Prologue
Being in December 2019, you wonder why this guy has stopped posting anything related to breakdown of his travel.
Not to throw up excuses but 2019 was an amalgamation of metaphorical waves, with no real highs or lows, no predictable flow or direction.
I am typing this prologue out of Bengaluru airport (which is a first) and this pretty much sums up my year (which ironically involved an awful lot of airports). Further irony is the fact that it all started with my first flight ever to this very airport as my curiosity to explore India kick started, exactly 10 years back in December 2009. So, cheers to a decade that is coming to its Endgame.
2019 also had its share of Goa and Maharashtra tours, which frankly excites me less these days. What I wish to write about are these three unique places that diverged from my usual destinations. If I had to find a common link between these three drastically different locations, it is the element of Earth. Hold on, I will explain. Let’s jump right into it.
Prologue – v1.1
This was supposed to be posted literally a year ago and I regret everything said above. Little did I know all travel this year I will be doing will be confined to the four walls of my 1BHK.
Photography Focus
Spiti has been on my mind from ages. To be precise, we were initially supposed to include Spiti in our last visit to Himachal. Thanks to Instagram, I was pretty much chasing milky way on my photographic journey. Here is a refresher of the last attempt.
Himalayan highlands are neither an easy nor a budget trip for starters. One needs a certain passion to be ready to encounter the extreme. The last truly meet-strangers-and-travel situation for me was Noida in 2010. Surprisingly never did I re-attempt this format again until now.
Thanks to Sony India, I hopped on the Alpha community program scheduled for August 2019. Here, you get massive discount on trips and you have the privilege to try out the best Sony gears for free. Thanks to the able mentorship of Mr Dheeraj Paul and his team’s (Indian Photography Tours) impeccable management, this journey was creatively everything I could hope for.
Ascent
Took a Mumbai – Chandigarh flight and crashed the night in an OYO 9822 Hotel Seven in Sector 7C, the hub of restaurants and bars. Being first time visitor in the city, what really startled me was the cleanliness and emptiness of the city, quiet a contrast with some of other Indian cities in the same league. Sneaked into a fancy restaurant to have dumpling platter for the night and took a quick trip to the famous Elante Mall as this was my first rodeo in Chandigarh.
Next morning, went to meet the rest of the group who were staying in the stunning Hotel Park Plaza, Zirakpur. A fleet of four Innovas then set out for Narkhanda, an unusually small place beyond Shimla town through lush green hills and waterfalls as mountain sheep looked on.
We stayed at Tethys resort, a massive wooden castle-ish building. Here we got our first rundown on expectations on terrains and techniques for our gears. After a round of group acquaintance, we were given our double occupancy partners. Paired with Chetan, who was an avid wildlife photographer and fellow Mumbai-kar, we realized soon after that we are the youngest members on this journey.
The food on ground floor of Tethys was Indian buffet and the wooden rooms were super comfortable. Cellular network starts struggling from this point onwards with little to no chance of internet. The random downpour of the mountains was already making its presence felt.
Nature Strike
Massive flood had broken out in Himachal. News reached us that a significant portion of the way ahead has suddenly gone off limit as Manali continues to be worst affected region in Himachal. Being at a distance of few days to Spiti, we were pretty much testing our luck at this point. We continued on our route to reach the amazing valley of Kinnaur nonetheless.
Crossing one of the riskiest terrains of Kinnaur was just the beginning of adventure. Roads carved out of granite slabs had water seeping through, throwing warning of how any boulder might just collapse in.
We were often interrupted by small pebbles falling down, which signals how large boulders will follow next as its base keeps chipping away. This was often followed by people having their windscreen dented by rocks. We even encountered the sight of massive landslides over a peak afar.
Kinnaur camps amidst Deodar forest of Sangla Valley was a heaven in its own right. We slept in tents which exist for six snowless months. With variety of food options, camping beside Baspa river and an array of flowers, the stay was a beautiful experience.
At sharp 10 in the night, was my first encounter with the a faint sign of a crystal-clear galaxy. Putting out my tripod, the sense of cold fades away when the milky way aligns with snowy peaks in this picture perfect setting.
China Border
Crossing the muddy road ride to Chitkul village, we embarked upon the last village in Indo-China border. Chitkul is a relatively common spot for photographers to flock in, where villagers are weary of finding themselves on social media pages.
The rains intensified and the temperature dropped sharply. The villagers who had acclimatised with the extreme weather, brought us our simple lunch for the day.
We visited another smaller village Rakcham on the way back. The intense upstream river was complemented by peaceful meadows of alternate purples and greens fafra.
Rural Monsoon
New day, new beginning. We left Kinaaur for an easy drive to Grand Shambala hotel of Kalpa. Marijuana cultivation on roadside was a common sight. Post lunch, we dropped in the remote Kalpa village where we stayed on till sunset.
This was when I witnessed my first look at a twin rainbows. The end of the village housed a temple and a school, overlooking a steep cliff. On both the edges of the sky, we had two separate rainbows forming independently.
Apple farms are aplenty in Kalpa, they serve as the main livelihood of the locals. We had our first (and only) photo review session at this stay before we retired for the day.
Detours
We started early to reach Nako village by noon. the quick stop allowed us to capture the famous lake, which is a steep climb down on the fringes.
By the time we reached a tiny Chacha Chachi dhaba at Batal for lunch, greenery had become scarce. This is the point of transition to the rocky desert landscape of Spiti.
A quick bypass road to Giu allowed us to see the first monastery on this road trip. It houses a naturally preserved 500 year ancient mummy of a famous Buddhist lama. The body is preserved in a sitting posture, encased in a tiny glass chamber.
The long drive of the day culminated in Tabo village as we checked into Hotel Maitreya Regency. Here we got our next update on the massive flood and subsequent destruction. Fleets of cars atop Spiti were stuck at Kaza.
The drivers were contemplating if we should do a touchdown to Spiti and turn back. Thanks to Sanjeev, who was negotiating with the car company, we decided to move ahead. The expectation was our path might clear by the time we descend from Spiti to Manali.
Monastery
Tabo monastery was right next to our hotel. Photography was allowed in the premises but not inside the monk quarters. As one moves towards the back of the temple, the old structure of original rock temple becomes evident. We left for our next destination post breakfast in Pin valley.
Dhankar is a near 1,000 year old symbol of Vajrayana Buddhist architecture and is one of the 100 most endangered monuments in the world. It is constructed on a 300 metre high ledge in a rocky mountain near the confluence of Pin and Spiti rivers. Dhankar literally means – fort on a cliff!
We proceeded to reach to Dhankar monastery. Inside the monastery, women and children are provided with food everyday by the monks who run the place. Tourists need to pay a minimal amount if you climb to the top in name of monastery maintenance.
There is a school nearby where children are taught in the art of monk hood. But what caught my eyes are these pillars of limestone, mysteriously popping up across the eroded landscape.
We chose not to enter Key monastery, thanks to our strict schedule. On reaching the village below, one can see Key monastery at a distance. Waiting till the sunset gave us glimpse of cattle returning as local children played around them.
Hotel Deyzor is at a prime location at Kaza, the last major town at Spiti. Deyzor has amazing British cottage vibes, an even more kickass restaurant and a bunch of dogs. Expect periodic load shedding in the morning. We used to heat up water whenever electricity returned because it takes minutes for the water to revert to its shivery form.
Final Summit
As we crossed the extraordinary Khibber Chicham Bridge, the first village was an uphill climb to farmlands. As we moved across the regularly used helipad, we found the adults were busy in cultivating sweet peas.
Our next stop was the Hikkim village, famed for the second highest post office in the world. People often end up sending post cards to themselves from here to receive it back home once they go back.
We made a quick stop at Komic village before deciding to descend. It has the highest homestay in the world as a welcome board.
Our driver took a detour to give us a quick encounter with the endangered Himalayn Ibex grazing at short distance. He also told us how Spiti winter trip is more rewarding for a wildlife enthusiast, with easy to spot carnivores like Red Fox and elusive Snow Leopards.
These wild goats end up climbing up swiftly at first sign of danger. Our final endpoint was the enormous Buddha statue of the Fossil village, standing at 14500 feet before we chose to retire for the day.
Descent
We started our return journey (technically ahead) in the early dawn of 4AM. Sitting in front seat, you have to be very careful not to doze off and keep an eye on your driver. The steep trench descent is free fall to death against the barren meteoric structures.
This is the point where our driver told us Akshay Kumar was staying at Kaza and shooting for Kesari (2019) movie in this very spot.
As everything turned into fierce no-man dead zone, everything became increasingly beautiful. We made our first quick stop at Kunzum Devi temple, the snowy gateway to Spiti if you are coming from Manali. The fog ahead made visibility near impossible, although I did spot few wild mountain horses at a distance.
From this point onward in Kunzum pass, expect a steep spiral drop, cutting through rocks and stones. Two members in our group started puking out as altitude sickness hit them like a hammer. We had medicine in hand which probably served as a placebo since the medicine is to be typically taken a day before. However stopping was not a choice since limited vehicles were being allowed everyday to pass through.
15 Kilometers away from Kunzum Pass is Chandrataal lake, which unfortunately was not in our itinerary. We took the other way out and stopped at the first micro village flocked by rare mountain birds, for a quick breakfast and bathroom break.
As we pushed on, we chanced upon a mountain foothill which had double rainbow created at a bare 30 feet distance. As we entered the breathtakingly insane Rohtang Pass, the roads went treacherous. There were eagles and vultures flying around and not anything in miles in sight.
Cars break down here easily, causing traffic to be stuck from hours to days. There were three distinct points where we had to get off our verhicle and walk over a literal waterfall so that the car tires do not get stuck in the flowing water. The reduction of weight helps the cars to combat a potential situation where the car’s tires gets stuck in between those wet rocks.
The Rohtang pass needs to be crossed as early as possible since the snow accumulated over the night melts and makes the path even harder to traverse through. We could see lumps of glacier snow and the upcoming tunnel being built that will connect Manali to Spiti making this process a breeze at some point in future, causing an influx of tourists. At last, we entered the zone where army is deployed and stopped for lunch soon after.
As we descended to Manali, we got stuck for a good couple of hours as a truck ahead punctured its tyre, resulting in a serious traffic chain. As we survived through that minor hiccup, we were suddenly greeted by lush greenery and pine cones, signaling start of a beautiful Manali evening. Away from centre, we stopped at Hotel Serenity. The exhaustion was too real.
Urban Touch
We paid our driver some extra money to take us back to Delhi. The fear was around the aftermath of devastating flood from a week back and those major roadblocks. We took a different path but to our luck, did not encounter any significant delays. Tensions were rising due to respective flights and trains everyone had to catch from Chandigarh, but we managed to reach just in the nick of time.
I ended up crashing the night in an OYO 7372 platinum Inn, which I had booked during that horrible traffic jam caused by a puncture. It was towards northern corner of Chandigarh and run by slightly shady young dudes. From what I gathered, people had booked rooms due to some exam and they were not opening the place for regular guest. The sheets and the toilets were unclean, it was subpar to say the least. Booked an Uber at 4 AM and took off for Delhi Airport.
Tip Offs
- Enter through Shimla and exit through Manali to avoid mountain sickness. Take Diamox 1-2 days beforehand nonetheless.
- Keep an eye out for the landslides which is common between Kinnaur till Kaza.
- Choose a safe travel option if you are with an old person or child, get hold of a good tour operator. Safety is the highest priority.
- We had four expert drivers as part of our fleet. My car had Neeraj – 9817800054, 9736400054 a driver of my age and quite a pro.
- Be aware of the sharp temperature drops and random rainfall. Carry enough protective gears to avoid common cold and fever.
- A good hiking shoe can do wonders.
- Buffer days if you are planning yourself as nobody can predict the weather. You never know what part of your plan might just get ruined.
- There are specific days when TNT is used to explode boulders for road construction, be well aware of them and the explosion timings before hand.
- Jio connection has nearly reached Kaza, hence SIM cards recommended are Jio and BSNL. The latter is a must.
- Interact with the locals and understand the culture, usually they are extremely helpful.
My Recommendation
Spiti is so much and then, another round of so much more. Recommendation is genuinely an impossible task. But the idea is to cherry pick that one thing that defines the trip.
For me, the massive Buddha statue of Langza gave that panoramic view of what Spiti was all about, a civilisation in the land of resilience. But what was even more extreme was the chilling wind that blows in your face as you stand beside the statue.
It was worth the struggle.
No travel due to Covid 🙁
Sayantan