The first night of sleep via Hunder not went well at all for me, as even with two layer of blankets I am still not able to resist the coldness of the environment during the midnight. I remember I wake up at around 3AM due to the coldness and totally not able to sleep comfortably anymore hence continue the suffering till the morning when finally the sun rising, bringing little warm to the room. The room me and Fabian stayed was separated from the main building, hence it was a huge challenging to rush over during freezing morning to have our special bread and omelette breakfast prepared by Irfan! Every morning, kitchen with stove was the only place we would stick our-self with!
We start our journey back to the town where we pass through yesterday, Diskit, and the first stop was an impressive statue standing high at 32 Meters on top of a hill overlooking Shyok River towards the direction of Pakistan border, which was just nearly 100 KM away. The statue was built with three main function in mind - protection of Diskit village, prevention of further war with Pakistan, and to promote world peace. After that, we continue the drive further up the hill to the old Diskit Gompa, founded in the 14th century and was the oldest Gompa here in Nubra Valley.
Wilderness in Nubra Valley.
Mandy overlooking Diskit Gompa on higher elevation from where we were.
Majestic 32 Meters statue of Maitreya Buddha via Diskit.
Hybrid executing traditional Tibetan Buddhism prayer.
Direction towards Pakistan border, around 100 KM away.
View from the parking area.
Mandy and the wilderness.
Soon snapping photo of the Maitreya Buddha statue from Diskit Gompa.
Solid protector of the town of Diskit.
Hiking step by step towards Diskit Gompa.
Colorful wall painting around the Gompa.
Ancient painting on the Gompa's wall.
Continue to hike towards the top of the Gompa.
Tibetan Mani Stone.
One of the Stupa on top of Diskit Gompa.
Andrew standing on the staircase linked between the Gompa and car park.
Fabian laying down lazily enjoying the stunning view of the valley.
Passing through a long road next to desert to reach opposite side of the valley, we then reach Sumur village and have a quick stop at a modern place of worship, Samstanling Gompa but did not stay long exploring the area, probably because everyone was starving. We then have lunch at Shampa restaurant in Sumur village main street, and we was glad there are fried rice available, we kinda miss it!
On the road to Sumur.
Driving in the middle of a desert.
Reaching Sumur village.
Entrance to Samstanling Gompa.
The main walkway toward Samstanling Gompa.
Hybrid at one of the corner inside Samstanling Gompa.
The view over the valley from Samstanling Gompa.
Try to imagine how colorful this place will be during non-winter time.
Continue the drive north.
After our lunch, we continue to drive north for 45 minutes and finally reaching Panamik hot spring. Before reaching the hot spring, there was a uphill road that our car need to go through but due to the icy ground, one of our car tire was stuck while going up causing a situation that if it try too hard powering the tire, it might slip all the way down from high hill which just few feet away. After we spread some sands on the ground with multiple reverse, finally the car manage to reach safely to the hot spring, what a scary moment.
The private bath room was closed hence only the public one was open. Public bathroom separated side by side for both ladies and gentleman, and basically it was just a drain that flow the water into a small square size bathroom. We stuck the drain hole with some clothes to prevent the hot water leaked out, and that was how that concept of hot spring works here! Nothing too overwhelming about the hot spring, but even with only the endless hot water for us to bath around and wash our hair, that was probably everything we can wish for at that moment of time!
Everyone helping to spread sands to prevent the car from slipped from the track.
The source of the hot water from the underground of a small hill.
The very small square size public bathroom, which can fit at most 4 adults at a time.
The view outside from the public bathroom.
Sit down to relax and enjoy the view after a great hot spring bath.
The direction further north that again getting closer to Pakistan border.
The small brick structure was the public bathroom that we were in earlier.
Sand storm forming distance away on the valley.
After the relaxing bath, it was a long drive back to Hunder again to conclude the day.
Nubra Valley - India
January 2018
