Khaplu Village

Introducing Khaplu Village

This handsome, 2600m-high village of timber­-and-stone houses and precision-made dry-stone walls climbs up a wide alluvial fan beneath an arc of jagged granite walls. Ingenious irrigation has made it a shady, fertile oasis. As you climb its twisting track, the icy peaks of the Masherbrum Range rise on the other side of the valley. It’s hard to imagine a more majestic setting.

A stony track climbs to the lower bazaar (with PCO, shops and a National Bank); a five-minute walk. Half an hour beyond, at a fork in the road, is an elegant but run-down traditional-style house, where royal descendants live. Twenty minutes up the left fork is the polo ground, and uphill from that is the Khaplu Palace, currently under restoration by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. If you get lost, the local word for it is khar, or try ‘Raja palace’. The restoration plan includes the provision of quality accommodation and a museum, similar to Shigar’s former fort-palace.

Twenty minutes further up is Chakhchun village, with a carved wooden mosque whose foundations were supposedly laid in the 16th century when the people embraced Islam. Non-Muslims may not enter this or other mosques here. There are several more villages in Ganse Lungma above Chakhchun.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009