Day of Three Temples

 The Buddhist monasteries of Shey, Thiksey (extras) and Matho (main blip)are all in the Indus Valley not far from Leh and we had an excellent guide for these visits. We had not planned on seeing the first day of the annual Oracle Matho Nagrang Festival, held on the 14th and 15th days of the first month of the Tibetan calendar. During this popular 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. You are not allowed to photograph the oracles but you can photograph the masked dances leading up to the oracles coming out, hence this blip. Other extras of the stag mask, one statue of a Buddha and lastly a young rimpoche attending the festival. What a fantastic day!

No more blips now until we come back from the mountains. Feeling much more acclimatised already thank goodness, at 3,500m in Leh.