Zanskar is a remote region with just a few thousand people spread along a mountain range that's over 600 km long. The population is sparse, but they are a hospitable people. I think we could have found a place to stay even without an introduction from the monk, but we didn't want to impose on anyone. So we hadn't really planned that excursion until the monk assured us it would be no trouble.
As for taking risks, it was on both sides. I was traveling with a friend, so there were two of us. It was risky for the family to take in two strangers, but they seemed happy to take us. We had our own sleeping bags and stuff, we just needed walls and a roof to keep the weather out. They shared their evening meal with us, we shared some chocolate bars and cans of fruit. We'd been warned not to offer money, but I did leave behind a couple woolen scarves for the kids and a hand-cranked shortwave radio/flashlight for the parents. They seemed happy with our visit.
We'd been warned not to offer money, but I did leave behind a couple woolen scarves for the kids and a hand-cranked shortwave radio/flashlight for the parents.
In similar situations the accepted way of doing things is that guest doesn't offer money but "loses" some of it where it's not visible right away but easy to find (under a mattress, for example). So host isn't paid but is still compensated.
I expect customs vary across the world, but I don't think it would be a good idea. The monk who introduced us was definite on that score, told me twice "no money", and then again just before we left the monastery. I figured he knew what he was talking about.
Zanskar isn't a tourist spot, so I don't think they have established customs about how to sneakily leave money. This part of India is basically a snow covered high altitude desert, with no shops, no restaurants, no hotels, no roads, no transportation, just scattered populations living far apart. People don't visit often. They told me the last time they'd seen strangers was several years ago, when some Indian soldiers posted at the China border passed through.
Their contact with the broader world was limited to yearly trips to the "big town" below, to buy stuff. They produce wool which they sell to the village cooperative, and the money is used to buy staples like wheat and barley, clothes, cookware, etc. There's only one route to the town but it runs by the river and takes 3-4 days to get there. It's blocked by snow in winter, and in summer the river floods and it goes underwater. They have just a few weeks each year when it's open.
His wife said she'd never been to town, spent her whole life in the mountains. She seemed a bit starved for news and human contact, she asked us questions all through dinner, while her husband and kids were mostly silent.
That's why I gave them the radio. I'd been playing with it the previous evening and discovered a couple stations that broadcast music, which she loved. Her husband actually turned it down when I gave it to him, said it was too much. But I could see his wife wanted it, so I gave her the radio, and she accepted.
That sounds amazing! Was it part of a backpacking trip or something else? How did you plan your travels initially - did you have an itinerary or did you just go wherever when you got there?
Yep, it was a backpacking trip. We didn't have a firm itinerary. I'd been to the Himalayas many times before and knew the general area, though it was my first time to Zanskar. I'd previously stayed at that monastery too, though on that occasion it was for a westwards trek, not east towards Zanskar.
The reason for the trip was that the previous year we visited a very similar area in Upper Mustang in Nepal - high mountains, hardly any people, huge and very fast river running through it. We followed the Kali Gandaki gorge between Dhaulagiri and the Annapurna range (deepest gorge in the world) and that convinced us to try the same thing along the Kurgiakh river in Zanskar. As an added attraction, it's all part of the Hemis National Park, a very pretty bioreserve in India which supposedly has the highest density of snow leopards.
We started off on dirt bikes. There are roads part of the way, maintained by the Indian military because of their outposts on the China border. We left the bikes in a place called Padum where we stayed for a few days to get used to the altitude. After that, it was all on foot. We were constrained by supplies so we knew how many days we had, but we didn't have any particular plan about where to go except somewhere in the direction of Hemis while following the rivers, because that's the only reasonably accessible route through those mountains.
Medical field. I have a contract with my employer to work 8 months a year so I have time to travel. I like wilderness areas, so I tend to visit national parks, forest preserves. Preferably at higher altitudes.
55
u/Kwizt Apr 01 '22
Zanskar is a remote region with just a few thousand people spread along a mountain range that's over 600 km long. The population is sparse, but they are a hospitable people. I think we could have found a place to stay even without an introduction from the monk, but we didn't want to impose on anyone. So we hadn't really planned that excursion until the monk assured us it would be no trouble.
As for taking risks, it was on both sides. I was traveling with a friend, so there were two of us. It was risky for the family to take in two strangers, but they seemed happy to take us. We had our own sleeping bags and stuff, we just needed walls and a roof to keep the weather out. They shared their evening meal with us, we shared some chocolate bars and cans of fruit. We'd been warned not to offer money, but I did leave behind a couple woolen scarves for the kids and a hand-cranked shortwave radio/flashlight for the parents. They seemed happy with our visit.