 Sankoo (42 km), the next major expanse of the Suru Valley, is a picturesque township surrounded with numerous villages and colourful rocky mountains all around.Sankoo is very popular among local picnickers who throng the area from Kargil town and other places.Locally it is also popular as a place of pilgrimage to the ancient shrine of a Muslim scholar-saint, Sayed Mir Hashim, who was specially invited from Kashmir for imparting religious teachings of the region's Buddhist ruler, Thi-Namgyal of the Suru principality, following his conversion to Islam during the `16th century.