This blog is in continuation of our Day 1 (Reaching Leh), Day 2 (Leh to Kargil) and Day 3 (Kargil to Rangdum) of our Zanskar trip.
The past 3 days in Ladakh region of India were treacherous in both a good way and a bad way. The landscapes and people were way more beautiful than what we had expected and the journey was way more difficult than what we had imagined. The previous night in Rangdum was extremely cold, the tents were able to do little in keeping us warm. Thankfully the camp site could provide us with hot water in the morning. We tried to wash away the chills and headaches with it. We soon left Rangdum for another adventurous journey to Padum, the largest town of Zanskar. We soon reached the mountain pass called as Penzila Pass (also called Pensi La) on the way. Penzila pass is the highest motorable point of this area at 14000 feet.
Driving few metres further, our eyes caught the vast Drang-Drung glacier, the 2nd largest glacier in the region, largest being the famous Siachen glacier. We looked for a perfect spot to capture the beauty of this 23 kms long frozen behemoth. A few more kilometres ahead from the glacier we started descending from the mountains witnessing a thin road cutting through a flat expanse of barren land below us. Various fresh water streams flowed around us emerging from Stod River.
Soon as we were to enter Padum we saw good roads coming up and the joy we felt is difficult to describe. Crossing small villages, we reached Sani village, a few kilometres away from Padum, where we visited the Sani monastery. It is located in the Stod valley and might be possibly the oldest monastery of Zanskar region.
We were finally at the heart of Zanskar after travelling around 4000 kms across 4 days. We couldn’t wait to finally get started and explore this hidden gem the next day. Thanks for reading our travelogue. We have at last reached our final destination and will be exploring some awesome places in next few days. It would be great if you could drop in your thoughts on our photographs and travel blog in comments section below. To read our complete blog, check our official blog here. Read how our next day exploring Padum unfolded in our blog here.
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