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Ladakh
Central LadakhIts murals, dating from the 11th and 12th centuries, before the date the Tibetan style of painting that is present are reminiscent of the paintings of the Ajanta caves far and are supposed to be almost unique surviving Buddhist style present in Kashmir during the first millennium AD, along with some of Phugtal Gompa in Zanskar, and Tabo in Spiti
Kargil
Kargil, the second city of Ladakh, situated on the banks of the Suru River near its confluence with the Dras-shingo. Almost halfway to a little over 200 km from Leh, Srinagar, Padum in Zanskar and Skardu, capital of Baltistan, was in the old days the center of a network of routes linking these areas. After partition, Pakistan Skardu entered, but remains the staging of Kargil main Srinagar-Leh, and the gateway to the Suru valley and Zanskar.
Kargil, the second city of Ladakh, situated on the banks of the Suru River near its confluence with the Dras-shingo. Almost halfway to a little over 200 km from Leh, Srinagar, Padum in Zanskar and Skardu, capital of Baltistan, was in the old days the center of a network of routes linking these areas. After partition, Pakistan Skardu entered, but remains the staging of Kargil main Srinagar-Leh, and the gateway to the Suru valley and Zanskar.
Valle Suru
Suru Valley, a largely underrated part of Ladakh, runs for about 140-km from Kargil to the base of the Penzias-pass in the Zanskar. Although immobilized by heavy winter snows, fields, watered by mountain streams around side to side, producing good crops of wheat and barely. Traditionally, it has been a surplus of foodgrains in the area. Irrigation water is abundant enough to allow mass planting of willow and poplar thick, giving the lushness rare in Ladakh area. By the middle of its length, the river loops along and a huge mound of alluvium, the last gasp of the Zanskar range, to perform beyond the glaciers of Nun-Kun massif to Rangdum a Gompa on a hill overlooking a wide marshy plain.
Suru Valley, a largely underrated part of Ladakh, runs for about 140-km from Kargil to the base of the Penzias-pass in the Zanskar. Although immobilized by heavy winter snows, fields, watered by mountain streams around side to side, producing good crops of wheat and barely. Traditionally, it has been a surplus of foodgrains in the area. Irrigation water is abundant enough to allow mass planting of willow and poplar thick, giving the lushness rare in Ladakh area. By the middle of its length, the river loops along and a huge mound of alluvium, the last gasp of the Zanskar range, to perform beyond the glaciers of Nun-Kun massif to Rangdum a Gompa on a hill overlooking a wide marshy plain.
Zanskar
Two rivers flowing towards each other along the northern flank of the Great Himalayas, meet in the broad plain of Padum. They become the Zanskar River, which flows north through a gorge in the Zanskar range, to meet the Indus Nimo. This T-shaped complex of Zanskar valley is open to motor traffic only in 1980 when a road was built through the Suru Valley and Rangdum and during the Penzias-la.
Two rivers flowing towards each other along the northern flank of the Great Himalayas, meet in the broad plain of Padum. They become the Zanskar River, which flows north through a gorge in the Zanskar range, to meet the Indus Nimo. This T-shaped complex of Zanskar valley is open to motor traffic only in 1980 when a road was built through the Suru Valley and Rangdum and during the Penzias-la.
A Trekkers Paradise
Virtually untouched by the winds of change and modernization till then, Zanskar is now a favorite destination for hikers. Padum is the center of hard but rewarding Manali tours through the Shingo-la (16,732 ft / 5,100 m), Kishtwar through Umasi-la (17,828 ft / 5434 m) and Leh Lamayuru and through routes difficulty through the Zanskar range.
Zanskar is also known as a land of religion and has the highest concentration of Gompas in Ladakh, outside the Indus Valley. The most important are Sani, Karsha and Stongde in the central plain, and Phugtal Bardan right side of the track Padum-Manali, and the small chapel on the road Dzonkhul to Umasi-la.
Virtually untouched by the winds of change and modernization till then, Zanskar is now a favorite destination for hikers. Padum is the center of hard but rewarding Manali tours through the Shingo-la (16,732 ft / 5,100 m), Kishtwar through Umasi-la (17,828 ft / 5434 m) and Leh Lamayuru and through routes difficulty through the Zanskar range.
Zanskar is also known as a land of religion and has the highest concentration of Gompas in Ladakh, outside the Indus Valley. The most important are Sani, Karsha and Stongde in the central plain, and Phugtal Bardan right side of the track Padum-Manali, and the small chapel on the road Dzonkhul to Umasi-la.
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