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Clinging like a swallow's nest to the sides of a shaly
conical hill, the magnificent Gompa of Chemrey sees very few visitors
because of its location - tucked up the side valley that runs from Karu,
below Hemis, to the Chang-la pass into Pangong. If one isn't having one's
own vehicle, then be prepared to do some walking to get there. It takes
around fifty minutes to follow the dirt track down to the river and up to
the monastery after the
Leh
-Thak Thok bus drops one off beside the main road.
Founded in 1664 as a memorial to King Sengge Namgyal, the monastery is
staffed by a dwindling community of around twenty Drugpa monks and their
young novices. Its set of ancient Tibetan texts whose title pages are
illuminated with opulent gold and silver calligraphy. Upstairs in the
revamped Guru-La-Khang, reached via several flights of rickety wooden
steps, sits a giant brass statue of Padmasambhava (founder of the
Nyingmapa school), swatched in silk brocade and encrusted with semi
precious stones. Its murals, painted in the early 1980s, are the work of
an artist from Nimmu village.