:00:07. > :00:19.Zanskar. A magical Buddhist kingdom unchanged for 1000 years. 30 years
:00:20. > :00:23.ago I walked with a friend, Brian, for seven days in subzero
:00:24. > :00:31.temperatures up the frozen Zanskar River to reach an ancient Buddhist
:00:32. > :00:38.monastery built into the side of a cliff, four dozen metres high, in
:00:39. > :00:40.the middle of the Himalayas. It is one of the most inaccessible
:00:41. > :00:49.settlements honoured and only a few 100 outsiders visit each year. But
:00:50. > :00:58.all this is about to change. The first ever rode into the valley is
:00:59. > :01:04.nearing completion. 30 years on and we've returned to try to find the
:01:05. > :01:06.people we met in 1986. And to discover what they think about the
:01:07. > :01:28.changes coming to their way of life. Located in the spectacular Himalayas
:01:29. > :01:34.of northern India, the regions comprise an area roughly twice the
:01:35. > :01:42.size of Switzerland. They are ringed by 6000 metre peaks. Access to the
:01:43. > :01:45.Zanskar Valley is very inaccessible. For up to eight months here it is
:01:46. > :01:49.completely cut off from the rest of the world. Buddhist monasteries were
:01:50. > :01:52.established in this isolated valley beginning in the seventh century and
:01:53. > :01:58.it is one of the highest and coldest inhabited places on earth. It is
:01:59. > :02:02.also one of the most remote and the Tibetan way of life and culture has
:02:03. > :02:30.made little change -- remained little changed for over 1000 years.
:02:31. > :02:35.We wanted to return to the monastery and share the pictures of the months
:02:36. > :02:37.we had from 30 years ago. We want to see if they were still there and
:02:38. > :02:56.what they thought of the new road. Brian and I will always into
:02:57. > :02:59.photography. We had a darkroom at school and we loved to take pictures
:03:00. > :03:02.and print them. As part of living with these families in the
:03:03. > :03:14.monasteries, we would just take pictures.
:03:15. > :03:25.Is he still hear? -- here? Yes, we wanted to come back after 30 years.
:03:26. > :03:51.Welcome. Thank you. Zanskar's extreme isolation has
:03:52. > :03:54.spared it the impact of mass tourism, but construction of the
:03:55. > :04:03.first road through the valley is nearing completion. It will welcome
:04:04. > :04:05.year-round access and transformed it forever. --It will open it up to
:04:06. > :04:35.year-round access. The monastery is revered throughout
:04:36. > :04:39.Tibet. Almost every important figure in Tibetan Buddhist and is believed
:04:40. > :05:51.to have visited the monastery throughout the centuries.
:05:52. > :06:03.It is awesome. The river that flows down from Zanskar freezes over in
:06:04. > :06:07.the winter for about two months. The people called the frozen river a
:06:08. > :06:14.word which means blanket, in that it is blanketed why this sheet of ice.
:06:15. > :06:17.For over 1000 years this ice road has been used as a trade route
:06:18. > :06:24.between Zanskar and laid-back in the valley below. The trip takes five to
:06:25. > :06:30.seven days and knowledge of the safest route is handed down from
:06:31. > :06:37.generation to generation. -- Ladakh. They trade in Ladakh and then walk
:06:38. > :06:40.back up before the river melts. When that happens Zanskar is cut off
:06:41. > :06:46.until the mountain trails become clearer in the height of summer. I
:06:47. > :06:51.am really nervous today. We are going to try and find this family
:06:52. > :06:58.that we lived with. We met this couple walking up the river that had
:06:59. > :07:04.been down in Ladakh trading for things and were coming back home.
:07:05. > :07:10.And we followed them to their home and lived with them I guess a week,
:07:11. > :07:25.maybe two weeks, just being a part of their lives. It was a really
:07:26. > :07:29.unique feeling. I've brought my photos of he and his family from 30
:07:30. > :07:42.years ago and I'm going to try to find them.
:07:43. > :08:25.They recognised every one of them. The kids. He said the kids are all
:08:26. > :09:35.over. He is saying, as I aged? Yes, I
:09:36. > :09:43.think we both have. But I still recognised you when I walked -- when
:09:44. > :09:48.you walked up from the field. It still looks like you. It was very
:09:49. > :09:52.special, that first trip. We had to completely rely on their kindness.
:09:53. > :09:57.They took a thin and how of us and fed us and asked for nothing in
:09:58. > :10:05.return. -- Powells does. That's what I remember. That's the kitchen. They
:10:06. > :10:12.added one more floor. It was a beautiful and simple time.
:10:13. > :10:19.I know wants the road is complete that the fate of Zanskar will be the
:10:20. > :10:23.same as any of the other wild places on Earth that have been transformed
:10:24. > :10:26.by modernisation. But I can't help but wish that there was a way to
:10:27. > :10:58.preserve the beauty and warmth of this place.
:10:59. > :12:46.Being back at the monastery, it still had the same magic and mystery
:12:47. > :12:48.as 30 years before. But I know that it is on the cusp of dramatic and
:12:49. > :13:32.irreversible change. Zanskar's new road is now within a
:13:33. > :15:37.few kilometres of the monastery. We spent three weeks at the
:15:38. > :15:42.monastery back in 1986 and it was the early March by the time we left.
:15:43. > :15:47.We had to head back down the river or risk being stuck at Zanskar. But
:15:48. > :15:53.so late in the season there were no people travelling down, so we had to
:15:54. > :15:59.find our own way on the frozen river. It was extremely difficult as
:16:00. > :16:03.the ice was melting and breaking up. After five harrowing days we
:16:04. > :16:10.stumbled into a village famous throughout the region for its
:16:11. > :16:17.metalworking. Dazed and confused, we were taken in by a man and his
:16:18. > :16:21.family. We wanted to try to find him again but discovered that he had
:16:22. > :17:41.died some years earlier. But we did find his son.
:17:42. > :17:47.Despite the benefit the arrival of the new road has brought to the
:17:48. > :17:48.village, the craftsmen are apprehensive about the other changes
:17:49. > :19:31.it might bring. Thinking of the inevitable changes
:19:32. > :19:37.at hand, a Buddhist phrase comes to mind. You can't step in the same
:19:38. > :19:40.river twice. In other words, the world is constantly changing. It
:19:41. > :19:42.seemed that everyone we met voiced similar worries about the coming of
:19:43. > :21:04.the road. Walking around this landscape in
:21:05. > :21:11.Zanskar, you see the passage of time everywhere you look because the
:21:12. > :21:18.mountains themselves are so violently created and you can see
:21:19. > :21:22.the forces that made them uplifting everything. You can see the passage
:21:23. > :21:28.of time. And that night, seeing the stars move through the sky in a way
:21:29. > :21:35.that you can see in developed parts of the world, you can just feel
:21:36. > :21:39.time. The arrival of the new road preoccupies many of the people we
:21:40. > :21:42.met on our return to Zanskar. They are worried about their way of life
:21:43. > :21:44.and it is hard not to feel that something valuable will indeed be
:21:45. > :23:23.lost. We have a cold weekend coming up
:23:24. > :23:24.with southern areas wet and windy with some