey. However, it is known to outsiders for its annual Oracle Matho Nagrang Festival, held on the 14th and 15th days of the first month of the Tibetan calendar. During this festival, two oracles, known as "Rongtsan", are said to inhabit for a few hours the body of two monks. The purpose of these oracles is to attempt to predict the fortunes of the local village communities for the coming year. Two monk that are to be the oracles vehicles are chosen every three years by the monks of the monastery for a duration of 3 years. The first year the monks will have to meditate for 9 months before the festival. The following two years the meditation will last 2 months. When the two monk come out from the retreat, all the monks will gather together to form a circle. The names of the two monks will be placed in a bowl. The bowl is then sealed and passed from one monk to the next until one name comes out from the bowl - this monk is chosen by the monastery's protector to perform the oracle.

  Matho is also home to a collection of thangkas dating back to the 14th century.
  Founded in 1410 by Lama Dugpa Dorje, it belongs to the Sakya Order. It is noted for its six-hundred-year-old thangkas and its Matho Nagrang Festival.

  The gompa is the only one in Ladakh belonging to the Sakyapa and is said to be one of the few which is seeing an increase of monks in recent years.

  Most of the buildings are rather dilapidated but there is a new assembly hall or du-khang which was built in 2005 and which has very colourful paintings and a Sakyamuni Buddha as main statue. There is a small chapel on the top story containing images of Sakya Pandita and other Sakya lamas. There is a 'museum' adjoining it with a number of very beautiful old thangkas, some of which are thought to have been brought from Tibet in the first half of the 15th century when the monastery was founded. Unfortunately, many of them are very worn. The masks and robes worn by the lamas in the annual dance festival may also be seen in the museum.
  
  The annual festival of the two Rongtsan oracles takes place around the Buddhist new year, usually in the first half of March. Two monk are chosen every three years to get ready as the potential receptacles. They purify themselves with months of fasting and meditation to make themselves suitable receptacles for receiving the oracles spirits. When possessed they are said to be able to perform many astounding feats such as cutting themselves with knives and walking around the ramparts of the top storey blindfolded with no fear of falling down the precipice below. While in this trance state they answer questions about the prospects for Matho and Ladakh for the coming year as well as personal questions put to them by individuals. However, if skeptical questions are put to the oracle to test him, he is said to react "with a frenzied display of anger."

  
  
• Day 4 Drive Mulbekh, cross Namika La (3820m).
• Day 5 Drive Kargil, Suru Valley & Rangdum Zanskar, Pass Nun Kun Peaks & Glaciers, visiti Rangdum Gonpa.
• Day 6 Trek Yak Camp
• Day 7 Trek Base Camp Pikdong La (4400 m)
• Day 8 Trek Pikdong la (5029m) - Dibling doksa (4200m) - Dibling (4000m)
• Day 9 Trek Lingshed Sumdo (3680m)
• Day 10 Trek Barmi la (4694m) – Lanang Sumdo (4000m)
• Day 11 Trek Zingchen (3370 m) via Hanuma La (4700m)
• Day 12 Trek Hanumil (3400 m) via Perfi La (3900m)
• Day 13 Trek Pidmo (3420m) – Zangla River camp.
• Day 14 Zangla River Camp & Central Zanskar Day Trip visit Thongde – Karsha – Sani - Padum (3,600m).
• Day 15 Trek Tsazar Doksa Sumdo (3,900 m).
• Day 16 Trek Pandang La High camp (4,450 m).
• Day 17 Trek Yangdam Chen (4,220 m) Cross Pandang La (5,110 m)
• Day 18 Trek Mitsik Doksa (4,285 m), Cross Liyu La (4,375 m) & Lar La (4,690 m)
• Day 19 Trek Shade (4,220 m) via Rotang La (4,900 m)
• Day 20 Trek Yatah hidden camp (4,000 m)
• Day 21 Trek Phuktal (3,900 m), Drive Purne (3,800m)
• Day 22 Purne – Manali via Shinku La (5090 m).
• Day 23 Manali to Delhi private taxi or Overnight Volvo bus
• Day 24 Depart Delhi.