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**[email protected]** · 03-11-2020, 10:52 PM

Re: Duking all the way to Zanskar-solo

Very good travelogue bro. And amazing pix. [emoji1305][emoji1305][emoji1305][emoji41]
Well, I'm unsure about its relevance here but plz do mention any challenges that you faced on this beautiful journey. [emoji1317]

P.S. I'm a solo traveller but haven't been lucky enough yet to have a chance to explore these beautiful mountains yet. So have a bundle of curiosity in my mind. Thanks [emoji28][emoji1]

**zestbiker** · 03-14-2020, 03:32 PM

Re: Duking all the way to Zanskar-solo

[MENTION=102750][email protected][/MENTION]
thank you for the appreciation.
By God's Grace -i faced no problem's on the whole trip.

**zestbiker** · 03-15-2020, 12:30 PM

Re: Duking all the way to Zanskar-solo

At Panniker ,went straight to the JKTDC guest house but the caretaker was not there.While waiting at its gate,the lady from the house just opposite to the guest house offered me stay in her house-Rs500 with dinner and breakfast and i accepted readily.The house belonged to a retired govt teacher and had clean and airy ambience and i was ushered into their best room.I was served salty tea and got cleaned up and sat with the family for an early dinner,had lots of small talk with all the members of the family and finally retired to sleep at 8.30pm.
I had a very sound and refreshing sleep and was woken by the house owner Mr Aslam at 7am with a hot cup of tea by my bedside.Dressed up and went outside.It was
cold and the sun was still to rise from behind the mountains.But this naughty magpie and a little lamb kept me company-the magpie being super energetic and the lamb the epitome of docile.

Today the journey was to be only till Rangdum-approximately 70kms-so started late and took it nice and slow to absorb the beauty around me,It is after crossing the village of Partikchey and the Partikchey glacier that the real isolation of this region hits-the terrain changes from terraced fields to rolling wetlands within the valley-it also marks the shifting of cultures from predominantly Shia Islam to Buddhist.The beautiful Suru river with its various shades of turquoise blue keeps you constant company.One feels blessed to be riding in this beautiful creation of the Almighty Lord.Traffic on the only road here is really sparse-and the road is actually not much more than a meandering dirt track but that's what i signed in for

The Parkachik Glacier across the river Suru from the road

The valley and the serpentine river are really beautiful

Verdant grasslands with the grass slowly yellowing from the dip in temperature

**sagarzzz** · 03-15-2020, 01:06 PM

Re: Duking all the way to Zanskar-solo

Superbly captured beauty of the nature bro,as usual pics can be used as proper wallpapers.[emoji108][emoji108]

Originally posted by zestbiker View Post

Today the journey was to be only till Rangdum-approximately 70kms-so started late and took it nice and slow to absorb the beauty around me,It is after crossing the village of Partikchey and the Partikchey glacier that the real isolation of this region hits-the terrain changes from terraced fields to rolling wetlands within the valley-it also marks the shifting of cultures from predominantly Shia Islam to Buddhist.The beautiful Suru river with its various shades of turquoise blue keeps you constant company.One feels blessed to be riding in this beautiful creation of the Almighty Lord.Traffic on the only road here is really sparse-and the road is actually not much more than a meandering dirt track but that's what i signed in for

The Parkachik Glacier across the river Suru from the road

The valley and the serpentine river are really beautiful

Verdant grasslands with the grass slowly yellowing from the dip in temperature

**zestbiker** · 03-15-2020, 09:20 PM

Re: Duking all the way to Zanskar-solo

Thanks again @sagarzzz

**sagarzzz** · 03-15-2020, 09:37 PM

Re: Duking all the way to Zanskar-solo

[emoji120]

Originally posted by zestbiker View Post

Thanks again @sagarzzz

**zestbiker** · 03-19-2020, 06:24 PM

Re: Duking all the way to Zanskar-solo

At Rangdum ,stopped in front of the La Himalaya Guest house-found the rooms neat and clean and so took a room for Rs1200-steepest tariff of the entire trip-that the owner Dorje was a talkative guy answering all the questions i was shooting at him played a big role in my booking the room.After shifting my saddlebags to the room and roaming by the Suru riverbank ,came back to have a lunch of dal-chawal-nothing tasty but piping hot-it was just 3pm-and then a rider on a modified bike walked in-motocross helmet,motocross shoes and all-a nod and a smile at each other and introductions were exchanged and we got talking-he is Madhu Sudan-he was doing a recee before participating in the Raid De Himalaya-we bonded well and rode together for the next 4 days.
After Madhu had also booked himself in the guest house and had food we were standing in the sun outside the guest house when we were invited by Dorje for a trip to the Rangdum Gompa in his pick up truck-the man Dorje was no less than a rally driver himself the way he hustled and slid his Tata207 pickup on the loose gravel road-i hung on for dear life for the less than 5 minutes it took us to the top of the Gompa from the guest house,3 minutes on the way back-one wicked ride for sure.As the evening descended,the cold intensified and the
dreaded AMS reared its head with a splitting headache forcing me indoors and into bed.

The road leading to Rangdum after the Saru police outpost

Clouds hugging the peaks in the distance-must have been snow time at the top

The vastness and emptiness personified

View to the south of the Gompa

The north west view

Entrance of the gompa

The main prayer hall building

The courtyard

Diya's being made ready for an upcoming ceremony

Prayer hall inside

The scriptures of the Gelupga Buddhists sect kept neatly stacked

Dorje's rally car-his Tata 207

View to the northeast of the gompa

Madhu Sudan and me

With Dorje -right

The men and their steeds -KTM D390(mine) and modified TVS Apache 200(Madhu's) in the back

**Doga** · 03-19-2020, 06:37 PM

Re: Duking all the way to Zanskar-solo

Beautiful pictures man, absolutely breathtaking. Touring alone has its charm. Every time I see a leh/laddakh/Zanskar/spiti log I say to myself- "one day I'd do it too" , knowing full well that day is not nigh

**sagarzzz** · 03-19-2020, 06:48 PM

Re: Duking all the way to Zanskar-solo

Superb clicks again bro...after seein those shots captured by you,i am devlouping a urge to go to those places.[emoji108][emoji108]

**zestbiker** · 03-25-2020, 02:22 PM

Re: Duking all the way to Zanskar-solo

[MENTION=48967]Doga[/MENTION] [MENTION=14925]Sagar[/MENTION]rrz
thanks you

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[MENTION=48967]Doga[/MENTION] [MENTION=14925]Sagar[/MENTION]rrz
thanks you

**zestbiker** · 03-26-2020, 10:41 AM

Re: Duking all the way to Zanskar-solo

The ride to the gompa had caused me to be hit by AMS and as the evening descended the headache was painful enough for me to take a Paracetamol tablet and go to sleep.I was woken up by Dorje at 9pm and had a single roti and again slept.Woke up the next morning at around 8am with a queasy feeling in my stomach and as soon as i got out in fresh air,i promptly vomited out the 2 glasses of warm water i had in my room but immediately felt better.
Two more riders on Bullet500 had stopped at the hotel the previous evening and i got acquainted with them
It was cold enough in the night that the water gully flowing in front of the hotel had frozen in the night-as the sun shone brighter it started to thaw bit by bit and was just so beautiful to watch this happening.
After settling the bills with Dorje and a breakfast of a slice of bread with butter,Madhu and me were on the road to Penzi La-the gateway to Zanskar.There was a lot of army training activity going on in the area and we waved and saluted our soldiers sweating it out in the rarefied air.
The pass itself was beautiful with clean snow-we spent a little time clicking there and then proceeded on -and on the way down were thunderstruck by the beauty and sheer magnificence of the Drang Drung glacier.The glacier births the river Stod which accompanies one all the way to Padum where it joins the river Tsurp Chu to form the mighty Zanskar river.

In the shadow area of atall mountain,the top of the Suru river was frozen and the river water was flowing beneath the thin sheet of ice

A frozen stream on the way to Penzi La top

The mighty glacier -Drang Drung-in all its glory

Just before Padum was alone on this blacktop and revved m,y heart out -stretching the legs of the Duke390 till 130kmph-boy,was she happy.

This landmark signifies that you are about to hit Padum

**krishna77** · 03-28-2020, 08:38 PM

Re: Duking all the way to Zanskar-solo

Some refreshments at last!

**zestbiker** · 03-29-2020, 02:19 PM

Re: Duking all the way to Zanskar-solo

Originally posted by krishna77 View Post

Some refreshments at last!

Glad you feel refreshed

**zestbiker** · 04-18-2020, 09:23 AM

Re: Duking all the way to Zanskar-solo

At Padum,we checked into Hotel Gaskit(spelling may be wrong)-right on the road bang opposite Padum post office-clean big room with attached bath/toiletfor Rs700 per night.It had a restaurant manned by friendly and efficient staff and was the preferred place for hanging around for a lot of locals,foreign tourists,trek guides and school children alike.After settling in,we moved our luggage from the bikes into the room ,cleaned up,had coffee and my co-riders were off to find beer.The parking of the hotel passed a thin alley which was all hard packed ice and moving the bikes was interesting with lots of slipping sliding cursing-was wondering how people ride on snow to reach winter wonderlands.Co-riders had a beer party and stated that they would have rest the coming day and i told that i would go to Karsha and Zangla-with this i was in bed by 8pm .Tomorrow i go to meet the king of Zangla.

Inside of the restaurant

Dusty roads

Old landmark on the way to Karsha monastery

The land bowl that is Padum

Karsha monastary in the distance -visible on the hill

The road was through vast emptiness

I thought the village was Karsha-turns out it is Kapsha which turned out to be a different village on the left of Karsha-confusing eh!

Autumn gold abounded

Monastary when viewed from the village

Views from the road-River Stod on the right-River Tsurup Chu on the left

And their sangam to form the River Zanskar

The monastery is an old institution and is housing between 80-100 monks at a given time-it is under the management of the younger brother of the Dalai Lama and the Dalai Lama had visited the monastery a few days before my visit.It was lunch time during my visit so i did'nt disturb the monks too much and did'nt ask too many touristy questions-just soaked in the sun and the views from the heights-after half an hour moved on towards Zangla.

Feeding time for the birdies too

The Tsurup Chu coming from Darcha side on the way to Zangla

Crossing the bridge on the Tsurup Chu before the sangam on the road to Zangla

**zestbiker** · 05-03-2020, 01:21 PM

Re: Duking all the way to Zanskar-solo

THE RUNWAY OF A Road to Zangla after crossing the Tsurp Chu bridge

The last cell phone tower at Stongde village on the way

After about 10kms of pristine road this is what the current road is-this will shortly be paved and be the highway to Leh

The enchanting wind fairies

Could not capture the exact u- bend of the Zanskar river better from the road-see the trailing part of the river in the background before the mountains.

From here the Zanskar river is right by the road to Zangla

Look at the volume of water it carries-and the gurgling noise it was making here is music to the soul

This small stone structure by the standing man turned out to be a flour mill- ATTA-KI- CHAKI-powered by a water stream.

The grinding wheel in the flour mill

The paddle wheel turning the grinding mill powered by water

Entering the Zangla village

I crossed the village and ran into this lady by a stream on the road-when i inquired about meeting the king of Zangla-she said i am the king's daughter-so say hello to the princess-she guided me back to her house-i said i will take you back with me-she said she still has to wash a lot of clothes by the stream water and went to join other people washing utensils and clothes by the stream.

The Zangla land bowl

The king's house-the biggest single noncommercial structure i saw in the entire Padum/Zangla

The humble king-he did'nt know proper hindi and his english i could'nt understand -so our time together was kind of short.Another man who was baking cowdung pancakes supervised by the king was more talkative and i enquired about visiting the Zangla fort-he said the way to the fort was blocked by a landslide and i could'nt possible cross over on the motorbike and there was not enough sunlight time left for a hike to the fort and return to Padum-so the visit to the fort is till next visit.

The radio station at Zangla

This was the road to the fort.

Verdant wetlands i did'nt notice while riding in to Zangla

The trusty steed taking a well deserved break on the way back.

Stopped to talk to the gentlemen by the broken down truck,exchanged hello,s and asked for water- i had'nt carried any provisions or tools with me on the trip to Karsha and Zangla-which struck me when i saw this breakdown-the trucks radiator hose had brust and a new hose was being fitted.The driver smiled at my water request and said you will not like our water-but thirsty me insisted and they smilingly gave me their bottle and when i opened the cap-i and all the rest burst out laughing-it was vodka/gin mixed with water and i politely gave them back-just then the excavator driver brought me pure water to drink.Thrist quenched,thanked them and moved on back.

The paths walked by Shepards clearly visible outlined by the snow.

The Stongde monastery perched atop the hill overlooking the Stongde village-viewed from the road below

Another view from the road looking back at the sides of the Stongde monastery

Framed against the snow

The sangam of the Stod and the Tsurp Chu forming the mighty Zanskar flanked by the Karsha monastery in the background

Resting after coming back to the hotel

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