Serenity with Nightmare in Suru Valley | Zanskar 2012

The Journey so far…

Day 2 | Kargil – Sankoo (Suru Valley) – Parkachik – Rangdum

I could not sleep much whole night after initial dreams of the Suru and Zanskar wonderlands and woke up by 4.30 AM to stick to my phone over ever slow GPRS. It was hard to share few updates on blog’s Facebook Page but good enough to kill some time as I fell asleep in between. At 5.30 AM, Sudhir wake up and asked both Gaurav and Punit to get up. I was the last one to wake up then but did not let us get late. Sharp 6.30 AM we were out with bags stuffed into taxi as Hasan (taxi guy) was also on time. First target was to reach Sankoo, some 40 KMs ahead of Kargil and have breakfast there. It was very refreshing morning with air soothing the nerves, the vistas started becoming magical as the valley started turning wide with Suru River just flowing beside us 🙂 … The first stop was there, Trespone village. Hasan, promised us to help us explore all the nice places and this one turned real green beauty. There is a mosque on the road itself aside which there are some stairs going towards a rest house above. Well, I did not like the idea of climbing so many stairs that early in the trip at above 10000 feet but gasping for the breath we finally reached at the top and as usual I was the last one to reach it with the loaded camera bag all over the place… Gosh, when will I get fit 😉 …

After getting the breath and senses back, I looked around just to have my mouth wide open – The mist running into the greenland of Tresponse Village made it purely pristine and heavenly and climbing to this Vantage point was all seemed worth now for few of these clicks. We all enjoyed there for a while as we clicked few pictures and I also tried some of them with the long lens to capture the peaks. So, do try out if you are OK with the idea of climbing those long steps to the top. We walked down and started Sankoo and as the roads were smooth black tarmac, we cruised towards it and were there at 8.00 AM. Hunt for breakfast begun as many of the shops did not have eggs but finally we got one. He cooked really good omelette with local bread and I was a bit relieved by the quality or taste this time. But, still I decided to buy some peers and other fruits for the journey. The peer was extremely juicy and delicious and I was thanking god that he created fruits 😉 … Well, after strolling a bit in not much exciting market of Sankoo we were again on the move towards Khartse Khar Village, a bit detour left of Sankoo, from Kargil – Zanskar road. As you take left from Sankoo and cross the bridge a road goes all the way upto Khartse Khar Village which is known for its Rock Carved Statue of Maitrey. There were children in the villages and that gave a chance to distribute some candies among them as they exchanged local raw wheat with us 🙂 … The statue is just 5 minutes’ walk from the  entrance of the village. Looked quite tall and lovely but I rarely have interest in man made things 😉 … Clicked few pictures and off to explore the natural beauty by backtracking all the way back to Sankoo and then heading back towards Panikhar.

Thanks to the encyclopaedic Bollywood knowledge of  Gaurav and Punit, especially Gaurav that narrated so many gossips of the old stars even before I was born or I got the senses. Hats off to him for entertaining us throughout the trip with such gup-shups 😆 … We were back on the natural beauty route and must tell you that every inch we moved inside the Suru Valley or towards Zanskar Valley, the beauty just kept increasing. Though we still did not see any Stupa or Chorten to make us feel we are nearing any Buddhist town which actually we weren’t as the Buddhist towns starts on the other side of Penzi La Pass… It was time to move towards Parkachik and witness the glorified views of Nun – Kun Sister Peaks, thanks to the clear skies. We moved through the green toned villages of Panikhar plus some others and it was just refreshing. The Snow Clad peaks looked beautiful all around with huge ice blocks appearing as slices of cake or vanilla ice cream 🙂 … Some places on the way towards Parkachik were just breath taking and we could not resist ourselves to get down off the car again and again. Thank god Hasan was good lad in such terms and did not get frustrated. There are two roads as you move out of Panikhar, one goes above it not through the village offering great vantage views while other one runs through the village boasting the green coloured landscapes. We decided to take the upper road and left the other one for return.

Finally, we reached a place nearing Parkachik, our mouth was just wide open seeing the Nun – Kun Sister peaks right in front, as if wanting us to touch them. Just a treat to eyes. We spent 10-15minutes just sitting there ogling at those majestic peaks and doing nothing. Time has gone stand still for us but Hasan asked to us to move ahead and see them closer 🙂 … We moved as the road further deteriorated towards Parkachik and reached the Parkachik glacier. Well, the black ice towards the backend did not pleased us but still watching a glacier just hands away was an experience in itself. As we moved ahead towards Rangdum, the blasting was going on and in between we had to wait for the clearance. The road had gone almost non-existent and huge rocks made it really difficult to move on. Slowly, slowly we moved ahead as the valley opened up widely with snow clad peaks just aside the valley in touching distance. I had never seen such magical views in my whole life 😀 … We were almost lost in this wonderland of extreme serenity and solitude.

Rangdum is about 40 KMs from Parkachik and steadily with numerous breaks in between, we managed to reach Rangdum. Hasan, told us that we have reached Rangdum as we were having fun in a water stream but I still could not see it. After couple of KMs down, the beautiful small hamlet appeared with its almost symmetrically separated small houses giving it an artistic look. As soon as we stepped out of the car, wow, it was icey cold winds hitting us from all over 🙂 … We found the caretaker of the Guest House was not in but rooms were open, so we just dumped our bags in there and went to have some tea at a dhabha nearby. The benches were made of metal and they were freezing as we could not sit at them. The icy winds were getting all the chill from the snow clad peaks all the way round Rangdum Village. It was really cold and frankly I was really feeling the chill because of un-expected chill or ill-prepared clothing. We checked out couple of more dhabhas in search of egg as the tea and Maggie served was really pathetic on the first one. I hadn’t eaten well since long now and desperately wanted to have some good food. One of them finally had egg with him and we asked him to prepare some omelette but he was also over with quantity  and asked us to wait for some time as he get more eggs plus oil from home. Thankfully the majestic vistas on offer kept the motivation high and handsome…

He left us there out in those freezing winds but thank god that sun was out so it did not felt too much. I was somehow not feeling well by then as it took almost an hour outside and still no sign of that man. We decided to checkout more dhabhas and found egg on one more. He cooked OK omelettes but all that oil used was somehow worsening the taste as even I cooked one half fry for myself and it even tasted bad. I never thought I can go wrong with a half fry ever 😉 … By the evening, I was almost started to loose on health and it started to become bad for me. I tried my level best to concentrate and neglect the uneasiness but could not somehow. The chill was getting chillier and chillier and that caretaker did not even gave us blankets. Gaurav and Punit went in to the village to call that idiot get us some blankets. He was just totally out of thought and never even said a word rather always looked frustrated that we had come for a stay. Finally, they were able to find him in the village but it took good 1-1.30 hrs in the evening.

Rangdum proved to be a horrible place for stay, in fact the MOST HORRIBLE place I had ever stayed. There was no tap water, one has to get water in a bucket from the hand-pump outside the PWD guest house. It was the shabbiest places one can stay but at least OK to save you from those icy cold winds. Dinner was all set with a dhabha next to guest house and the evening temperatures must have been close to sub-zero. It is NOT RECOMMENDED to stay at Rangdum. It lacks decent accommodation as well as good food and plus the icy winds won’t let you feel comfortable rather stay at Parkachik. It was just destiny or our bad luck that we changed our minds to stay at Rangdum instead of planned night halt at Parkachik – Again the tip goes “Believe what locals suggest but VERY wisely” 😉 …

Well, the agony was not over yet. It was too difficult to first step out of those blankets and get to shop in such cold weather and secondly to eat that pathetic food again. I think it was not the mistake of cook rather it was the crooked oil that was being used by majority of them. So, far out of 5 meals we had, only the Rajma – rice at Drass was more than satisfactory. The lack of food/nutrients topped with that un-tasty oil exaggerated the illness inside me. Sometimes I never felt I was in control of my senses as we went back and started talking to each other, most likely to divert my mind from the illness. I knew inside that I was stuck with AMS as nausea, loss of appetite, throw up feeling all count for early stages. Finally, we decided to call up for the day and went for sleep. It was even unimaginable to use washroom at night with such cold out there. I tried my level best to sleep but could not. The head started aching and body was shivering a lot. I went to put on one more jacket and one more lower warmer plus a pair of woollen socks to get some warmth inside two blankets 😉 … But, this time I was badly stuck and though the shivering settled but there were no signs of sleep. The throat almost went dry every other 30 minutes or so, requiring a sip of water. There was massive dehydration that was running into the body. I was feeling as if it was a nightmare, I pinched to feel it true and it was true. I never thought I could get hit with AMS after traveling so many times to trans Himalayan region and at greater heights than Rangdum but that is how AMS is, it hits you when you least expect it to.

Every other moment I take out my watch to look at the time but time was such that it was not at all passing. Tried my best to ignore the bad feeling generating inside and overcoming the emotions but I was too low to overcome them. It was one nightmare of a night and I just wanted it to pass alive praying for the rest of the night every now and then 😀 … As the night goes past 3 AM, sleep came and gone in between but never in entirety as either the head started to ache or throat went dry for crying for water… I was cursing myself to go with such a decision of sleeping at Rangdum but who knows I believed in one fact – “Everything happens with you for a good reason…” but was not sure what exactly good was with such whole night of suffering, a night to forget completely…

The Journey ahead…