Visiting Zanskar Valley with a rented Royal Enfield Himalayan

Ever since my good friend Mandy Alting told me about Zanskar, many years ago, I wanted to visit that region in India. In fact, it was the main reason why I came to Ladakh in the first place. In winter, Zanskar is completely cut off from the outside world. Heavy snowfall makes it impossible to cross the high pass for up to 6 months. In summer, you can only reach the village by traveling over a 250 kilometers non-paved, very rough road. It is the only way in and out of the valley.

Not many tourists and local people take the effort to go all the way there, and therefore village life remains very untouched. In the future, this may change, when the connecting road to Manali is finished, and people can reach Zanskar from the south. For the poor people in this region, the new road is great news and it will bring more visitors and business to the area. For me as an adventurous traveler, it is sad news. Yet, I am glad I came here before the rest of the world discovered this unique valley.

From Kargil to Rangdum

I started my ride from Kargil which is, for now, the only way in and out of Zanskar valley. The first 60 kilometers are through the Suru valley. The villages here are muslim villages which are dotted throughout the wide green valley with snow-capped mountains in the background.

When the paved road ends, the fun starts for me as a motorcycle traveler. If you are sitting in a jeep, or worse in a bus, brace yourself for the endless bumpy road.

It took me about 4 hours to travel the 120 kilometers to Rangdum, a small settlement with only one guesthouse and a monastery. To keep things enjoyable and save my back from getting injured, I decided to cut the journey to Zanskar valley in half and spend the night here.

The next morning I was blown away by how the early morninglight shined over the valley. It was just magical, and seemed to be a good omen for the rest of my journey.

Endurance tested from Rangdum to Cha

For the first 60 kilometers that second day, I did not see one single village. I drove for almost 3 hours in complete wilderness, all by myself! I could only hope that my motorbike wouldn't break down and that I would not get stuck somewhere, having to wait for someone to pass by. Luckily my Royal Enfield Himalayan stayed royal and loyal. She didn't let me down.

While passing through this mountain area with its snaking glaciers, fields full of yak and the occasional river crossing, I told myself that the scenery was magnificent but the road terrible. The last 10 kilometers to Padum, the capital of Zanskar, was newly paved though. A very pleasant change for my sore body.

This stretch of 100 kilometers took me 5 hours to ride, but because I left early, I arrived early at Padum. I decided I would have enough time to continue to Cha, a village even deeper into the Zankar valley.

According to my Maps.me, it would only be another 40 kilometers to Cha. Based on my previous experience, I estimated that it would take me another 2 hours. Wrong! The tiny narrow road, hugging the mountains, was an absolute disaster. It changed from full-on sharp rock road to thick layers of loose Sahara-like sand. It had more than steep inclines and even steeper drops. These up and downhill paths were usually a combination of loose boulders and slippery sand.

My bike was bumping and flying all over the place, and it took all of my willpower and strength to keep her upright.

Close to the village of Itchar, there was a split in the road and no sign as to which road went to Cha. I gambled and choose. The dirt road snaked up onto a hill with incredibly steep hairpin curves with loose sand and large rocks in the corners. On one of the left corners, I lost my speed in the sand and the bike fell to its left. Luckily, I managed to get it back up again and got back into the saddle. “OK”, I said to myself, “I can do this.” But the next curve was even steeper and my little 411cc bike couldn't handle the incline, and there it went again.

But this time, the bike fell to the right. There was no way I could lift her back up again by myself. So I had no choice but to take my helmet off, sit next to the bike and wait for someone to pass.

After some time a jeep approached me, full of monks. As soon as they saw me, they jumped out of the car and came running to me.

“You have accident? You have accident? Are you hurt, ma'am?”, they asked. “No, I am fine! The bike just fell over, that's it”, I laughed to reassure them I was fine.

Together with 3 monks, we got the bike back up again.

“OK, OK, you can go again, ma'am?”, they asked friendly. I asked them if this was the road to Cha. “No, no, no! This is the road to village Itchar. Cha, you have to go down the mountain!”

Oh, no! I dropped the bike twice on the wrong road! At that moment, I could have made the decision to return to Padum and stay there for the night, but I simply couldn't do it. I felt that the true Zanskar valley only began after Padum. My ride to Padum was beautiful, but during this ride it became breathtaking. Narrow gorges with an emerald-blue Zanskar river raging through it, and passing villages perched in between the mountains with green barley fields surrounding them. I couldn't get enough of it.

Once I had taken the right road to Cha, my endurance was tested even more. I had to endure a violent sand storm, horizontal rains, and a whole lot of dust.

Now I understood the saying, “I only knew it was impossible after I did it.”

My final test of endurance had yet to come. Just before I reached the village of Cha, where I wanted to stay for the night, an excavator had cut open the entire road. The road workers told me it would take at least another two days before I could pass it with my motorbike.

I had no choice but to turn around, drive 3 bumpy kilometers back, and park the bike. From there I had to walk to the village with all my luggage. So I carried 2 backpacks, one helmet, several motorbike spare parts, and my repair tools.

To make things worse, one of the leather boots that I'd bought in Manali had taken a hard blow and it had completely fallen apart. I'd fixed my boot by putting a strap three times around the boot to keep it together. Completely covered in dust, sweaty, very tired, and with a broken boot, I arrived in Cha.

The locals were eyeing me and must have thought that my rough appearance was a bit suspicious at least, but then a man came walking towards me. He took half of the luggage I was carrying and started walking towards the village.

I was too tired to argue, so I just followed him. He brought me to his house, warmed up some water on the stove so I could wash and after that, he made me some hot chai.

Visit to Phuktal Monastery before heading back to Padum

I spent the night in his traditional Ladakhi home. The next morning I took my daypack and continued my journey on foot since the road really ended here in Cha. I hiked along a side river of the Zanskar river to the Phuktal Monastery.

The water had such a deep blue color that it seemed unnatural. After some hours of walking, I reached Phuktal Monastery. This monastery is partly set in a cave and spills out below with small buildings where the monks live. The setting of that monastery is just magical and it didn't take long before one of the monks approached me.

After a photo shoot and several cups of hot chai, I made my way back to Cha and set off on my motorbike to Padum back over that god-awful road.

Padum and my fuel search

It was time for my next challenge: fuel. Padum is the only place in Zanskar valley that has a petrol station. It does not have a motorized pump, so a guy manually pumps the fuel in your vehicle by turning a gigantic wheel. This petrol station is known for running out of fuel, which of course happened to be the case when I arrived there in desperate need of petrol.

When the petrol station runs out of fuel, an order is placed. But, as the truck has to come from Leh, it takes 4 to 5 days before new fuel arrives in Padum. I had no interest in hanging around Padum for so long, so I spent hours searching for fuel.

In a small shop, I ran into a local botany teacher. A young, glassed, and energetic man who took me on a tour through Padum, visiting all his friends, students, and family in search of petrol. The staff of the guesthouse, where I was staying, were also very helpful, and after 1,5 days we managed to scramble 3,5 liters of petrol together. The fuel came from 3 different generators, a car, and a secret petrol stash. Adding this to the little fuel I had left in my tank, I could only hope it would be enough to make the long journey back to Kargil.

The next morning I was planning to leave Pandum early, but it happened to be Zanskar Festival. So I decided to stay for the morning and watch the traditional dancing, singing, sword fighting and yak performances before I took off after lunch.

Back to normality

Around noon I left Padum, but on my way back I was unpleasantly surprised by two roadblocks. It added another 25 kilometers to my ride because of the detour I had to take. All I could think of was the precious additional fuel this detour was costing me.

So when I reached Rangdum 5 hours later, I was too low on fuel to make it to Kargil.

Luckily, I met a villager who promised me to look for fuel and he succeeded! An hour later he managed to arrange 4 liters for me. More than enough to reach Kargil on my bike. He invited me into his house and many cups of hot chai and a couple of fresh apples later I left him, his lovely wife and his 7-year old twin boys.

I stayed in Rangdum for the night and the next day I rode to Kargil. There I bought new boots, gave my loyal bike her much needed gasoline and 3 liters of fresh engine oil.

After having done all of that, I was ready for the next 200 kilometers to Kashmir!