One advantage of rearranging our trip was that we got an extra day in the Zanskar valley. Although we would have passed through the region as we shuttled between trailheads, this way we had plenty of time to look around at this isolated and interesting region of Tibetan Buddhist culture, essentially cut off from the world even now.
We spent the morning driving to Zangla, a tiny village at the east end of the valley, close to where we would have come out if we had been able to complete our hike over the passes. We first visited a small Buddhist nunnery whose assembly hall was partly underground. We then climbed to the remains of the fort of the kings of Zangla, who still live in the village below although they no longer rule in this valley, which historically had not one but two kings. There we spoke to three Hungarian architects who are valiantly trying to preserve the structure before it falls down. By coincidence, we had spoken with the rest of their party a few days earlier, who turned out to be a group of eminent Hungarian architects hoping to cross the passes and advise them. We hope they could make it.
After lunch back in Padum, we crossed the valley to Karsha monastery, which is built right up a hillside. It had a number of interesting halls dating back to the 11th century, although the main assembly hall was closed for structural repairs. It actually seemed like bits of the whole monastery were starting to slide down the hill after the hard winter.
Having time on our hands, we also climbed up to a nunnery on the other side of the gorge. Because most of the nuns had gone to the village for a wedding, no one had the key to let us into the oldest chapel in the area, but Marcia befriended an elderly nun who showed us around the more modern structures.