Lying in the middle the sparkling poplar wood and terraced fields of barley extend upto the valley behind Leh, Sankar gompa, 2km north of the town centre, is among the most accessible monasteries in central Ladakh. You can get there either by car or on foot, turn left at the Antelope Guesthouse, and then right onto the concrete path that runs alongside the stream. Sankar appears after about fifteen minutes` walk, surrounded by sun-bleached chortens and a high mud wall.

The monastery, a small under-gompa of Spitok, is staffed by twenty monks, and is the official residence of the Kushok Bakula, Ladakh`s head of the Gelug-pa sect. The rinpoche, born a prince in 1914, has had an active career, serving in the Indian Parliament in the 1960s and later being posted to Mongolia as an ambassador. Though he now spends most of his days in a new house behind the gompa, the rinpoche`s glass-fronted former quarters enjoy pride of place on top of the main building, crowned with a golden spire and a dharma chakra flanked by two deer (symbolizing the Buddha`s first sermon in Sarnath). Above the Du-khang (main prayer hall) stands the gompa`s principal deity, Tara, in her triumphant, l000-armed form as Dukkar, or "Lady of the White Parasol", presiding over a light, airy shrine room whose walls are decorated with a Tibetan calendar and tableaux depicting "dos and don`ts" for monks - some of which are very secret indeed. Another flight of steps leads to the gompa library and, eventually, a roof terrace with fine views towards the north side of Namgyal Tsemo hill and the valley to the south.