India Guide
Ladakh
Namgyal Tsemo Gompa
Opening time: Daily 7–9am & 5–8pm
The stiff early-morning hike up to Namgyal Tsemo Gompa, the monastery perched precariously on the shaly crag above Leh palace, is a great way to start the day. Two trails lead up to "the Peak of Victory", whose twin peaks are connected by giant strings of multicoloured prayer flags; the most popular path zigzags across its south side from the palace road, while a second scales the more gentle northern slope via the village of Chubi, the route followed by the lama from Sankar gompa who tends to the shrine each morning and evening.
Approaching the gompa from the south, the first building you come to is the red-painted Maitreya temple. Thought to date from the fourteenth century, the shrine houses a giant Buddha statue flanked by bodhisattvas. However, its wall paintings are modern and of less interest than those in the Gon-khang (temple of protector deities) up the hill.