Travellive 5 - 2018

Into the wild in Zanskar
Upon arrival in Zanskar, I felt
immersed in its picturesque
landscape of high
mountains and the powerful
Suru valley. Zanskar is
part of Ladakh, or little
Tibet, and it belongs to Jammu &
Kashmir (J&K); the western part of
the state reaches Pakistan and the
eastern and northern parts border
Tibet. J&K once captured the heart
of an Indian king, who dubbed
the land "paradise on Earth". J&K
encompasses the gentle beauty of its
deep blue lake, it is as stunning as
its glaciers and snowy Himalayas,
it is wild as the roaring river, as
quiet as the monastery of the slopes,
and just as romantic as the valleys
concealed in golden leaves.
Departing from Leh, capital of the
Ladakh region, half of my journey
had already passed when I arrived in
Zanskar. Leh is about 220 km and a
seven-hour ride from Kargil, gateway
to Zanskar. After staying the night
in Kargil, we made another twelvehour
trip on a 240 km mountain
road arriving in Padum.
Up to the high valley,
Padum
Padum lies deep within the pristine
Zanskar region of India and is a
small, secluded town located near
the confluence of the Doda Fork,
Tsarap and Zanskar rivers, in the
basin 3,600 m above sea level,
surrounded by mountain peaks
where time has left them scarred
with ice and wind.
Padum is located in the heart of
Zanskar, with a population near
1,000 people. The inhabitants are
primarily Buddhists; however, similar
to Kargil, Padum is also under the
control of Sunni Muslims. Here,
Buddhism and Islam exist in parallel.
TRAVELLIVE
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