After a night’s sleep we felt more energetic. We decided to take things relatively easy and walk up to the Peace Pagoda/ Shanti Stupa. It was a pleasant walk through a peaceful area of town, not far from our hotel. We spotted a bakery with delicious looking cakes, but decided to press on to the stupa, fearing that we might not make it if we were too stuffed with apple pie. The Stupa is set on a hill and many steps have to be climbed in order to reach it. We began to feel the impact of the 3,500 metres high altitude as we puffed our way up.

Some teenage girls leaped ahead of us effortlessly. When we caught up with them they were keen to practice their English. Most of them lived in the old town of Leh but one was a visiting family member from Kargil, a town on the way to Srinagar.

The Pagoda itself was enormous and beautiful with great views of the town. According to Wikipedia it was built by a Japanese Buddhist monk and has remnants of the Buddha at its base. It was enshrined by the 14th Dalai Lama. A notice acknowledges the contribution of Japanese Buddhists to its construction.

We walked back down to the bakery, feeling that we had earned our apple pies. We tried two different varieties, both delicious. We soon got chatting to the Sikh owner. Like our host in Keylong, his Father had been in the Indian army before opening the cafe. He died recently and the cafe closed for a bit before his son, the new owner, decided to re-launch it. We chatted about his family – he has a son at university. Over generations the Indian army seems to facilitate social mobility for its recruits, many of who set up businesses.

We discussed the Golden Temple at Amritsar. The cafe owner told us that he regularly volunteers there, helping out with the catering. He described how, although thousands are fed each day there is no apparent organisation. Everybody just slots in and plays a small part in the great whole.

We were struck again by how multi-cultural Leh is. The cafe owner told us that not many places are willing to tolerate the Israeli tourists like Indian people are. Leh has many of these young Israeli visitors. We chatted to some of the nicer ones who tend to avoid their compatriots. Others herd together in large slightly irritating groups and can be very rude to the locals.

The next morning we headed back into the centre of town to visit Leh Palace. This involved another climb up many steps. We were once again rewarded by amazing views of the town and the mountains encircling it.

There are nine floors to the palace altogether, each one revealing more spectacular views. It was neglected after the Dogras invaded Leh in the 19th century and the royal family were banished to Stok Palace. In recent years it has been restored to its former glory. The restoration had been done carefully and skilfully.

There is a monastery high above the palace. We attempted to climb up there, but were defeated by the hot sun and a steep shale slope. Instead we wandered around the winding streets of the old town where many of the constructions are still made of mud bricks. There were signs of restoration and rebuilding. I am sure the place will be full of boutique hotels within the next five years! The winding streets and old buildings reminded us of the choras of the Cyclades. Interestingly I read that some cities in Greece are partnering with Ladakh to assist them in a sustainable urban development programme.

Our next plan was to do some more trekking and a trip to the Nubra area of Leh. There are many tourist offices offering various options for trekking and tours, so we visited a few of them. The one that seemed the most on the ball said that they would contact us if anybody else expressed interest in the trip to Nubra as a shared taxi would be much more economical. We were interested in a couple of treks and decided to mull on if and when we wanted to pursue that option.

In the meantime we arranged a taxi via our hotel to take us for a trip the next day around the sites in easy reach of Leh – Stok, Shey, Thiksey and Hemis.