Travel Writing

Runner-up, Independent Travel Writing Competition 2002

PHUCTAL MONASTERY, ZANSKAR

To reach Phuctal Monastery in Zanskar you must cross the world's most terrifying bridge. Two cables stretch from the bank to rocks in the middle and then leap to the furthest bank. The cables are interwoven with twigs and then covered with flat stones. Below, a furious brown river hurls itself down from the Himalayas.

The path is so steep and narrow, the river gorge so deep and dramatic, it takes all your attention, then you round a bend and there high up on the sheer rock face is a tumble of little square whitewashed cells, growing out of the rock as if they were pouring out of the dark cave above.

The rocky path to the monastery is lined with a dozen white chortens; these domed Buddhist mouments are everywhere in Zanskar. The Zanskar valley in the mountains between Kashmir and Ladakh belongs to India but its heart and the way of life belong to the high Tibetan plateau further north. The jeep track to Padum, the largest town, was only completed in the 1980s.

We climb up inside the rock through a maze of passages and emerge onto the terrace in front of the cave. Deep inside the cave is a sacred spring which has healing properties, we all have a drink. The monastery guest room where we spend the night is just big enough for five of us to lie in a row.

Two days after leaving Phuctal we are trekking to Padum. On either side, huge slopes of scree rise up to jagged towers of golden rock banded with black. Marmots pop out of holes and tiny purple flowers like primulas are the only vegetation.

The great rocks rising on each side are bare but fabulously coloured in reds, browns, greys and ochres with vast scree slopes. It's a cruel climate. One minute the sun's beating down, hot as hell, then the wind's up, cold as a knife. Behind a rock for morning ablutions I notice that I have reached new depths of filth, even my tits are covered in dirt .

The valley opens into a crescent-shaped plain. To the right a massive smooth ridge of scree is a luminous range of blues and greys, the plain below leads to Zangla and the road to Leh. On the left are the distant snow peaks Nun and Kun. The Pensi La pass is at the end of this valley. We'll cross it to the Kargil road to Srinagar and home.

On the hillside opposite, nestling in the curve of the crescent is Karsha Gompa, the largest monastery in Zanskar. Its many buildings sit in a compact block rising up the steep rock. The plain is green and vast and the mud coloured houses of Padum nestle at the foot of the valley slope beneath us. 'Padum, Padum, Padum Padum Padum' sings Mo to the Pink Panther tune.