Nako & Tabo: Here we enter the Spiti Valley

Day4:

Detailed Route: Kalpa – Reckong Peo – Powari  – Riba – Jangi – Spellow – Pooh – Kashigs – Nako – Malling Nala – Sumdo – Tabo

We started at around 9.00 in the morning, today was supposed to be the longest and one of the most exciting days of our journey. Our plan was to reach Tabo via Nako. Unlike rest of the trip there was a huge “Karavan” of vehicles. Soon we got stuck because of traffic jam near Shongtong, which cleared soon and we moved forward. There is a bridge somewhere near Riba which is a single lane bridge and while we drove on it, the movement of wooden logs underneath can be felt and heard easily. The one way route means again a wait of arroun 20 -30mins.

Wooden Bridge

Few kms ahead of it, land clearing process was going on. There had been a landslide due to the blasting of mountains. We waited there for around half an hour under the scorching sun and chilly wind, what a combo!!  By now, my nose had become Reddish-pink and Patchy.. Kudos to the Heat of Sun!!

Once bulldozer cleared the road we resumed our journey amidst of dusty and broken path. Soon we found a small tea counter managed by Indian Army in the middle of nowhere. You can find good tea, coffee, biscuits and clean washroom here for free. Once Hats-off to our Diffence Services!! After refreshments we started again on the dusty road and every now and then there was a signboard saying that “You are travelling on the world’s most treacherous road” filled our chest proud and sense of achievement.

We had to halt at Jangi check post to get ourselves registered. Once you cross Jangi the tarmac is excellent. The roads kept improving from the moment, we witnessed the confluence spiti & Sutlej river. Here we entered the Spiti region, inhabited with Tibetan people and highly influenced with Tibetan culture. The Villages having entrance through beautiful arches, white & maroon mud houses built in small groups, lots of villages having population of 30-100, white golden stupas just confirming the arrival in Spiti Valley.

Arches for entering the village

Kashigs has a freshly laid jet black road, full of curves which welcomes you while ascending towards Nako. Hereon the views on both sides of road were exhilarating.

We reached Nako at around 2.00-2.30PM. First thing we did, was to head for lunch and try to charge our camera, but to our bad luck there was no electricity. After lunch we started to explore the village and Nako Lake. We took a walk around the village and the lake. The Lake was beautiful but not as magnificent I had imagined in my head, but it gave some clear reflections of the brown mountains and trees standing at its bank. Spent some time talking and walking around the lake. Visited the monastery and headed back to our car. It’s a small village having quite a few staying options.

Nako Lake

 

Nako Lake 2

Nako Village

There was a small group of cute little children which was happly playing, falling and posing for photgraphs. By the time we reached our car it was around 4.00 PM, we quickly got into the car and started our journey further.

The road till Malling Nala was in very bad conditions after that there were some good and some bad patches but the tarmac were awesome. The sheer glimpse of the landscape was enough to take our breath away. Soon we crossed Sumdo and there was a stretch of flat road, not much ascends or descends make up for a quick drive. Suddenly the sun wasn’t that sharp, wind was chiller, silver glaze was created by the reflection of sunlight through the river, dark blue/black mountains on one side and shining golden mountains on the other side of the road made a sight forced us to immediately stop the car,  step out to have closer and longer look at this scenery of nature.

En-route Views

 

en-route views

Tabo a beautiful quite village at the foot of huge barren mountains. It was one of the most beautiful village we encountered during this trip (not to mention we encountered so many such villages during this journey). Very small village having its entrance through the beautiful green arch, having verses written in Tibetan  language.

We stayed at Hotel Dewachen, the best hotel in Tabo, it’s the same hotel where star cast of “Highway” stayed while shooting. Luckily we got the room with best view from the balcony and believe me you don’t wanna miss sunset while sipping tea in your own personal balcony having such magnificent view.

View From our room



View from other side 

 

After getting refreshed we went ahead for the walk around the village, the Tabo Monastery was closed by the time we reached there, so it was postponed for the next day.

Stupa Outside Tabo Monastary

The Monastery Restaurant is a must try, we got the most delicious and awesome Tibetan food of the entire region. While having food you can chit chat with Monks, as this is the common stopover for them. We were off to bed soon after having dinner thinking that our adventure for the day has ended, but there was something more to it..

Suddenly, at around 3.30 AM there was a loud bang on the door, Rahul went out to check, it was our driver having some symptoms of Altitude sickness, acute chest pain & breathlessness. So Rahul took him for a walk at those wee hours and gave him zintac to relieve him from gastric problem. Finally we went back to sleep.

Next leap would be towards our last destination of the Tour Kaza...

Day3: Sangla Valley: Chittkul, the most beautiful & last village of Indo-Tibet Border + Signatue Rakcham Walk

Itinerary Followed: 

Day1: Delhi - Sarahan (12-13Hrs) 
Day2: Sarahan - Sangla

Day3: Sangla - chhitkul & Rakcham(4 Hrs) - Kalpa (3 Hrs) 

Day4: Kalpa- Tabo (10-11Hrs) 
Day5: Tabo - Kaza (2-3 Hrs) 
Day6: Kaza -Lasar- Kunzum (3-4 Hrs) - Kaza
Day7: Kaza - Kalpa (12 Hrs)
Day8: Kalpa - Chail (10-11 Hrs) 
Day9: Chail- Delhi (7-8 HRs)

Day 3: We started at 5 AM in the morning (1 hr drive) to Chhitkul, the journey itself was giving the glimpse of the pictureous village we were about to reach!!


On the way to Chittkul





Ont the way to Chhitkul

At the very first sight of it, I actually had to pinch myself to believe my eyes.The snow covered speechless white mountains on one side creating an effect as if you have reached end of the world, green mountains one the other side signifying the life in this serene place, river Baspa flowing by the side of it, the farms at the center of those huge mountain and a small village amidst of this heavenly beauty is Chhitkul!!

Dead End, with Snow Covered mountains

Other Side of the Village

At that vary moment I regretted my decision of not coming here the previous day and spending some more time, imagining that sunset would have been an amazing sight. Nevertheless, we spent our time walking around the village speaking to our guide and understanding life and routine of the village. After spending 2 hours there we had our breakfast in the open watching the sun going high up in the sky.

At around 8.30 we started our journey back, headed towards Rakcham village, to do the famous Rakcham walk. The walk was supposed to take 4 hours and we wrongly assumed that it will be a“Walk”.

We realized that, soon we will be out of Gas, so told our driver to go to the nearest petrol pumps to get some fuel, but all in vain as there was no gas in the petrol pumps because of the landslide petrol tankers could not cross tapri. Our last hope was to get some gas at Reckong Peo and we kept our fingers crossed for the same.

We started our walk at around 8.30AM, the surrounding views made us awestruck. The flat brown farming fields, surrounded by the huge mountains, the criss-cross river flowing at the far sight. It was kind off easy walk through those fields.


@ Rakcham Walk

Suddenly out of no where, we entered into the jungle of tall pine trees, having a thin stream of water flowing by our side… As we continued walking we entered the fields of dried plant and as soon as you cross that, there lies the wide open field with Baspa River covering its significant area. We took a halt there for few minutes as our guide told that the walk from there is going to be little tough. It was far more than “little tough” for people like me who are non-climbers rather non-walkers ;-). From there on Bapsa(river) accompanied us through the entire walk.

Baspa: Wide and Open

From there onwards either it was a steep climb up or a steep climb down, through the path full of small & big stones. The landscape was mesmerizing and drastically changing every 15 mins, but it took a troll out of us, so much so that avoid little longer route (going up and then coming down) we took a broken smaller route to save our little energy.

Rakcham Walk

The narrow stone path was broken in the middle, there was a steep valley under that broken route which can be easily seen through the huge crack in the path. We stuck to the mountain and crossed through that gap, to add to our accomplishment, our guide told that he has never ever took anybody from this route :-) :-)

After a few minutes walk, we had to cross a steep, melting glacier. Underneath which a river was flowing and the snow was loose and slippery at places. We had to cross that one by one so that not much weight is on the snow at once. I was dead scared at that moment, we had no option but to walk on the glacier and luckily we crossed it quite comfortably.



The Glacier: though it not looking scary in pic but its very steep ;-)

After crossing the glacier we halted by the riverside, under the shadow of a tree to have lunch, much needed doze of energy and then resumed our walk. Finally at around 2.00 PM we reached the Batseri village, it was a sign of relief. At around 2.30-3.00 PM we reached our camp sight.

Took some rest there and after a refreshing Hot water bath, we started our ride towards Kalpa. As soon as we crossed Karcham the worst patch of road so far, greeted us. The roads are ruined by the JP’s Power Plant Project so much so that the car can’t be driven on a speed more than 20Km/hour and believe me I am not exaggerating not even by 1%.

Finally after two hours of bumpy ride we reached RecKong Peo. A range of snow peaked mountains surrounding us and right at the center of those peaks there lies the “Kinner Kailash peak”, in shape of “Shiv Linga”, covered with snow and rising little higher from the neighboring peaks. There is a 3 days round trek which takes you to the Kinner kailsah, where devotees offer their prayers to the Lord Shiva.

Kinner Kailash Peak: Right in the middle

First thing we did, was to look for the petrol pump (@ Reckong Peo), and luckily enough we got the petrol. As we had to travel to Kaza so the helper filled our tank full unlike few others. We were sorted for next two days’ fuel supply.

We reached our hotel at around 6.30PM with zero energy to do anything including dinner. Lying on the bed watching the sun to set through those orange peaks was the best one could have done and we exactly did the same.

We just ordered few Manchurian and noodles to our room (which tasted real bad) and went to sleep.

More exciting Days to come..

Day 2: Sangla: Beautiful Valley, a Gateway to the Unexplored Land

Itinerary Followed: 

Day1: Delhi - Sarahan (12-13Hrs) 

Day2: Sarahan - Sangla 

Day3: Sangla - chhitkul & Rakcham(4 Hrs) - Kalpa (3 Hrs) 
Day4: Kalpa- Tabo (10-11Hrs) 
Day5: Tabo - Kaza (2-3 Hrs) 
Day6: Kaza -Lasar- Kunzum (3-4 Hrs) - Kaza
Day7: Kaza - Kalpa (12 Hrs)
Day8: Kalpa - Chail (10-11 Hrs) 
Day9: Chail- Delhi (7-8 HRs)

Our next destination was sangla, and as we knew that there has been land slide near tapri, we started early at 7.20 to avoid any risks.

We made our Thumb rule for the trip start early and reach early. Travelling after dark might be dangerous in this part of Himalayas as the roads are not in good condition, your car can break down anytime, limited supply of petrol at times, most of the area is prone to landslides, not much fellow travelers on this route, scarcely inhabited region, long patches of off-road travel, and if it rains then huge slushes and water puddles greet you with open arms..

As soon as we crossed jeori the tarmac changed dramatically and suddenly we were into a different world all together. Beautiful, narrow (rather very narrow) roads are chiseled through the huge mountains to make a way for you. Certainly it is a very thrilling drive though you have to be very careful while driving and should to salute the workers who built these dangerous paths.

Beautiful Narrow Road Chiseled through the mountain

Road cut through the mountain



The thin line inside the red box the the road

The condition of the road is very good. We quickly covered our distance till tapri by 9.30AM only to know that the pass to the other side is operational as one way at a time. Because of the landslide we were supposed to take an off route through upsi village and this was kind off one way, pass was available every 2 hours from each side. So we had to wait till 11 AM for pass to open. At 9.30 the sun was pitty sharp, but the cool breeze was making the weather bearable. But you have to be really careful for the sun burns incase you are moving out of shade.
Finally at 11.20 AM the road was open for us to pass, as the traffic from other side had been stopped. It took almost an hour to cover that off-route distance of 18KMs. After crossing Tapri we took a right through a bridge (near Karcham) towards Sangla. Though the distance from Karcham to Sangla was around 25 kms but the entire journey was almost off-road, shooting stones from the top is a common sight there. All thanks to the JP’s power project!!

Power Plant Project

Finally we reached the Sangla valley at around 2PM, all our tiredness was gone in just one look of the valley. Beautiful lush green Baspa valley, surrounded by huge green snowcapped mountains, baspa flowing in full current with its crystal clear water, pine trees standing tall on both side of the river and small residential establishments on either side, looked as if we have entered in some fairy land. 

Baspa Valley

We stayed in Kinner Camps and to add to our happiness Lama was there that day for the lunch. We were fortunate enough to have a brief discussion with him. After having lunch (which was DELICEOUS!), we had a detailed discussion with our camp manager on what all should we visit and at what time. He suggested to go to Chhitkul right away and next day for rakcham walk. But because of our laziness we rested in the camp and decided to do both next day morning.

View from our camp

In the evening we went ahead to take a small walk to the village Batseri Village. It was one of the most relaxing walk first by the river side and then through the small and calm roads of the village.

Walk towards Basteri

Baspa River from the Camp

There we reached a temple of Lord Vishnu and were lucky to witness a ritual, where in the two men (villagers) carry the idols of God on their shoulders (there were extended wooden logs attached to the idol on both sides, through which it can be carried on shoulder similar to the “Doli of Indian Bride”), move back & forth and share their problem to the idol of Gods and priest with a hope that their problems will be resolved. At the back of it, the musical instruments creates joyful sounds. I had never witnessed such way of prayer anywhere.

Spent our evening relaxing in the camp with bonfire, music and delicious dinner. We were off to bed early as next day we had to start our day at 5 AM.

Journey of 3rd day will follow soon..