DDr. Vijay Athalye4 months ago
*Phugtal Monastery Trek in Zanskar Valley ;Ladakh.*
Zanskar valley itself is an offbeat area of Ladakh and Phugtal monastery is offbeat Gompa of Zanskar.
So you can imagine,the *rarefied* pathway.
Phugtal Monastery( called Gompa)is in Ladakh India is housed in the remote corner of the Lungnak Valley, part of the southeastern region of Zanskar Valley, Ladakh.
Here oxygen is very low and you get exhausted in one third of your capacity( means if normally you could climb 18 steps,here you can climb only 6 in one breath)
So age,altitude,cold wheather,rains and broken pathway at the entry point,all points were against us.
(Our drivers were doubtful about our ability, especially mine,as they were
poignantly looking at my big belly)
But by sheer determination and positive thinking myself and Dr.Hema,my ophthalmologist classmate could do this most difficult trek.
We had hired our car driver as our guide as he was very talented and fit and was local,so knew everything.
We reached there via *Purne village.*
(One must start early by 6 am to avoid landslide delays etc )
It is 1.5 hours zigzag,drive from Padum.( Many times landslides can close this route)
The trek is *7 km one way*( total 14 km),upto monastery at *16600 feet.*
Phugtal was established in 15th century by a disciple of Tsongkhapa and belongs to *Gelung* school of Tibetan Buddhism ( rest three schools
are Nyingma, Kagyu and Sakya)
Phuktal, which is derived from *Phukthal, made up of Phuk meaning 'cave', and Tal meaning 'at leisure'.*
The dead end was over a mountain on one of the banks of beautiful turquoise blue green (or can I call it azure blue )river .
This road was passing from the higher side of the mountain and was broken in between,going up and down.Very scary.So we didn't dare .
The other road was ,near the other side of bank of the river,less scary but ,the enering point was all in a mess,most difficult.
But we chose the other bank road, alongside of river.But.......
*Dangerous entry point*
Due to new construction of road the entry point was all dug up and we had to walk literary on pieces of stones,very unstable and slippery and from above there was a danger of falling stones as one GCB was engaged in excavating and throwing the material in valley.One man was present,near a rock ,on the bank of river and used to shout or whistle,to stop the machine,when we were passing below it( we were fortunate to be allowed to pass ,as after that they stopped entry via this point).
The driver cum guide was literally pulling both of us( turn by turn),as there was fear of stone hitting your head.
We have to descend about 15 feet ,on broken stones and again climb up to cross the gap,on the broken rocks( that also nonstop,as for us they had to stop excavating work)
The guide was fit local young person in his thirties and we in our sixties with young minds( but I had tachycardia and told him to just wait,to make my heartrate normal.
I said I will better die of head injury than cardiac arrest,looking back it is not advisable but the nature was so tempting that we crossed the difficult path)
And we had *सब्र का मीठा फल.*
Rest of the road was heavenly.
The out of the world, shimmering; blue green river,the snow capped montains,cold,fresh wheather and picturesque frames of eternal beauty.
One of the most enchanting and sought-after places to explore in the entire Ladakh, denoting what travel experiences are meant to be.
The spiritual significance of the Phugtal Gompa, self-learning,the ruggedness of the region, the basic infrastructure and the sense of being on one’s own for long stretches of the dusty unpaved road immediately ,change your personality.
*The unforgiving and magnificent nature ,made me detached from all worldly affairs, wanted only solitude for eternity!......*
सिर्फ मै ही मै हु ,
यहां से वहा तक,
इस जमी से,
आसमा तक.....
Nature is treated with respect but also fought against when needed and technology for the locals is non-existent.
Now better bridges have replaced the old ,narrow,rickety hanging bridges.
The Gompa monastery stands on the
