Ups and Downs to The
Middle Land – Land between Tibet and India – The Himalayan Desert …………………………………..............The
Mystic Land of Spiti… Julen…
Having month
in hand, we decided to lets rope in more friends who will be interested in the
unknown destination travel. So we 4 decided to put up event on facebook and
let’s see the turnover. Once we posted the event, we had the good turnover.
Everything till now was up and going. Few wanted to travel on their bikes and
few in cars. Total group strength reached till 12-15.
The Seeds
were sown, a one and a half month before the trip. At work, to our surprise, I
was told to take few leaves as I was having many pending due to change in leave
policy, it will expire unpaid.
First thing
that started chirping in my head was car, highway, hill or plains, where…. Then
I quietly asked as how many days I have to take minimum leave for…and it was 7
– 10. Now it was the Bigul that I could hear in my ears…
10 days… I
am the lucky one that too first half of the year. Then for few days, I only had
one question in mind…WHERE… WHERE… WHERE… searching net for few days and still
I couldn’t decide. Places in mind was Leh-ladhak-Sangla Valley. Then I caught
hold of a book “travel outlook” and as I was going thru it.
Then the
clock stroked and I could see the answer… Spiti
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Second
question for the week … WITH WHOM
Sometimes
it’s good to connect with unspoken friends and I dialed the number of my old
college buddy, with whom I had bike trips earlier. I told about the leaves and
the initial destination. He agreed and third question for the week … HOW
Now the
planning started and I happened to meet a colleague of mine who also happens to
be a senior from the college. And trip in my head, I happened to share the
destination with him and to my surprise; he also wanted to do the same.
3 of us in
the plan now, but HOW not been answered yet.
BUS, half by own car and later by cab/bus/taxi.
After the
place was decided, we started doing research on the destination. 3rd
friend who joined last had worked with reputed Travel Company before and he
knew exactly a person who could join us with his years of mountaineering,
travel and biking experience in the Himalayas. Best was, he had been to Spiti
on his bike last year. We went and spoke with him on the plan. By the end of
the discussion we had him on our list. He being older to us with right
expertise, we gave him full liberty to plan our trip. 4 of us now.
Plan was to
enter and exit from Manali and covering all destinations till Spiti & Tabo.
Then the
Disaster stroked with lighting, thunder and the cloud burst in Uttarakhand. For
the next few days, I was monitoring the TV channels, day & night. All are family members got apprehensive and
days passed by. I started monitoring the weather conditions on daily basis (thrice)
for the Spiti region. 2 weeks to go and we could see drop outs. I was
determined that I will not let go of my leaves sitting at home. I started
calling travel agents, hotels in Spiti, my source in Manali and all were saying
that this region is not impacted. Worst was, monsoons were heading north faster
than we thought.
Just week
before the travel, we were back to square one with 4 of us. Things are not
always easy. Most experienced guy wanted to do the trip on his bike and we
again planned the HOW. As we thought
things are sorted, four days before my college senior backed out – Disaster. It was difficult to convince our families
after the cloud burst in Uttarakhand and here I could see core group
dismantling. As I didn’t know the guy from travel company and he only wanted to
travel on his bike, we two friends decided to re-plan among our self.
It was a
roller coaster ride for me. With all ups & downs and 3 days to go, I
sticked to the plan and my friend were on it with my decision. It was getting
tougher & tougher to convince our parents. Our budget had also gone for a
toss as we were on our own.
Then we
decided that we will drive down till Manali and after seeing & gathering
the local weather conditions/safety, we will travel ahead.
So finally,
after months of planning & disasters – Ups & Down, we were all set to
go. Bags packed and the D-day came…29th June 2013.
Day 1, 1900 Hrs, 29th June 2013: I started
around 1900 hrs to pick my friend from central Delhi. After picking him, we
straight headed towards NH1. Till we had hit the NH1, we were just discussing
on the month passed by with so many ups & downs, what has been packed and
what we have to buy on our way. Fuelled up my Roaring Beast and had hit the
highway by 2200hrs.
We had
travelled uncounted times on this highway till Chandigarh as we had our college
there and we slipped into our old memory lanes of college days… 6 lanes wide
road, 110 bhp under the hood, shoes off the clutch, yellow street lights, white
lane markers and slipping into college days.
By 22:45
Hrs, Hunger stroked hard. We stopped at Haveli, Murthal for dinner. After an
hour of relaxing dinner with photo shoots, we were back on tracks. This time it
was my friend who was supposed to drive as he can’t drive on hills. After few
initial driving tips for my car, we were all set for next destination – Chandigarh
(200 km).
Road Condition: Delhi till Panipat – Excellent
Word of Caution: Just keep eye on the needle which is
unleashing itself to speed of 110-120-130…
Day 2, 0200 Hrs, 30th
June 2013:
After travelling for 2.5 hrs, seeing passing stars & night and their we
could see the Open Hand Monument welcoming us to my favorite city – Chandigarh.
Being inside Chandigarh city for just less than 15 minutes & how could we
not meet the famous Chandigarh police at the Nakka(Check post). We both started
laughing seeing them as we had dealt with them for 3 years of our college life.
I knew exactly what they will ask for while checking car papers…any guesses…Car
Pollution Certificate. I just couldn’t stop smiling from inside seeing that all
my papers were in place and we headed towards a break point at Café
Aroma(having only 24hrs Café Coffee Day) as rest all eateries has been asked to
close after 1am. Took a 30 mins break, stretched out.
Road Condition: Panipat till Ambala – Good with
diversions due to construction of another highway (Panipat till Ludhiana).
Word of Caution: If touching Chandigarh in self driven
vehicle, do not forget to check all required documents and they are
up-to-date...Insurance & Pollution Certificate specially.
Day 2, 0245
Hrs: I took the driver’s seat and we were supposed to hit foothills in hour’s
time and plan was non-stop till Manali. Highway from Chandigarh till junction
of Kullu-Manali road via Ropar is smooth. And we hit our first bad stretch of road
with deep pot holes filled with water. You can’t judge the depth of these holes
and it was getting difficult to maneuver the sedan. So I waited to see other
busses n trucks to pass so I could analysis the safest path without damaging
the car. First stretch till Swarghat is so-so with pot-holes. Seeing the day
blooming out of dark sky while driving on hills is a experience in itself.
Day 2, 05:27
hrs: we took a break to see the first dawn to stretch our self’s at Hotel Mount
View. This location has nice view of the huge lake behind. Also, if you come
during the operational hours, from balcony you may see down old temples which
submerge in water during monsoons. Driving thru the curving roads & tunnel,
hearing the gushing of the Beas, we entered the Kullu Valley at 10:00 hrs.
11:48hrs: We
were welcomed by the Green Tax Barrier and we knew that it’s the welcome tax
for Manali. Weather was awesome with bright sun shine trying to break thru
moving clouds and we surrounded by high ranges of Himalayas. Not slept over 24 hrs, we wanted to hit the
bed as fast as we could and hunger was again striking. We checked-in at Holiday
Inn Manali as I had stayed here earlier my visit in December with family. Staff
knew me and it was convenient for me to make arrangements.
First base
point reached. Without thinking much we ordered food and slept for an hour.
It was time
to make a second decision for how to go ahead to Spiti and with Budget being
major concern. We contacted the concierge of the hotel as I knew him and with
his help we got the package for Spiti i.e. 25000/- for Taxi+4 Nights Stay &
Tour. Total budget we had in our mind was 40000/-. 8K was already kept aside
for travel between Delhi/Manali/Delhi. Considering the package cost we got into
cost control mode.
Concierge
guy told us to go for walking to village of Shagan, Old Manali (above the Club
House) for us to get acclimatized for higher attitudes.
06:00 Hrs:
We reached & parked our car at Club house and started to walk. After 200
meters of walking, road turned left and could see narrow road just as wide as
car. It was time to take few pictures and walk for few km. Both of us still had
budget hovering in our heads and trying to take a call if we should go ahead or
not. Then we saw a modern building made in colonial style with vibrant color of
Blue & White and as I started to near the gate (just out of curiosity) and
I happened to see Rottweiler guarding the house. We backed out quietly as I
very well knew the personality of Rottweiler & we were no mood to have face-off.
As we strolled ahead, I came across two wolf like dogs and I didn’t took a
second to recognize that they were Siberian Husky which are usually found in
Artic Regions. I had read a book based true story about Husky saving lives of
writer of the book. I don’t remember the name of the book but it had an
impression in my mind. Moving ahead, we saw a nice restaurant “LA PLAGE” with a
flea market. It was different few of Manali from this side of the village and
drizzling also started.
We walked
back while it was getting darker and headed for cafés at Old Manali. Café 1947,
which got us hooked as it also had open sitting space right next to river. We
decided to sit inside next to window, enjoying breeze with round of Bacardi
Breezers followed by continental dinner. We headed back after heavy dinner and
took supplies (Bottled Water, Biscuits, Butter, Jam n Bread for next 5 days travel.
Another
twist to the plan came when we decided to cancel the package and just hire taxi
for travel to/from & tour. Guess what, we ended up saving 10K and decided
to reach KAZA and look out for hotels as I was sure we could get cheaper
hotels.
Word of Wisdom: Try to explore outer regions of
Manali as they are much authentic and scenic.
Word of Caution: Carry enough woolens, jackets,
gloves, warm caps as temperature various a lot.
Day 3, 1st
July 2013:
We both excited and had to start by 6 am. First pass to conquer was Rohtang
Pass at ……… Travelling thru the twists
& turn to a height where clouds was alongside us was a beauty in itself and
we could not stop taking pictures. Where ever, I looked and could only see
natural beauty. I was in no mood to miss anything with a blink of an eye. First
break was at the famous waterfalls en-route Rohtang. Quick sip of tea and photo
shoots, we started our journey ahead. First encounter with the broken roads and
patches leaded us to the first glimpse of snow on the road and driver told us …
it’s Rohtang Pass. He told us that we will stop here on the way back as we have
to cover quite a distance ahead. 45 mins from Rohtang Pass, we took a break at
Sonam Dhaba at Gramphu. It is the intersection at which we will turn hard right
for the The Mistic Land of Spiti. We had our famous Maggi and started ahead.
10:37 Hrs: I
have been doing quite a research before I pinned on this plan and gone thru
many travelogues. I could picture those logs with the present but it’s far more
difficult to write down in detail about this scenic beauty.
River
Chandra, welcomes us with the roar and no tar-coal roads were greeting us. We
were just elevating from the Gramphu and river on our left roaring. We both
busy taking pictures and only question which both of us had in our mind (which
we didn’t told each other) – Have we taken right decision to travel on this
stretch? No Roads, slight landslides, glaciers, pebbles & water crossings
in first hour after Gramphu, we just could sit upright and continuous shaking
of the vehicle due to road condition.
11:24 Hrs –
with population of 120 at 11,100 ft above sea leave welcomed us at village
“CHHATRU”. All we could see here is 4-5 dhabas and after quick tea & nature
break, we started. By this time, we got to know our driver well and I decided
to hop in the front seat as it had head rest for support against rocking roads
of Spiti.
12:08 Hrs – we
passed thur Chotadara and Pagal Nalla, yes that’s what locals has named it. 100
meters, our cab was driving thru the water crossing. Driver told us, that in
any case, you should not get down in this as no one can foresee the pressure of
water and it can take you along and he had a story to support the same. But, it was an experience in itself seeing
& feeling the same.
I have no
words to explain the feeling of being at such a height, temperature and shades
of mountains. All three made a deadly combination and tempting us to click as
much as we can.
13:23 Hrs –
16 Km ahead at 12900 ft alongside the River Chandra, one can see only Dhaba or the
village “Batal” with the registered population of 2. Yes it two, old couple who
was relocated decades ago from Tibet has settled here next to the river bank of
Chandra. Indian Government has provided them with Satellite phone as no network
works in this high land so this is the only source to connect with outside
world. Had their famous Rajma Chawal with desi herbal chatani and guess whats
free – smiling faces & incomparable hospitality. I decided to layback on
the chair outside sunbathing and who knew that feeling the sun heat will be so
refreshing n smoothening. After half an hour lunch break we started back…
14:20 Hrs – Travelling
12km thru steep, scary and zig zags from Batal with having glimpse of the Bare
Shigri Glacier of the left bank of the Chandra River leaded us another pass –
Kunzum La Pass at 15000 ft and what a coincidence that as I am writing this
blog, I am sitting at the Kunzum Café at Hauz Kauz. Coming back to Kunzum La pass,
it’s a vast Plateau, a barren land with just a temple and Gompa which every passer has to take a round
before going ahead. It brings good luck and blessing for safely passing these
mighty Himalayas. Driver told us that this pass is always under the heavy snow
during winters. At these heights, I could see clear bright blue sky with
patches of creamy white clouds passing by. I had never seen such a sky ever in
my life.
As soon as
we passed the Kunzum Pass, I got hit by AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) but it
wasn’t worse but still I could feel it is taking toll on me.
15:00 Hrs –
I was lying down on the back seat as AMS was taking its toll and driver stopped
the car above a green valley on the peak called “Tackcha” at 13400 ft. My
friend decided to walk down till stream of river but I stayed back taking
pictures and resting but I can guarantee you, the beauty at this place will not
let you hold on anything and I got tempted to walk down to stream. As I was
walking down, I could feel uneasy in my stomach and large intestine was sending
frequencies to my brain to empty it out. Hmmm… difficult decision, no proper
toilets but the open valley. I told my friend about the uneasiness and he said
to join the great Indian Population who has no proper toilets but the open
streams. I decided to join them finally with great difficulty and I will not
tell you the feeling but you have to experience it by yourself at the height of
13400 ft next to stream and no treesJ.
For the rest
of the journey I just sipping ORS and sleeping in the back seat.
1700 Hrs – Passing
thru small villages of Losar, Hansa, Kyoto, pangma, Hal, Morang, Sumling,
Kyurik, and Rangrik, we entered the destination which I decided a month ago but
unfortunately I was half dosed off with no energy left. Driver knew a hotel in
New Kaza, where he took us and I asked my friend to physically check the
room/water condition as we were the only one who will be staying there. It was
time to negotiate the cost of stay and to my & your guesses; we cracked the
great deal for INR 500/- per night. Yes, we both were in seventh heaven as we
were saving enough to be in our budget.
Surprises
don’t seem to end here, last 5 days, entire KAZA city was blacked out and no
one could guess when electricity will be back.
We took the
corner room with balcony overseeing the river spiti, old kaza, Kaza Monestary
and the great Himalayan Mountains. Due to my health, we decided to wrap up the
day as soon as possible after early dinner of dal, subzi and roti.
Before we
dozed off, I congratulated and thanked my friend for standing by me in
conquering this dream of mine.
“Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is
played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never
break off from the journey.”
― Pat Conroy
― Pat Conroy
Day 4, 2nd
July 2013, 10:00 Hrs: We slept till late as we were overcoming from the
rollercoaster ride of yesterday.
We didn’t
want to move out of bed as we were so enjoying the blue skies and cool weather
from our bed. We had our breakfast and planned our day with driver.
Our first
stop at Kye(Ki) Monastery, scenic beauty and located at 13500 ft from Kaza and
the largest in the valley, this is the most peaceful place I could ever find.
At the entrance of the Gompa, we found Lama’s playing volley ball and few
sunbathing. A Lama took us for a tour and explained the history of this
Monastery followed by the Herbal Tea in their canteen. One I needed the most
and I think he saw the hangover of AMS and served me second round which
refreshed me to the core. I owe you this dear Lama.
We went back
to Old Kaza for lunch. As we were exploring for the place to eat, I thought of
asking few foreigners for a best place to eat. This guy took us to Indian
restaurant where his fellow mates were waiting and seeing group of foreigners
eating, we also decided to eat here.
It was a
small hall with a aunty cooking inside. I checked for price from her and she
said “60rs. Peit bhar ke”(till stomach fills) and coming from city like Delhi,
it was astonishing so I again checked twice on price and portions. We got
rajma, alloo ki subzi, rice and roti and till we say no more.
As we knew,
that there was no electricity in the town, we hoped into SBI bank which was
running on generator. We requested the guard for letting us charge the camera
as we can’t survive without it. After he did his enquiry on us, he let us
charge camera for 30 mins.
We walked till
the car and started for second half of the tour…
Next
Destination was 16 km away at the height of 14200 ft, located on the summit of
limestone rock – “KIBBER”. With 80 odd houses and remarkable architecture,
colorful blend of White & dark red made this place a worth visiting. Driver
took us to the end of village and dropped us, he went back where the village
started and asked us to walk down till their as it is the best way to capture
and feel the village.
Seeing few
kids playing, we grabbed them and started clicking pictures with them. After
walking few meters ahead, we heard a tractor coming and we gave it a side. But
suddenly, something striked in my head and I asked lift from him. Guess what,
Tractor ride at 14200 ft is for free but u can never forget every bit of that
experience.
Our next
destination was at 15000 ft, world’s highest motor-able village. Getting here
was not easy as me and my friend as we holded our breath while passing thru
steeper, scarier and blind zig zags and could only see thousands of feet deep
canyon on right of us. It was the scariest ride till in this journey with no
concrete road and only gravel. Hats off to our experienced driver who lead us
safe and back on this treacherous roads.
Passing thru
the village of Langza which has a huge Buddha statue on a peak overlooking the
village and Panorama view was awesome. Finally we reached our destination,
Komic with population 114 at 15000ft. We met the Lama and he started telling
about the place and none-the-less, we had ample amount of questions as how they
survive here. There were two monasteries here, one old and other new, Lama took
us to see new one first which was under renovation as “The Lama” was supposed
to visit next month. Then we walked around the perimeter to the Old Monastery
and as he opened the gate, we got scared & surprised to see Snow Leopard
hanging. Lama told us that this Leopard attacked his father and was killed by
villagers, since then they stuffed it. Touching the skin of Leopard was so kool
and funny, as Cameras are not allowed inside the main Prayer hall, but one
should see it. Still the old fashioned way and after taking blessing from him,
we walked back to car. Also, Lama was generous enough to give us token of
Fossil he had found. We were glad and kept praising the Lama.
It was
getting late and we started back for Kaza. On the way, driver stopped for
refueling and it was the World’s Highest Retail Outlet by Indian Oil at 12270
ft.
We were back
to our hotel and rested for some time. As today also city was in black out and
we decided to quickly head out to old Kaza for dinner before it gets too dark.
Our hotel was 10 mins walk from the Old Kaza but there is a bridge over dry
river bed one need to cross. I am so excited to tell this incident which lies
ahead but I will hold on for some more time.
As there
were no mobile service, so we headed out for STD and called our parents for
updating them on our where about. Then we headed for searching a restaurant to
eat and saw a terrace where few foreigners were sitting. We walked in and made
our self a place on terrace with a lone foreigner for a chit chat. Places like
this; every stranger has a story and was not lonely even thou he was sitting
alone.
After
enjoying our lavished dinner and buying few things from market, we started to
head back. With our lavishing dinner, we forgot it got late and dark but it was
only 8. So both of us getting to be James Bond who remembers his way in-out,
started walking back with only one small torch. After reaching cluster of houses,
we lost our way. Thrilling factors here were Total Blackout with no
Electricity, No living soul we could see, mobiles not working, street dogs
roaming around, no moon light as sky was covered with clouds, it was getting
windy and chilly and we were at 12000 ft in a unknown village lost…
We were
consoling each other and were mentally getting prepared to sleep in by lanes of
unknown village in open. Then my friend saw a light coming thru a house few
meters apart, and decided to ask help to guide us back to our hotel. After
knocking for few minutes a kid came out and that was our hope, we tried to
explain where we had to go but with difference in language that was getting
tougher. But he kind of understood, and led us to a back of few houses, from
where we could go across the dry river bed. Catch here was that we couldn’t see
the bridge and he told to cross via the dry river bed. We both tried to first
walk down and kid went back. In the pitch dark, we could hardly see anything
and got worried if if if this is the right way as we came via bridge. Standing
for 10 mins, we decided to head back to same house and again knocked. Kid came
out again but we asked for his parents. Then old Grandfather of the boy came
and we again described him as where we had to go. Still having question in
mind, if he taking us right way or not, we followed him thru few houses to an
open space. He told us to walk down these stairs and you will find bridge but
still having fear of getting lost we prayed and started to take baby steps as
we could hardly see. Miracles do happens and what happened next, made us
believe in it. After few baby steps, suddenly we saw head lights of the car on
high beam coming from the corner where our hotel was and with this light we
could clearly see the bridge. We guessed that our driver must have realized
that we were either lost or he had seen a torch as we were trying to flash
light towards the hotel earlier. What next was making of second Milkha Singh,
as we started running straight towards the light, it’s not easy to run at such
a height but we ran straight without realizing that instead of taking stairs up
after crossing the bridge, we climbed the mud wall and could see the hotel
clearly. As we stopped to grab hold of our breath, that lights turned off. Hotel
was still in a distance but it was plain ground that we had to cross which easy
as we could see candle light coming thru the hotel. After reaching hotel we
saw, our car was standing inside the compound and driver was having dinner with
other hotel staff. But what triggered our minds were … who’s car it was and
where it came from… we thanked God and headed back to room but still talking
about the car which helped us guide back to hotel. See it was a miracle…
It was a
windy night and we could here shattering windows. We sneaked in our blankets
and went off to sleep.
“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers
and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends.
You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things: air, sleep, dreams, sea, the sky - all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.”
― Cesare Pavese
You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things: air, sleep, dreams, sea, the sky - all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.”
― Cesare Pavese
Day 5, 3rd
July 2013, 05:00 Hrs: I got up early today
as the electricity for the town was back so had to put camera/mobiles on
charging and went in balcony to see aftermath of the windy night. My red scarf
was missing and other cloths were lying everywhere which we had placed to dry.
U know, how we boys are, never thought of getting wet cloths inside in such a
weatherJ. It was one of my favorite scarfs,
so I looked around from the balcony if I could find it back. We had to start by
0900 hrs today and our destination was 100 years old Monastery, 50km ahead of
Kaza.
Our drive
was alongside of river Spiti thru the Mud Mountains. These were very different
looking mountains, as if pebbles are sticked to them with glue. If one throws
on it, it may topple down. After crossing the famous Tabo Bridge, we entered
the Monastery complex. Established in 996, its one of the oldest Monasteries in
India under the Archaeological
Survey of India. It
has the mix of old and new culture, stories and myths as how it was
established.
Drive till
Tabo was magnificent as at one point, one passes thru the peak tips of
mountains. We were scared to get out of the car even to take pics as we could
see the depth below but more was this muddy mountain terrain. Few clicks and we
moved on, after few km’s on the other side of the river Spiti, I see a stream
of water entering the river but color of the stream was as white as Milk.
Driver told, it’s coming from the Glaciers.
We took a
detour to another village called “Dhankar” having second highest Monastery
after Ki Monastery. It’s a steep climb and best was, first time in 3 days we
could see well laid tar coal road leading us to Dhankar. From a distance, we could see huge wall of mountains
looking like fort and caves beneath it. It is the Dhankar Fort, which was
traditionally home to Nanos, the royals of Spiti. There is a famous Dhankar
Lake for which, one need to do trekking and camping on the site and we couldn’t
do being just two in number. But I have added this trekking on my things to do
of “Life mein ek bar”.
Fortunately
or unfortunately, there is another way out of the village which can take you
little ahead if going to Kaza, instead of coming back. But as he thought that
we were over with scariest set of roads, and here it was another. I won’t say
it was even a road, just carved the mountain enough so light vehicles could
pass. Full of mud and one can have his concentration off the road for sure.
We were back
to Kaza in time and as we were approaching our hotel from by lane, I saw a red
color cloth lying on the ground on the back side of the hotel at a distance. As
I was still overcoming from the sadness of losing my red scarf, I thought of
giving a chance to see what was lying there. So after getting down at hotel, I walked
all the way back to the by lane and was surprised to see that it was my Scarf
in the middle of the road. I was more surprised that when I searched it in
morning, I had looked on this road from the balcony but nothing was there. I
believe that Miracles do happenJ as this wasn’t only the incident I had. Just a quick
flashback, during my trip to Kalpa-Kinnaur, I had lost my favorite chapel and
one side was found under the seat but couldn’t find other in the car. So we thought
have lost it but as we were driving back by on the broken roads, I could see
something familiar on the road just lying enough on the corner to avoid coming
under the tires or falling in the river. Best was when I stopped the car, open
the door and picked up and we all friends shouted like crazy in excitement more
was, car behind us also stopped and was looking at me picking chapal from the
road and showing excitement. For him it was crazy but for me it was miracle.
Back to
Kaza, we had dinner in the hotel and decided to start back to Manali next day.
As we had covered all the places and just being two of us it was getting bit
boring during the evenings.
“To move, to breathe, to fly, to float,
To gain all while you give,
To roam the roads of lands remote,
To travel is to live.”
― Hans Christian Andersen, The Fairy Tale of My Life: An Autobiography
To gain all while you give,
To roam the roads of lands remote,
To travel is to live.”
― Hans Christian Andersen, The Fairy Tale of My Life: An Autobiography
Day 4, 4th July 2013, 07:00
Hrs: we started back for
Manali. It was smooth journey back as I was quite acclimatized so could enjoy
more on my way back. After reaching Batal by noon, while having lunch we came
to know that roads are closed ahead as yesterday truck got stuck in chotta
dhara. So we had to wait here till road opens, as there was no other stoppage
we could take if required to stay over for night. We saw couple of bikers,
stranded and were trying to fix only satellite phone in this area. We started
chatting with them and came to know that they were 40 bikers from South India
who was travelling to Kaza but as few of them crossed over chotta dhara before
the truck out stuck while rest were stuck behind the truck. Entire group had to
cancel the journey ahead and they headed back to Manali but these few were
stuck here as there was no space in-between truck mountain so bike could pass. After
waiting for an hour we started ahead and reached Manali by 1600hrs.
We check in
back at Holiday Inn Manali and went out for roaming on Mall followed by dinner
at Johnson’s Café. On the dinner table, it was time to toast for a back breaking,
tedious and scariest journeys were been too and was excited that we managed to
do this after so many unforeseen obstacles and fallout of the entire group
earlier.
Day 5, 5th
July 2013, 07:00 Hrs: Started from Manali
and safe back home by 2100 Hrs. We managed entire trip under 20K per person which was right as per our budget.
The Mystic Land of Spiti – The
Middle Land – Land between Tibet and India – The Himalayan Desert - No words
& no pictures can explain the feel of this Mystic land… Traveled from 6726
ft (Manali) to 12500 ft to KAZA was an experience of a life time. Walked,
Breathe and feel at 14500ft at world’s highest inhabitant village, 100 yrs old
Monastery, Mountain walls protecting the village, Chandra & Spiti river all
along our way, Driving thru the river beds, Glaciers, streams of waterfall
& no roads… as far as you could see, you will only see deep blue sky, peaks
with Ice cap, rivers, waterfalls, rocks and 1000’s of feet gorge all along our
way, wanted to capture every bit which I could see but it was too vast, 700
pics and still feels it’s too less... Manali- Kunzum Pass-Kaza-Ki-Kibber-Lagasa
“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only
one page.”
― Augustine of Hippo
― Augustine of Hippo
Experienced by Rohan Samuel
