Chand Baori, the Step Well

Chand Baori & Sariska

While browsing internet I came across a blog which showcased the photographs of Chand Baori, the photograph was so gripping I immediately knew where I am going next. But my wanderlust wasn’t going to satisfy with only Chand Baori, so I kept on googling.

The Chand Baori

Now it seemed a pretty interesting trip (with Sariska and Bhangargh) with jam packed schedule to follow.   Although I had to drop Bhangarh on the last day due to my laziness of waking up early!

After a lazy morning we started towards our first destination Sariska. Soon after we took a left from NH8 somewhere near Bhiwadi, we entered into the Aravali regions. We were accompanied by some awesome views of rustic brown hillocks shining under the gazing Sun. After a comfortable drive of 3.5 hrs, we reached Sariska at around 12 PM.

Very First Sight of Sariska Palace

Sariska Palace was our bet for getting some royal treatment at the Royals of Rajasthan, though it didn’t live up to the expectations. The first Look of the Room was pretty impressive but at a closer look, it needed big time maintenance!

Sariska National Park has a similar topography as Ranthambore, though it’s bigger in area. While visiting Ranthambore I got to know that 3 tigers were relocated from Ranthambore to Sariska last year itself!! I was not very keen on spending 3000 Rs for the Safari as the probability of spotting the Big Cats was pretty less. So we took our own car into the national park till the Hanuman temple (21km) with an entry fees of Rs. 250. The peacocks and monkey can be located in abundance in the park. It’s worth paying a visit to the temple.

Next day we started late for Abhaneri, verified the route with one of the hotel staff, it took us around 1.5 -2 hours.

Baori and Harshatmata Temple were built in the 8th century by the King Chand, the ruler of Abha Nagri. The village was named after the glow (abha in Hindi) which is reflected through the well (Baori) water during full moon nights. It is known pronounced as Abhaneri.

Mere one look at the Boari is enough to boast about the rich heritage & culture Rajasthan has! As soon as we reached near the Baori, a flock of hundreds of pigeon flew (twice) just over our head to change their resting area, probably due to change in the wind or sun.

The Chand boari is a square shaped well, having a total of 3000 stairs symmetrically carved on its 3 sides, contributing to the beautiful Top view of the Boari. Earlier the 4^th side was a ramp, and later the King of Jaipur converted that side into his Summer Palace to get relief from the scorching heat.

The baori is fenced from the other 3 sides, it’s not allowed to enter the well. Three years back only, it was fenced for safety purposes when an Italian women slipped over the inside stairs of the well. Though I was disappointed with that restriction as I couldn’t have a closer look at it, but it didn’t lessen the sheer pleasure of sighting that beautiful piece of architecture.

Our guide told that earlier it used to be a source of ground water but now it was filled with green rain water at the bottom. We strolled around the baori, heard the significance of various statues placed at the nearby corridors and admired its beauty as well as magnificence.

Closer Look at the depth of Chand Baori

Suddenly, I saw a college going girl who seemed modern and (at least) graduate, ignoring all the notice and crossed the fence entered the boari. Despite of the security guard’s and her very own friend’s shouting, she didn’t move out an inch until her “SO CALLED PHOTOGRAPH” was clicked. After this she had a proud smile on her face as if she had won some righteous war. I mean SERIOUSLY!!

Harshatmata Temple against the blueish-grey cloudy background

Harshatmata Temple is dedicated to the goddess Harshat. The temple was destroyed during the Mughal and Turkish invasion in north India. After destruction locals tried to rebuild the temple, but it was never the same. Few pieces and statues are also lying in the forbidden corridors of Chand Baori!!

While returning we were accompanied by some awesome weather with rain, cool breeze, good road, awesome views and soulful music, all the ingredients of peaceful and refreshing drive back to HOME SWEET HOME!! 

Dalhousie..!!

Dalhousie

We reached Dalhousie at 8.00PM with our heads falling below our knees due to the tiredness. There were 200 stairs to reach our room at birds and chirps, immediately I thought of an elevator, and how helpful invention it would have been!!

Anyways I didn’t have that option so had to climb through those stairs. After reaching our room, I took bath and then with immediate effect, fell sick. Still I managed to go to the dinning area, where Mrs. Bhalla gave me medicine and after having dinner I was off to bed.

Starting of stairs towards Birds n Chirps

Early morning I woke up with the chirping of birds and when I opened the door I could see number of small birds of various colors and sizes, hopping from one tree to another and the only audible sound was theirs. At around 6.30AM the bed tea was sent to our room what else one can ask, spent our morning appreciating the serenity of the place and left room around at 10AM.

We headed towards Khajjiar if you are lucky with a clear sky you might get a glimpse of snow covered peaks of Dhauladhar ranges which I witnessed last time, but this time we weren't so lucky. We reached khajjiar in less than an hour time. It is a flat plateau surrounded by tall and thick deodar trees. At the day time it is very commercialized with lot of vendors roaming around for food item, photos, horse riding and other kids games. It is like a crowded picnic spot, but in off season it is worth to pay a visit here.

Khajjiar

Baby Rabbit @ Khajjiar.. Lots of Rabbit were available there, for holding and clicking photos with 10 Rs/person

Two government cottages are also available with night stay facility. Staying here at night it is quite an experience. While staying, if you happen to go towards the forest at night you might listen one or two animal sounds as happened in our case(last year), so it is advised not to venture into the forest at night time. One can spend some time at the flat grassland and enjoy the night full of stars.

Anyways back to our current visit, as me and my husband was spending time looking at the people around suddenly from nowhere a sound came “Oye kya haal chal?” I turned back and realised it is our ex-colleague and friend Gaurav, we don’t get time to see each other in Delhi (in spite of living in the same city), that busy our lives have become!!

But finding him and his family here was a pleasant surprise. We spent some time together exchanged our travel notes, made plans to meet next weekend (which obviously didn’t materialise) and headed to our next destinations. My initial plan was to go towards Chamba and Sach Pass but we dropped it one the sach pass was closed and two Rahul didn’t support the idea of going and coming back from Chamba as we had limited time. So, we took a 'U turn' and went to Kalatop Sanctuary.

Khalatop Wildlife Sanctuary is on the midway while going to Khajjiar from Dalhousie. You can walk through the Sacntuary or can take your car inside by paying a minimal amount of Rs. 200. In cloudy weather walking is a very good option as you will be walking through the mist. 

Not much of wildlife to spot. Few adventure sports (Rappelling & Zipping) are available inside and at the top there is a beautiful forest guest house along with few eating options. Few Bollywood movies has also been shot here.

We opted for the going via car, as we were taking the car ticket for Kala-top Wildlife sanctuary, again Gaurav bumped into us. So we decided to explore it together. We spent some time remembering Old time made fun of each other. Then Gaurav and his family left as they had to go to the Panchpula waterfalls. Myself and Rahul stayed there, walked through the wildlife sanctuary and visited the forest guest house where Bollywood movie “Lootera” was shot.  

@Kalatop Wildlife Sanctuary... Forest Guest house where final scenes of Lootera was shot !!

Then we were done sightseeing for the day and headed towards the market to stuff our stomach with Mc-cains & Other junk food selling by the market area of Dalhousie. Next we went to Tibet market, immediately realised that we shouldn’t have come here. The path between the shops is so narrow that even one person cannot pass easily, and you will find only cheap stuff (few items looked second hand to me) being sold out here. We went back to the main market area, sipped coffee in a beautiful small coffee shop, strolled through the market for 3-4 times and called it day, At the homestay we had some awesome homemade food and after spending an hour in our balcony, retired to sleep.


On the way back to Dalhousie

Again the morning was a repeat telecast of previous morning. After breakfast we checked out and got a shock due to the partial and immature rules of  Birds n Chrips when Mrs. Bhalla charged us extra (for breakfast and dinner) despite of it being mentioned otherwise in the confirmation e-mail and when we sought for an explanation she told, that this disparity is because we booked it online and others didn’t. So we paid 800 Rs extra for booking online (Hostel Booker Charges) + Very Expensive Dinner & Breakfast, which inflated our total cost of stay by 50% compared to others. This left us with a feeling of being cheated. Every time I visit a popular and common tourist destination in North India, my belief about the rude, un-courteous and unjust behaviour of people (of such areas) gets reconfirmed with some or the other incident!!

Anyways we went ahead to Pachpula Waterfalls, it was a small 10-15 mins climb towards the waterfalls. A beautiful falls but similar to other sights it was also crowded. After having next round of tea here we headed towards Dainkund Peak and our mood spoiler driver was again in action he stopped the car in the midway, with a phone dialed-up to his boss and expression of denial (to move) on his utterly shrewd face. OHHH MY GODDD!! This guy was now playing on my nerves with his new gestures of lying on our face. Again Rahul had to talk to the Cab owner and explain him that the driver is lying and we haven't visited the place yesterday, then only he drove further.

Finally we reached Dainkund with kind of bad mood. But as soon as we started climbing up the mountain my mood was reset, as the clouds were playing hide and seek to give a blissful sight of the lush green mountains. The trek offered awesome views of the nearby mountains, as the Dainkund peak is one the highest among the nearby hills, good top view of the valley. The total walking time is required to visit the Kali Mandir at the top of the peak is around 1.5 hr - 2 hr (to and fro).

Dainkund Terk

After this we headed back to the city for lunch to walk around thandi and garam sadak, spent time strolling here and there, then left for Pathankot at around 4.30-5.00 to catch our train. On the way, just before entering the city (Pathankot) you will find lot of farm houses which offer good variety of food with nice ambiance. We halted at Mama’s (the only good thing our driver did in entire trip) they served awesome food and nice garden seating was available. With our stomach full till neck we started for the railway station and then to Delhi.

So this was the end journey of Mc-leodganj and Dallhousie except the last bit of nagging at the station which our driver did to complete our experience. Our trip is concluded such an eventful trip with some good, some not so good and some bad experiences*...  But all that makes it a memorable trip, with lot of stories to remember or forget ;-) :-P !!

*All not so good and bad experiences are related people, and their behaviour!!

McLeodganj

We started our journey by taking the train to Pathankot from Tuglakabad (Delhi) at around 10.30PM (please keep a buffer of 15-20 mins extra if you ever are planning to take the train from here). We were supposed to reach Pathankot at 11 AM but thanks to our railway system we were 3 Hrs late.

As soon as I de-boarded the train, the first thing visible was army tanks in huge number, so much so that one entire railway track was occupied only with tanks.

At around 2 PM we started our journey towards Mcleodgunj and within the first 5 mins we realized that its going to be very difficult to handle this adamant driver. Anyways we ignored the fact and reached Mcleodgunj at around 4.30PM.

The first thing was to have lunch. This time I had pre-decided each and every restaurant we were going to eat at. So we went looking for SEED CAFÉ. After walking around 1 km from the main square we reached this small & sidelined café. There was nobody in the café at that time we took one table and the view from the café is just amazing. Fog was playing hide and seek against those huge lush green mountains. All fatigue was gone in just 5 mins after sitting there. We ordered some Italian food and started enjoying the music and view.

Seed Cafe

After spending an hour there, Rahul said let me call the hotel guy to check for the route to hotel and to our shock the manager informed that there has been no bookings done from Expedia against our name. We tried calling Expedia around 50 times, but no one picked up. After paying full money in advance they didn’t even bother to inform/block the room at the hotel. There we were, in the middle of the busy Jogiwara road, with no room and almost all hotels being sold out.

At the back of Seed Café there were few hotels so we went to check in each one of them, just to try our luck. Finally we got a room for one day in Hotel Moon River. I literally loved the room as it had green and refreshing view from the balcony. 

We decided to take a walk along the market and trust me it was a very good experience to walk around the lively and colourful market having shops of antique/junk jewelry,  colourful shawls and woollens, trekking/camping materials, food stalls/ restaurants and what not. I just loved it!!

After spending 2-3 hrs shunting in the market we decided to have dinner and there were so many good options in Mcleodgunj. One can easily get confused where to eat and where not. Finally we decided to eat at Clay Owen at Main square. The ambiance was rustic with clay walls, wall hangings made out of wooden clogs, bamboo shades to hold the bulbs emitting yellow light, open ovens to make wood fired pizza, Tibetan style seating and the soft relaxing music being played at the backdrop. All this  made it a very relaxing and soothing place to have dinner. There is a small sitting area in the balcony of the restaurant also where one can enjoy the dinner. We ordered some thai curry & rice +  khotey momos both of the dishes were delicious and till date I regret not ordering Waffle with ice cream and Chocolate sauce, as it was looking so tempting and every single table on the restaurant had that dish. Anyways we summed up our dinner with that thai curry and rice.

We spent our rest of the evening roaming around the market area, observing people and chit-chatting amongst ourselves and soon we were off to bed to get a good night sleep.

The combination of cool breeze and bright sunlight  gave a refreshing start to a new day full of excitement to complete the trek (Triund) which was left unfinished last time as we took the wrong trek and had to return from the jungle at the night. But first we started-off with some local sight-seeing, which included the Church, Dal Lake (dont go there) and few other points. 

Outserspace of the Church

Glass Paintings at the Church

For Triund one can start trekking from Dharamkot itself/ or hire a vehicle and go till Golu temple and start the trek from there. It is not exactly a trek, but a hike to a fully carved stone path, with a lot of broken stairs. If you start early then it's doable in one day (to and fro). The only troll is the huge broken stairs which drains some energy out of you. There are two midway cafes on the route where you can get tea and basic stuff for eating. Lot of horses (carrying various stuff) climb up the hill along with you. One need to be careful of them, as one of the horses which overtook me got misbalanced while climbing and fell rolling down into the valley.

Triund Trek

You will find 4-5 small shops selling almost everything you might need during the night stay at top of the hill. They even arrange tents and sleeping bags, but it’s better to carry your own as availability of those depends on the number of traveller staying there. During the right season the entire hill is full of tents so much so it becomes difficult to get a place for your tent. So the place is fully crowded if you are looking for secluded place for trek then this is definitely not the place. If you want to trek further, one can go to LAKA Glacier (8Km up and down from triund) or till Khabrotu (4 km up and down from triund) those must be less crowded.

Top of the Triund

My Camp

Sunset At Triund

Our tent was ready when we reached there, we spent our time roaming around the hilltop watching the sun go behind the hills and (on a clear night) making way for moon and stars to shine with full glaze. Along with that listening to one of the groups who was playing some awesome guitar with some beautiful songs. Watching the sky full of stars is one of my favourite time-pass. I did the same for few hrs and then went to sleep. Next day we had to trek down to Golu Temple then according to the time in hand visit one/two places of interest along with the Dalai Lama Temple and then leave for Dharamshala.

Though our driver wasn’t interested to go to any of the places we wanted to see. He tried his level best to spoil our mood and negating to drive to each possible place. It’s a lesson learnt for lifetime whenever I will go on such trips I need to ensure that I get a good driver with bearable attitude.

As a result I was in fully attentive mode and was tracking our car's movement(through GPS) to each kilo meter driven,  as I was afraid he might take us to some notorious place.

Rest of the journey Later.. 

Day 7,8,9: The return Journey.. From Kaza - Nako - Kalpa - Chail - Delhi

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

Kaza to Delhi.. Day7: Kaza - Kalpa (12 Hrs) + Day8: Kalpa - Chail (10-11 Hrs) + Day9: Chail- Delhi (7-8 HRs)

Now we had come to the returning part of our journey. My initial plan was to return via Manali through Kunzumla & Chandrataal, but that could not be implemented as the route wasn’t open. So we had to take the same route while returning.

As per our manager there were few fresh landslides on the route we had to follow, making it more difficult to travel back. On top of it our only working mobile (BSNL) also stopped catching network as the BSNL tower was down due to the storm last night. With a brave heart we started towards Kalpa. Our first halt was supposed to be Tabo for breakfast at the Monastery Café. We ate there and while returning our car got stuck in one the drain passage built on the side of the road of Tabo Village, within no time around 30-40 (almost entire village) people came to rescue us and within 15 mins people lifted our car and pulled it out of that drain. By this time I became a “Big time Fan” of the helping nature of the people residing in this region which is rare to find in metro city like Delhi.

The obvious choice for our next break was Nako Helipad.. as we couldn't halt there earlier.. Helipad at such remote villages are common sight as helicopters remains the only mean of transport or rather rescue whenever the roads gets washed away due to landslides.

Nako Helipad

View @ Nako Helipad

The route till Kalpa was even in the worse condition than before mainly because of the fresh landslide which occurred just a day back, but that made the journey even more adventurous and eventful.. and the feeling of proud pumped our hearts when we saw the sign boards such as below. 

one of the many signboards

After the strenuous drive we reached Kalpa, and stayed at the same hotel but a room with better view so much so that you feel that there is no one in front of those huge snow-capped mountains but you and they are intruding your privacy by giving you a continuous gaze.

While having dinner we got to know that there has been another landslide near Wangtoo and it was so fearsome that people has cancelled their trips and returned back to Shilma. I was scared only with the thought of it as my boss would kill me if I dont attend the office on monday!!

We started at 5 AM to cross cholling through the upsi bypass before it closes for our side of traffic.We managed to do that without much of delay we reached the other side of that bypass. Luckily for us the residue from Wangtoo Landslide had been cleared and we didn’t face any problem because of that.

Spent our evening relaxing in Chail, and walking around the small market place. Next day morning we started off little late as todays’ journey was going to be much easier and smaller compared what we have experienced. With a heavy heart we bade a final goodbye to the mighty Himalayas but only till our next trip which was due in August J J

Day6: The Mighty KunzumLa

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 Detailed Route: Rangrik – Lossar – Kunzum – Rangrik – Key – Kibber

Day7: Kaza - Kalpa (12 Hrs)
Day8: Kalpa - Chail (10-11 Hrs) 
Day9: Chail- Delhi (7-8 HRs)

This was supposed to be one of the most adventurous days of our trip, as it was supposed to be the worst road we ever travelled,.I must say it didn't fail our expectations. Most of the travel was off-road, with no or minimum signal on the mobile. Just one village where you can freshen-up or have something to eat. If all of that was not enough, while returing back from kunzum, suddenly stones started falling from the top of a mountain and we had to stop. That was few villagers pushing stones from the top to make way for water to reach their farms, which was looking like a landslide from the far end. In our driver's words he had defeated death while driving to and fro Kunzum.

Our day started at 5.30 AM, when I woke up with the first ray of the sun on the land. Our room had a spectacular view of the Ki Monastery on one side while on the other side was the flat ground followed by the river and distant mountain. Through those distant mountain the sun started peeping in and slowly the covered the entire sky. At around 6.30 -7.00 AM we started towards kunzum.

Enroute Kunzumla

The views around were as awesome as it have been throughout the trip. There was one point on the way where we had to hop on to another hill. The tarmac was breathtaking and exceptionally different. It gave a feeling as if we have entered the Grand Canyon.

After 2 hrs of drive we reached Losar to find the only signs of commercialization (though minimum) on the entire route. Losar is the first village of Spiti Valley while entering spiti valley through Manali and Kunzum. It is a small village on a flat plateau at an altitude of 4,065m above the sea level. It is the only place where you can find some munchies, basic food, small cafés with very limited options, few stay options with minimum facilities & toilet, through the entire route. One can take a walk around the village and relax from the tiring drive. It’s also the only halting and relaxing place for people going for trek to Chandratal through Kunzum.

The entire route is off-road, though the road till Losar is still manageable. Once you cross Losar the road is exceptionally bad. There were heaps of stones at road, huge pits in the middle of the road, melting snow creating a lot of water puddles on to the roads thus making it extremely difficult to drive through it. It was nearly impossible to make it to Kunzum with small car, even though we had an Innova, we got stuck just 3 kms before kunzum pass because of huge slush and pit on the road. Only one gypsy could make it through, thanks to the 4X4 drive and extra high clearance level. We had to halt there itself and remaining distance we had to cover by walking.

Almost entire path was either covered with snow or drenched in water stream. But it was worth the experience of walking through the snow. We walked, ran, sat, lied down, jumped, slipped, fell and played with the snow to quench our thrust of experiencing the snow in middle of the month of June.


Road for Kunzum

View @ KunzumLa

After 45 mins of walk we reached kunzum Pass situated at an altitude of 4,551m above the sea level. There is temple of Goddess Kunzum at the top. It is said that if you stick a coin inside the temple and it stays then you have a clear heart. And mine stuck and stayed there.. J J

It is also the starting point for the trek to the beautiful, serene, untouched moon lake, ChandraTaal. It’s a 3 day trek back and forth. Our next destination was Key Monastery. The Key Monastery is situtated at a very scenic location close to the Spiti River. There are three floors, the first one is mainly underground and used for storage. The walls of the monastery are covered with paintings and murals. Unlike the Kaza Monastery, Key is quite old, and was renovated after 1975 earthquake.

We couldn’t go to Kibber as my husband, wasn’t feeling good. So after getting fuel for our car we quickly reached back to hotel to take some rest.  

Key Monastery

So this was the last destination of our trip. Now onwards it was the same route back to Delhi, as Kunzum Pass wasn't operational.. Return trip will be coming soon...

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..