Photos:
Videos:
Travelogue:
Enough
of riding planning rides like day 1 – X to Y, Day 2 – Y to Z etc… This time I
just wanted to spend time in a relatively small area where I can spend a week
and totally enjoy the place, and since I am addicted to the High altitude
barren mountain terrain it had to be Spiti valley. Spiti valley itself needs
lot of time to fully explore so I
decided to just stick to the high altitude left bank villages of Spiti river –
Langza, Hikkim, Komic, Demul, Kibber, Tashigang, Gette and lastly the Lalung village
the last one in Lingti valley (tributary of Spiti river) after which there is
no human inhabitation there. For this my base would be Kaza, the main village
in Spiti valley where I had booked a small room in Hotel Sakya Abode (very nice
food and service) for Rs.150/- day.
It
was a bit of a depressing start of my trip. Just one day before amidst the
swine flu scare my son was down with fever. The day I went to catch the train
from Mumbai Central station half the people were wearing masks for the Swine
Flu scare. By gods grace it just turned out to be normal flu for my son and I
was a relieved man the rest of the ride.
Since
it was my first solo ride to the Himalayas I was a bit anxious (just a bitJ) on how things would
go. But I had lot of support from the Delhi guys from 60 kph to make the start of
the ride a very relaxed one by coming to the New Delhi station and helping me
with the bike and luggage. I had sent my bike as a parcel by train a week
before since I was alone this time and loading the bike the same day of travel
on ticket would have been a major hassle.
There
started my ride from New Delhi station at 10:00 AM towards Manali. I was happy
finally to be on the road. But to tell frankly the journey from Delhi to Manali
was a very boring one with 4 lane highways for some time, some dusty under
construction for road widening. Stayed put at Bilaspur first night and then
straight to Old Manali, my favorite to spend time in Manali.
I
rested for a day in Manali so as to be fresh before I start my actual journey
into the mountains of Spiti Valley. Eric, my friend and fellow 60 kph club member
was kind enough to spend time with me and also feed me real good Mutton Momo at
a local Dhaba at the small village where he stays further away from Manali
towards Rohtang pass.
I
was anxious to cross Rohtang pass since I had heard stories of the road being
full of slush and people getting stuck in landslides and bikers burning clutch
plates and having trouble crossing it, maybe more to do with lack of skill with
riding on such roads.
I
started at 7:00 am for Rohtang so that I avoid the peak tourist traffic and
also have some buffer if things take turn for the worse. The road was a smooth
sailing with some bad patches but became worse after Marhi. And finally the
landslide. I was stuck at one place for 2 hours till the bulldozers cleared the
slush.
When
you are traveling solo, its just namesake I would say. You always find a fellow
traveler on the way. Just after the turn to Spiti valley from the main
Leh-Manali road I met an Austrian, Beat who was also going to Spiti. We
traveled together till Kaza with an overnight halt at Batal, a small temporary
summer settlement on the Manali-Kaza road.
After
I took the turn from Gramphoo to the Spiti valley road the real fun starts. Not
many vehicles ply on this road compared to the Leh-Manali road. The terrain is
unforgiving and rocky with nala’s on the way but the scenery more than makes up
for the trouble. The green mountains at Rohtang give way to Sharp rocky barren
mountains of Spiti. You suddenly find a green patch in the middle of no where
indicating a village and human inhabitation where they cultivate Green Peas and
Potatoes mostly.
I
had a bad night at Batal due to altitude sickness, but the clear blue skies in
the morning with the snow visible on mountain peaks more than made up for the
bad night and I was again raring to go, eagerly waiting to do the steep climb
to Kumzum La pass at 4500 meters. The bike did struggle at times but finally
made it to the top. The scenery around Kumzum top was mind blowing with Barren
snow clad peaks and mountains in hues and shades of brown, beige and black.
Finally at 2:00 pm we reached Kaza where I and Beat went on to stay at
different hotels and had different plans.
I
would be in Kaza for a week exploring the left bank high altitude villages of
Spiti Valley. That’s the way I like to travel, reach your base quickly and then
no more running around from place A to place B. Just explore a small area and
really absorb the beauty and the culture of the place.
I
booked a small room at Sakya Abode in Kaza, just enough for one person and the
luggage. I relaxed in Kaza for a day taking a small walk at a temple situated
on a hill top to get used to the altitude. Even that short excursion makes you breathless
at that altitude and following days I would be going higher so going was not to
be easy.
I
decided to visit Langza village first. The road climbs up on the mountain from
the Kaza side and finally crosses over to the other side leading higher in the
mountains. Taking frequent breaks on such roads is an amazing feeling, not a
soul in sight, no sounds at all, just the serene silence, the clear blue skies
and the barren mountains with snow capped peaks and some times the sound of the
river gurgling downwards into the deep canyons. On the way to Langza I met a
family from that village in the field. I sat for quite some time with them and
their 3 children at the Green Peas field. They invited me to their house for a
night stay in the beautiful Langza village.
The
houses in all the higher up villages have a very great Tibetan influence. They
are made of Stones and covered with cow dung I suppose and white washed. The
Kitchen, hall and dining room is one common room where they have a place to sit
in L shape with the stove in the center which has a chimney leading to the top
so that there is no smoke inside the house but it also helps in keeping the
room warm in sub zero winter temperatures. The bedrooms are separate and the
toilet is nothing but a hole with a big cavity beneath to store your undoing J
Langza
is a beautiful village surrounded by lush green fields situated in the
foreground of the Chocho Khang Nilda peak. The unique feature in Langza is that
on a hilltop overlooking the village there is a huge Buddha statue besides the
monastery.
The
Spiti Valley was formed as a result of the collision of the Indian and the
Eurasian plate millions of years ago which led to the disappearance of the
ancient Tethy’s Sea leaving behind fossilized clues of the sea life of that
era. The route to the natural fossil centre starts from the Lang (temple) at
Langza, from where it is about a half hour walk to its base. The fossil centre
ranges from an average altitude of 4400 meters to 4600 meters along a narrow
stream and is best explored here.
I
relaxed at their home after having simple lunch of rice dal after which I
decided to visit Komic and Hikkim villages. The ride to Komic and Hikkim was
also through equally scenic terrain. The monk at Komic monastery was kind
enough to take me to the Old Monastery at Hikkim which was broken down during
an earthquake so was shifted to Komic and is the current Komic monastery. The
old monastery is further down from Hikkim towards Kaza on the new road built as
a shortcut to Kaza from Hikkim. There is a meditation cave 20 minutes by foot
from the old Monastery down in the valley where the monks go to meditate.
Seeing both these places at leisure made my day. We could see Kaza town from
the Old Monastery deep in the valley. These small walks seem to be easy when we
compare the time taken but at 4200 meters there is hardly any oxygen to breadth
that after every 10-15 steps I had to pause for breadth like an unfit couch
potatoJ.
It
was a very uncomfortable night at Langza with me waking up at 2:00 AM with a
head ache, usual symptoms of high altitude sickness. I requested the owner of
the house to give me warm water and luckily I felt better and got sleep after
4:00 AM.
Next
day was spent visiting the fossil center at Langza, before heading down again
to Kaza to get comfortable nights sleep before I leave for the remote Demul
village further away from Kaza.
I
started walking ahead from the Langza monastery towards the Chocho Khang Nilda
peak and followed a small irrigation canal which would finally lead me to the
Fossil area and I hoped to find at least one fossil.
I
found a flat plateau where I decided to take some rest. The place was so scenic
that I sat for quite some time soaking the Mountain View and the warm sun light
of Spiti. Later I had a short nap of 20 minutes and a villager who saw me came
to me to ask what the hell I was doing here. I was lucky enough to find a
fossil also, after which I turned back to the village and started riding back
to Kaza through the shortcut via Hikkim. The road was full of stones since it
was not fully open to traffic but fun to ride on.
I
reached Kaza at 3 PM and relaxed in my room after a good lunch of Rice and
Spring roll. Evenings at Kaza were usually spent just sitting at the hotel reception
watching television or at the Verandah soaking the view.
Next
day I was off to Demul. It is the remotest region of the left bank villages. I
was all excited about the next 2 days I would be spending here. The dirt road
climbs steeply on the mountain from Lidang village which is on the main
Kaza-Tabo road. After some time when you feel you have almost reached the top,
another mountain pass comes into picture and the scenery changes totally. From
the totally barren beige mountains, it changes to a bit green and the mountains
have a greenish, purple tinge. The road climbs higher towards the Dolmolama top
which is the highest point on the Demul road. The views from there were simply
amazing difficult to describe in words. I reached Demul village in around 15
minutes and was a steep downhill from the top.
The
village was fully empty when I reached there. The people had gone to the farms
or to the pastures high above or involved in road construction. Not sure what
to do I waited for some time and luckily there was an old lady who came to my
rescue. She guided me to a home where a man was there so I took my luggage and
rested there. It was very kind of the man to let me stay there for the night.
It would have been really tiring to shift the luggage from one house to another
since they are located on the mountain slope and not on flat ground.
After
some rest I decided to go for a trek to the Balaari Top which is a 1 hour trek
from the Dolmolama top. All the 18 villages are visible from the top and it
gives the most stunning views of the Spiti valley than any other place.
The
trekking / Yak trail starts little after the Dolmolama top towards Lidang side.
I thought of shortening the trek by taking the bike up this trail as much as I
could, and did save around half hour walk by doing this, though I had to push
my bike once to get over a stubborn incline. After precariously parking my bike
at the incline I started to walk with minimum luggage like water, camera and
dry fruits. The walk was very exhausting since it is a continuous incline till
the top. The view from the top was amazing. Never in my life had I seen such
depth of a valley. I could see the Lalung village, Dhankar Monastery, the road
going towards Tabo and Kaza and many more villages and roads and most important
the amazing view of the Spiti Valley. I rested on the top for 10 minutes and
then rushed back down in 20 minutes since it was a total downhill and the
altitude was not making it comfortable to stay on top for long. After this I
was really tired so went back to the village and rested the remaining of the
evening without going out.
Next
day I tackled the abandoned Demul-Komic link road. It was all but not a road in
any sense. There were blasted rocks all over the place, sometimes so narrow
that it was difficult to maneuver the bike through the road due to fallen
stones and debris. Once the rocky torture got over (I did not dare and stop for
photos at such places), started the sand track and then a broken bridge and
partially washed away road. They had just put sand on the road without doing
any further work. I was lucky to be traveling with no luggage or else the bike
would surely get stuck. But the scenery on this route was unique. It was very
green all the way with the road going further up over a pass and finally to
Komic. The greenery is more on this route since the animals also don’t come
here for grazing so it’s all very un-spoilt and gives a wild touch to this
route, some thing like Chumur.
I
met the traveler from Rome (Domenic) whom I had befriended at Kaza at Komic. We
had a small tea and dry fruits and biscuit party along with the monk. After
this it was a quick ride to Kaza via Langza.
Back
to Kaza, I just had one more day to explore this amazing region before I would
need to leave for Delhi so decided to do a one day trip to Kibber and Tashigang
which is further ahead. It was supposed to be a comparatively predictable and
easy day, but I guess god had other plans for me. I went towards the dirt road
to Chicham village which was under construction and the missing link from
Kibber to Chicham was supposed to be a bridge which was still not built. I
thought just in case if I can find a way across.
I
reach the missing link through some very rocky road and what do I see – an 800
meter deep canyon carved out by one of the tributaries of Spiti. The bridge
construction had just started so going to Chicham was out of question. But yes
there was a way. I met 3 Germans Martin, Sasha and Torsten who were going
towards the bridge and were planning to do the trolley crossing across the
canyon. I immediately decided I got to do this and shamelessly without asking I
told them I would be joining you guys J
The
canyon was connected by a thick steel cable on which the trolley rolled with
the help of pulleys. The trolley could be moved in either direction by pulling
the nylon ropes connected to either end of the canyon. This made the trolley
crossing pretty much independent, not needing any one to help you.
Martin
crossed first, and then it was my turn. That’s when I realized it was not as
easy, but well it was a thrilling experience to get stuck up there in the
middle of the canyon in the trolley trying to figure out how to handle the
bunch of ropes and also shooting a videoJ. I crossed over to the
other side and again came back so that I can go further ahead to Tashigang.
Martin would be trekking in the canyon and back to Kibber which would take
around 5 hours. I crossed over back to the other side and the nylon rope broke.
My luck or else I would have been trekking with Martin to reach Kibber instead
of enjoying the ride to Tashigang J
Tashigang
is a very small village of 6 houses. The route is as well remote and amazing
pastures en-route which would serve as ideal camping ground. I had tea at the
village and then went further up on the road which takes you to the summer
pasture hut (Dagdi). I could see Langza village from there, which I could
identify by the Hilltop Buddha statue and the Monastery. This completes the
whole picture of the route I took during my 7 days here and I sort of got a
very satisfying feeling of completeness of this ride.
Back
to Kaza and it was time to pack up and move towards Delhi. I decided to go via
the Shimla route to avoid the bad Kaza Manali road. On the way I visited Lalung
Monastery (1000 year old with a tree supposed to be of the same age) and the
Dhankar link road which I had missed in 2004. Lalung is the last inhabited
village in the remote Lingti valley, after which it’s a vast mountainous
terrain still unexplored. Both the monasteries are old and very beautiful and
serene. But I was in a hurry now to cross Malling which has a bad reputation as
a chronic landslide zone so had to rush a bit and could not enjoy this to my hearts
content.
With
Malling no longer a challenge (I crossed it at 5 PM with no problem at all.
They have closed down the old road and built a new one high above the landslide
zone) it would be a comparatively smooth ride to Delhi. I camped at a beautiful campsite near Chitkul
by the road, before rushing to Delhi. The Baspa valley is lush green and full
of pine trees which gave an apt green ending to my ride.
Thank
you for reading till the end J
Cheerz
Zen
