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...