Day 5 Kishtwar Gulabgarh Machail Road Cliffhanger Killar

And today was a big day as we started off from our Hotel, the newly set-up K17 Hotel in Kishtwar owned by our friend Mahesh Singh and we started as usual in the Morning. RT Sir as usual had been as usual up half the night doing the Galaxy timelapses. And I of course I was sleeping after a great Party which ended with me having Kishtwari Rishta and Rice with some Rogan Josh. And we went to the Petrol Pump as we weren't sure where we would get our next fill up. And as we filled up the Tank and I started and moved the Car disaster struck. As there was a Vehicle coming from the other side approaching the Pump I cut the Fortuner a little too sharp and as a result unknowing to me the Metal Girder guard on the sde of the Pumps rammed straight into the left hand side front Door and before I could stop the Rear Door as well. The Plastic Guard also came off and the Aluminium step Platform also got bent and the Girder stopped right at the Tyre. 

A long Video of us hitting what is known as the one of the most dangerous stretches of Road in the Himalayas, the wild Road between Kishtwar and Udaipur. The most dangerous section lies between Gulabgarh and Killar, called the Cliffhanger it actually lies in J&K, Jammu divison to be more exact. The Road further from Killar to Udaipur is also a wild Road but with great views and its along this Route that the Chenab becomes the Chandrabhaga.

Lying hidden far inside the Himalayas lie the equally rugged and untamed Valleys called the Padar Valley and the Pangi Valley and both happen to be neighbours. As of today both are a part of different states. Padar Valley is a part of Kishtwar district of the state of Jammu and Kashmir while the Pangi Valley is a part of Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh. They are traditionally divided by the Sansari Nallah which acts now as the border between the two states now.

Both the Valleys are situated on the Chandrabhaga or the Chenab as its called once it crosses into Jammu and Kashmir. And of course there is a famous Road which runs between these two Valleys which is considered one of the most dangerous in the whole of the Himalayas. The similarities do not end there.

There are great cultural and linguistic similarities between the people of both Regions. The majority of the people are Hindus however in the upper reaches of each Valley are communities of Buddhists who are said to have come from Zanskar long back and settled there. In the Padar the area beyond the Machail Village, Villages like Hangu and Haloti have Buddhist populations. Infact the main Village/ Town of Padar, Gulabgarh is home to a very prominent Pagoda right on the Chenab. Many of the Buddhists from the higher reaches have settled in Gulabgarh as most of their Villages are still not connected by Road. Though currently a Road is being made towards Machail along the Bhot Nallah and a part is already under use and we recently drove around 8 kms on this Road.

In Pangi as well there are Buddhist communities living in villages with a suffix “Bhatori”. The word Bhatori derives from the word Bhot, which was used by the locals for the people from the Ladakh / Zanskar side and it means a place where the Bhots stay. Hudan Bhatori is probably the most famous of the "Bhot" Villages in the Pangi Valley.

Once you drive towards the Lahaul Valley, signs of Buddhism begin to emerge and in Udaipur you see the first Buddhist religious structures emerging. Lahaul is still one of the unique places in the Himalayas where a syncretic form of Hinduism and Buddhism is still practiced by the majority of the people. The famous Temple of Trilokinath is revered by the Buddhists as well as the Hindus of the region. It was originally a Buddhist Temple which became a Shiva Temple as Trilokinath was supposed to be another name for Shiva. According to most Scholars Buddhism supposedly came from Ladakh / Spiti though I have a hunch that Shaivism came to this Region from Kashmir.

But anyways coming back to the Road, you just have some time left to experience this Road as an alternate Road is being made and the Cliffhanger section will be abandoned for the simple reason that broadening the section would entail a herculean task of breaking the Rock walls so instead they are making a Road above the Cliff section which avoids the Rockface.

Video from June 2019. In the Padar Tehsil of Kishtwar District of the Jammu Division of J&K.

#amazingjammu #jammutourism #offbeatjammu

Day 6 : Killar - Udaipur - Keylong

So  so we woke up in Killar and it was a cloudy day and RT Sir was already outside shooting a timelapse of the clouds. From the Forest Rest House the Pangi Valley looked very beautiful it was ass vertical as the Padar Valley and even more. It had the same kinds of flora and and of course there was the Chandrabhaga river so we got talking to one of the Gentleman over there he was very keen on starting his tourism business in Pangi Valley.