Wanting to experience and explore authentic Tibetan culture as much as possible—and that means going outside the TAR itself, where the pernicious Chinese influence is eroding it day by day—I went to Ladakh, northwest India, in May/June 2017. It was a memorable and extremely worthwhile journey which included a short and easy trek; visits to the monasteries of the Indus Valley near Leh; time spent in the remote and extremely isolated Zanskar region; and a night on the shores of the emotive Pangong-tso, a lake with its eastern part in Chinese-controlled Tibet. I loved both the people and the places and hope to return some day.
- Prayer wheels in a peaceful courtyard, Alchi
- Lamayuru Monastery, perched on its ‘moonscape’ crag
- Pangong-tso, strategically straddling the border of Ladakh and Tibet
