Suru Valley – Explore The Unexplored

25th September:

Once you approach Padum, the valley widens significantly and sandwiched between Zanskar Range at North and Great Himalayan Range in South. It’s actually a trekker’s paradise as many treks towards Lamayuru, Leh, Markha Valley, Darcha, Pangi Valley, Kishtwar starts from here in various directions. The long 274 km journey from Kargil and back in same way sometimes work as deterrent to visit this heavenly place. In next few years when Hanumil to Chilling would be connected along with Zanskar river Gorge, people can travel from Zanskar to Leh in just crossing 165km which is presently 500+ km via Kargil. Also road work is in progress between Reru and Zanskar Sumdo to connect Darcha in Leh-Manali highway to connect with Padum via Singo La. There is a plan of building a tunnel in Singo La as well and with Rohtang Tunnel if this can be done, Manali – Leh would be an all weather road bypassing it’s present alignment across high passes of Barlacha la, Nakeela, Tanglang la. You should have 2 full days for Padum to do some justice to this place. Unfortunately we have only a day to spare. We started our day with Zangla Palace which in on the way to newly built unfinished road towards Leh in North. The valley view was awesome and we enjoyed an awesome Horse Shoe Bend on Zanskar River enroute, straight from geography text book. Car can’t go till top and you have to walk if you want to go up on the palace to get a dramatic view of the valley. On the way we climbed a steep Strongde Diversion to see that Monastery as well. Absolute brilliant view from top. Bardan Monastery is on the southern side via the road towards Reru and it’s completely different view with deep canyons and gorges all through. The monastery was built on a hillock and commands a majestic view. Better visit the place around noon when sun would be at top so you get better lights for photography, else this stretch is difficult for photography with deep canyons around. The Bardan experience was superb, the monk opened the door, explained us on history of monastery and the two different sect in Buddhism, Gelukpa (Monasteries like Karsha, Strongde, Rangdum fall in this category) and Drukpa (Bardan, Zongkhul, Topchilling, Gurugandhal, last two are in Keylong fall in this category). They offered tasty namkeen chay (Butter Tea) and also offered us the lunch. Their hospitality would surely touch you. We came back to Padum, take a little break and proceeded to Karsha to get the dramatic view from Karsha towards Padum Valley. Karsha is a must visit during sun set and experience the last rays of light kissing the valley floor, awesome experience indeed!! It was our last night at Padum and without the availability of cook (most of the support staffs in these hotels leave by Mid Sep and it becomes very difficult to manage acco and food specially if you are a large group during end season), the owner was kind enough to serve mutton, very tasty indeed in that height and cold.

Towards Zangla valley:

Strongde Monastery at right side top:

From the Strongde Monastery looking towards Zangla Valley:

Zangla Palace:

A Sweet Zanskari Baby, see the invaluable smile after getting the Cadbury:

It’s all about colors, really awesome during fall:

Zanskar River taken a Horse Shoe Bend, Straight from geography text book:

What a place to stay:

Bardan Monastery, a very dramatic location on a cliff:

Kid with Lama, inside Bardan Monastery:

Karsha Monastery from other side of Valley:

Zanskar Valley from Karsha Monastery:

Karsha Monastery:

26th September:

I mentioned Padum Taxi Union is another bottleneck and they would force you to take their car for sight seeing and drop to Kargil. Here Kazim again taken a brilliant move, he managed a car requisition slip from Army where it’s mentioned the car was requisitioned for army purpose form Drass and having army guests in it. Zanskar guys asked a few questions but Kazim outsmarted them with this and we had an excellent trip with him all through with no pressure of taking a Zanskar car anywhere. The return had to be in same route and honestly little scary if you think you have to travel same 274km of road again. We started early, quick look at Sani Gompa and then heading fast towards Drang Drung Glacier. We parked the car before the Pensila Ascent from Zanskar side and tried a small trek to glacier which was very much possible but even a 30 mins walk in that height with chilling wind is difficult to withstand. Also going to glacier was easy as you go down and know where you are heading, coming back to car was quite difficult as you can’t figure height from below towards the road on top. I managed to hit the road at least 2 km behind the car was parked and had to walk. We spent little more than an hour in whole but it was an amazing experience being so close to a glacier. Rangdum was a stop for quick lunch and we crossed the worst section of Rangdum and Parkachik in an hour and half. We dashed to Sankhoo as next day we were planning for Leh but Sankhoo GH of JKTDC seems to be in poorer condition than Purtikchey, though markets were closeby and getting foods were easier here. Purtikchey had geysers in the rooms, Sankhoo didn’t have which was a necessary requirement in end September.

Retracing back the Zanskar Valley:

Zanskari Girl with Yak at Skaygam Village:

Drang Drung Glacier Again:

Zanskar – The Wild West:

Once again Suru Valley at its magical best:

Approaching Rangdum:

Randum Monastery:

Previous: Ladakh – Crossing Pensi La to Zanskar Valley

Next: Ladakh – Sankoo, Kargil to Leh

22nd September:

The previous night, when I was almost ready with all packing done, my kid suddenly started showing uneasiness and we found she had fever, a trip which was not expected to start in that way. We were little nervous but thought of moving ahead with the medicines we had. It was a 9.05 KF flight from Kol-Del and subsequently a 12.45 Del-Srinagar flight that took us to Srinagar by 2.15pm. We decided not to waste any time in a height of 5000+ ft at Srinagar and straight away proceeded to Sonamarg which was around 8700ft height. The checkout /baggage claims took hardly half an hour and were greeted by Kazim with his nice Xylo outside the airport. We did some last minute shopping of mineral waters, dry foods etc. from Srinagar, got some quick photo session near Dal lake and were on our way towards Sonmarg by 4.00pm. The NH1D to Sonmarg via Gandarbal, Kangan, Gund is around 3 hrs journey across amazing Kashmir Valley, road was superb. We were greeted by an awesome rainbow enroute may bring all lucks for our coming days. There are few options in Sonmarg regarding accommodations, Glacier view is nice private one but quite pricey with 2000+ room rent even in off season. We chose JKTDC with close proximity to market, nice ambience with running hot waters at 1000 for 2 adults and a kid. It was a bargain as 1300 is the official off season price if you try to book it through JKTDC web interface. The dinner was awesome there and fortunately the kid started showing improvement in her health but we felt the chilling nights even with all the blankets on.

Dal Lake Srinagar:

On the way to Sonmarg:

23rd September:

We knew about the restrictions of crossing Sonmarg towards Jojila between 6.00pm in evening and 11.00am in morning but we were told it could be managed if we start before 6.00am as no one would be there in the check post to stop us. Unfortunately that’s not the case and we were stopped even before 6.00am just outside the JKTDC GH at Sonamarg near the check post. No amount of pleading was sufficient to make them understand we had to start early as our today’s stop was even further to Kargil at Purtikchey. They just asked us to come after 11.00am which means loosing a day on the very start of the trip. Kazim came handy here, his brother was the driver of DIG, Kashmir and few phone calls there after, the same security guard came out and himself found out our car and made our roads with a smile and murmuring softly why we didn’t tell him that we were the guests of DIG. Unexpected but we were through by 6.15am. In India, connection is the key The best thing is we were the only car going in opposite direction and we had ample time to take snaps with no cars behind. The road to Jojila was one way and full of dusts and definitely in a bad shape specially the ascent from Sonmarg. The road towards Baltal to Amarnath diverts from in between and after some delay with lots of truck traffic we were on Jojila top by two and half hours. Jojila to Drass was nice with mix of good and bad roads. Just before Drass you would find the diversion to Mushko Valley which was in headlines during 1999 Kargil War. The same road now is through to Tulail and Gurez and one can go to Srinagar via Bandipore by making a loop. The road was recently inaugurated by BRO in 2010 and yet to be opened for civilians. Drass, the second coldest inhabited place in earth as the JK Tourism board displays was a small and nice town with heavy army presence. We tasted first Namkeen Chay (Salt/Butter Tea) of our trip here and we got addicted to it, it was really nice. Drass could be a good pit stop for lunch before Kargil and road from here onwards crosses War Memorial, a must see enroute and colourful mountains and valley and the valley starts narrowing down after this and you would find you are following almost the LOC and Kazim was showing us the signs of shelling from other side of LOC on the road side poles, trees, mountains all through this section during 1999 Kargil War. Tiger Hill, Tololing and other commonly uttered names during Kargil Wars can be seen across the mountain ridge and the sacrifice of our army would surely touch your deepest. Just before Kargil, you would find Drass and Suru river meets and though non descriptive, you would find Kargil as largest town between Srinagar and Leh in this route. Road towards Zanskar via Suru Valley and towards Leh bifurcates here. Our destination was Zanskar and we first met Mr. Golam Rosul, Tourist Officer, JKTDC Kargil who was in charge of reservation for all the alpine bungalows across Suru and Zanskar Valley. Surprisingly he greeted us in Bengali and later we knew he was posted first 2 years of his service at JKTDC, Kolkata and quite familiar with Kolkata. A very nice gentleman with good sense of humour he advised us to choose between Sankhoo, Purtikchey and Panikhar situated in 8500, 9500 and 10000 ft height respectively. Height of night stay was important as we were trying our best to acclimatize as quickly as possible. Sankhoo and Panikhar were closer to shops and had a better chance to get foods arranged in off season while Purtichey is more scenic with perfect frames of Nun Kun you could see from Bungalow. We chose Purtikchey but Mr. Rosul gave us papers for staying either in Purtikchey or in Panikhar in case Purtikchey was closed. The tar road ends near Sankhoo around 40km from Kargil but the road is very scenic and you could see fall colors all the way in this road. After Sankhoo, the unpaved road starts for rest of the 234 km towards Padum but locals expect next year paved roads would reach till Panikkhar. 13km from Sankhoo on unpaved road we reached Purtikchey and luckily found the caretaker of the GH nearby. No guest stayed there in whole month of September and he was surprised with this sudden arrival of tourist but somehow agreed to Rice/Dal/Sabji kind of dinner from the winter stock he had. We caught the last rays of evening sun on Nun-Kun and after dinner quickly move to bed but it was one of the coldest nights in our trip. There are only 2 rooms in the nicely located GH but most likely you would get them unless you hit the region in July/August peak season.