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...

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..

Kinnaur & Spiti Valley

Kinnaur &  Spiti Valley  

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)

Now when Ladakh has become such a popular travel destination, I had to look for another Offbeat location in Himalayas which can be a gateway to another world with exceptional views, different culture, adventurous road travel, untouched / unspoiled beauty and not much commercialization, the obvious choice was Kinnaur and Spiti Valley. I had been longing for this trip for last 4 years now (soon after I returned from Ladakh :-) :-) ) and finally Rahul (my husband) agreed to accompany me on the trip.

So there started the ‘Marathon’ Planning phase with lots of secondary research for the places to be visited and the routes to be followed. First thing I did was to freeze the itinerary depending on the road conditions, landslides occurred recently, opening and closing of passes and many other things, also to have atleast one Plan B if KunzumLa doesn’t open on our travel time, keep 1-2 days extra in our original itinerary to accommodate the longer return path.

As our tenure had two weekends so hotel booking on those dates was bit of a concern, as on those days we were at very famous tourist destinations, so getting the rooms at run time might be a difficult task. Read lots of hotel reviews as I wanted to stay in good hotels, few places in our itinerary were really remote so getting much option/reviews online was really difficult, but somehow we got the best rooms we could have managed.

We were all set for our journey and on Friday evening (6^th June) we started our trip to Spiti Valley with a plan to travel though the most treacherous road in the world.

Friday night we stayed at Kumar Hatti, and considering it is a hilly area, the weather was pleasant during the night. But I couldn’t sleep properly because of the excitement of the upcoming trip.

Day1: Sarahan: We entered the Land of Gods

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)

Day1: Next day we were all set to start (9am) our real journey to the Spiti valley via Sarahan-sangla-kalpa. I wasn’t feeling good may be because of paucity of sleep, so most of the route I was sleeping in the Car.  

Route to Sarahan

We reached Sarahan at 5 in the evening. The first view of the village is very calm and peaceful. The small city/village is en-circled with snow covered mountain range peeping through every corner of the city and right in the center there is “Bhimakali Temple” which is also a “Shakti peeth”.

View from our room

In the evening we went to the temple for Arti. There is a “dharamshala” in the corridor of the temple where stay arrangements can be made. And a basic canteen is also available in the temple corridor. After crossing that area we entered the main temple building, we had to leave mobiles, watches, wallets, belts and all leather things/equipment outside the temple. The main building has a small but beautiful entrance. It is a padoga style temple having delicate wood carvings on each corner possible. There is a small staircase which takes you to the main temple. The idol of Devi is on the 3^rd floor of the building. Walking through the narrow pathway we reached the place.



Main Temple

Rahul in front of Shiva temple

The aarti was at 8.00PM, so we spent sometime in the open area in front of the temple & went back again and believe me the way people do arti here is an experience in itself. It starts with the chants of the priest and ends with the joyful sounds of various musical instruments.

View from the Temple Complex

After aarti we took a walk through the small village, purchased few medicines for our journey ahead and went to sleep in our hotel room with a thought that we should have planned for an extra day for Sarahan, being unaware of the fact what lies beyond.

We stayed at a Green Valley Hotel contact no. 98166-86789, 98161-85518, 94180-92894. HPTDC hotel is also there at a very good location but unfortunately it was full on the day we needed. Also stay arrangements are available at the temple.