Hunder to Panamik – Nubra Valley and Siachen Base Camp

It was the 31st day of our road trip to Ladakh and the plan today was to first travel from Hunder to Panamik and then visit Siachen Base Camp there. For the night, we planned to look for a hotel in either Sumur or Panamik, depending on whichever was better and would cost less.

We were in Nubra Valley for the last 2 days. We arrived on Saturday, which was the 29th day of our trip, traveling from Leh to Hunder, and stayed there for the night. On Sunday, we traveled to Turtuk and also visited the Thang Village near the LOC. To read the previous parts of the travelogue, you can take a look at the links below.

Journey So Far:

• Stok Palace – Day 23
• Spituk Monastery – Day 25
• Tsemo Castle – Day 26
• Phyang Village – Day 27
• Leh Old Town – Day 28
• Leh to Hunder via Khardung La – Day 29
• Hunder to Thang Village – Day 30
• Turtuk Village – Day 30

Now it was Monday and the 31st day of our trip. For the last 2 days, we were on the Diskit and Hunder side of Nubra Valley and now we wanted to spend the next 2 days, on its other side where the villages of Sumur, Panamik, and Warshi are.

There are a lot of tourist attractions in and around these villages as well but for some reason, they do not see the same amount of tourists that Diskit and Hunder do. This side of Nubra Valley is still largely offbeat and we wanted to explore it in the next 2 days.

Day 31 – Hunder to Panamik

The plan was to first go to Siachen Base Camp and come back to either Sumur or Panamik for a night stay. Per my calculation, it should take us about 5 hours to reach Siachen Base Camp from Hunder and then another 3 hours to come back to Panamik.

So a journey of about 8 to 9 hours with plenty of photography breaks in between. We decided to start between 7 to 8 am so that we could return to Panamik well in time for some local sightseeing in the village.

But the day did not really go as planned. For some reason, the night in Hunder was a very restless one. I barely managed to get a few hours of sleep and that too a very light one. I do not know what it was but I just could not bring myself to sleep properly and kept waking up every 30 or 45 minutes.

One thing that I knew was that it was not altitude sickness because we had already been in Ladakh and Zanskar for an entire month by then. It was just one of those nights when no matter how hard you try, sleep just keeps evading you.

As a result, the morning was an equally tiring one. I did not really want to get out of bed but since the plan was to start early, I dragged myself out of the blanket and started getting ready.

Everything seemed to move slowly that morning. A couple of times I even considered staying in Hunder for a day more and not going anywhere at all. But finally, we got ready, had a light breakfast, and drove out of our hotel in Hunder by 8 am.

Diskit Buddha Statue

There was one more place that I wanted to visit in Diskit before we went to the other side of the valley. That was the Diskit Gompa. The panoramic view of the valley from the Gompa is worth going that way and I wanted to get a few morning pictures before we continued our journey.

Diskit is only about 10 kilometers from Hunder and we reached the Gompa in no time. I had been to the Gompa before so visiting the monastery was not really the plan. We went straight to the point where the Maitreya Buddha Statue is located and started clicking a few pictures of the valley in front.

Commonly referred to as the ‘Nubra Valley Buddha Statue’ or ‘Diskit Monastery Buddha Statue’, it is an impressive 32 meters (106 ft) tall statue located on top of a hill below the monastery.

The construction of the statue started in April 2006 with three main reasons in mind – the protection of Diskit, to prevent further war with Pakistan, and world peace. All the money was pitched in by the locals and about 8 kg of gold used to decorate the statue was received as a donation.

The construction ended in 2010 and the statue was consecrated by the Dalai Lama on 25 July 2010. It now sits facing down the Shyok River towards Pakistan, to avoid any war with the neighboring country.

The statue is really very beautiful and impressive. We clicked a few pictures, shot some videos, and once again started on our way to Panamik.

Hunder to Panamik

The next stop was at the Khalsar junction where we got a tankful of Diesel. There was a long line of vehicles at the petrol pump that morning. We nearly had to wait about 30 minutes before it was our turn to buy Diesel.

We took a brief break at a restaurant near the junction, got some tea, and moved on to the other side of Nubra Valley. By now, because of the visit to Diskit Gompa and the long wait at the petrol station, the time was well beyond 10 am.

The distance between Hunder and Panamik is about 65 kilometers and can take up to 2 hours to complete. From Hunder, one will have to travel to Diskit first and then reach Khalsar as we did.

From Khalsar, you cross the bridge on the Shyok River and get on to its other side. You will first arrive in the village of Sumur, drive for another 20 kilometers from there and reach Panamik.

The condition of the road is good but since it is a single-lane road with two-way traffic, your speed will remain restricted to about 30 kilometers an hour.

There is a daily bus service to Panamik but it is available from Diskit. If you were traveling by Bus, you will first have to get a shared cab from Hunder to Diskit and then catch the bus to Panamik. Or you could look for a shared cab straight to Panamik from Hunder.

If you rented a private taxi for the journey, expect the fare to be anywhere between Rs. 2000 to Rs. 5000, depending upon the time of your trip, tourist rush, and your negotiation skills.

Panamik

After our break at Khalsar, we crossed the narrow bridge on the Shyok River and continued our journey to Panamik. We drove for about 25 kilometers to first reach Sumur.  Within that distance, I gave up the idea of going to Siachen Base Camp that day entirely.

I was way too sleepy and tired to enjoy the drive and the views. It felt like I was pushing myself unnecessarily and dragging my feet.  Even clicking pictures of the beautiful vistas did not interest and all I wanted to do at that moment was to rest.

I spoke to Lavish and we both agreed to postpone our plan for the next day. This would mean that we will have to extend our stay in Nubra Valley by a day but we were both Ok with it. Our road trip was not bound by time and we could have stayed in Ladakh for as long as we wanted.

Now the big question was about where to stay, Sumur or Panamik. After a brief discussion, Panamik was agreed upon. We drove for another 20 kilometers from Sumur and reached Panamik shortly.

A surprise awaited us there though. The entire village was deserted and there was not a soul in sight. We drove through the village a few times but there was absolutely no one around. All the houses and shops were locked.

Finally, we ran into an elderly gentleman and asked him about what was going on and where everyone was. He told us that a Guru Ji was visiting the Diskit Gompa that day and the entire village of Panamik had gone to Diskit to attend the prayers.

Sumur

This was really surprising to us. The entire village has gone? Just about everybody? We drove across a village one more time but every house in the village had a lock on it.

Now the question of where to stay was once again facing us. Should we go back to Diskit or Hunder? That seemed like the obvious choice but before we did that, we decided to try our luck in Sumur.

The thing with Nubra Valley is that the entire flow of tourism is limited to the Diskit and Hunder sides. Everyone goes that way and only a handful of people bother coming toward Sumur and Panamik.

Due to this, this part of the valley is never crowded and is perfect for someone who wants to spend some time away from the crowd. There aren’t even a lot of hotels on this side.

You will find a few hotels and guest houses in Sumur and that is about it. The only choice of accommodation in Panamik is still homestay. There are a couple of guest houses there as well but mostly it is just a homestay that you will have to stay at in Panamik.

Nonetheless, we arrived in Sumur and started to look for a hotel. Another surprise awaited us here. Even though there are hotels and guest houses in Sumur, there aren’t many that can be called budget-stay.

All the hotels there were ranging between Rs. 4000 to Rs. 6000. And these were no four or five stars hotels, just very basic ones. We checked out a few but just did not find one that was worth spending all that money on.

Hotel Rimo Sumur

Another hour was spent in hotel-hunting and I was even more tired. All that I wanted at that time was a bed to crash on and catch some sleep. Finally, when we could not find a budget stay, we decided to spend the money anyway and checked into Hotel Rimo.

This was the most expensive hotel that we had stayed in so far on the trip. We paid Rs. 4500 for one room and I wouldn’t have minded it if it was worth it.

The hotel, though it looked good from the outside, was shabby from the inside. The rooms were small, everything looked old and dirty and there was no way that it was worth Rs. 4500. At best, I would have paid no more than Rs. 1000 for a stay like that.

Anyway, we were checked in and I finally found what I desperately wanted all this time – a bed. At about 2 pm, after a quick shower, I crawled into a blanket and went to sleep.

After a good 3 hours of sleep, I woke up at 5 pm, all fresh and energetic once more. There was still more than 2 hours of sunlight left and there was no point in staying in the hotel.

So after having some evening tea, we drove out of Hotel Rimo and went to see the Sumur Sand Dunes. These are located at the far end of the village on the Khalsar Side.

Sumur Sand Dunes

The dunes of Nubra Valley are famous as a tourist spot. But these are commonly referred to as Hunder Sand Dunes because that is where the majority of the tourists go. However, the fact is that these dunes are spread over a wide area.

If you started walking on the banks of the Shyok River, you will find these sand dunes all the way from Khalsar to Hunder and even beyond, and on both sides of the river. But as I said, since it is Diskit and Hunder that most of the tourists prefer to go to, the dunes also got named after Hunder.

I am not saying that the sand dunes of Hunder are any less pretty but because of the increase in tourism, that area has started to get very crowded lately and even a lot dirtier now.

So if you want to spend some time in peace, away from the crowd, the dunes in Sumur will be a much better choice. There is hardly anyone around. We spent 2 days in Sumur and then another 2 days later during the trip and the time we spent near Sumur Sand Dunes were among the best days of the trip.

Nonetheless, we arrived at Sumur Sand Dunes and something of interest caught my eye. There were some wooden huts located there now that I had never seen during my previous trips. In fact, the entire area around the dunes and the path leading to it was managed by the owner of the cottages.

Tashi Huts & Cottages

We parked our car and started walking on the path through the cottages to the sand dunes. On the way, we noticed a small restaurant and decided to get something to eat there.

It belong to the same guy who owned the huts and was part of the same establishment. He was a gentleman named Tashi. I started talking to him and it resulted in a very long conversation about Ladakh, Nubra Valley, its history, the increase in tourism, and a lot more.

Tashi knew a lot about Ladakh and gave us some good insights. I really liked talking to him and more than that, I loved the location of the cottages. I asked him if he had huts available and he said yes.

But by now, we had already paid at Hotel Rimo for one day. After talking to Tashi, we decided that we will spend this day in Rimo but would come to stay in his huts the day after. Tashi gladly agreed.

So the plan for the next day was now set. In the morning, we will first check out of Hotel Rimo, check into Tashi’s huts near the sand dunes, leave our luggage there, go to Siachen Base Camp, and return to Sumur by evening.

• Journey Ahead: Sumur to Siachen Base Camp & OP Baba Shrine

We spent the next 2 days in Nubra Valley and totally loved our time there. We went to Siachen Base Camp and a couple of other offbeat destinations suggested by Tashi. Please click on the link above to continue reading the next part of the travelogue.

Hunder to Panamik – Conclusion

I hope the travelogue, pictures, and information above on traveling from Hunder to Panamik were of help. If you have any questions, you can contact me on Instagram and I will happily answer. You can also consider subscribing to my YouTube channel and asking a question there.