A travelogue by one of our esteemed guest Mr. Arun Kaul
Shimla – Kinnaur – Lahaul & Spiti – Manali Trip
(17th to 25th September 2015 -9 Days)
17/09/2015.
DAY 01: SHIMLA -64km- NARKANDA(2774m) -66km- RAMPUR(924m) -28km-
JEORI(1381m) -17km- SARAHAN (175km)
We got introduced to our guide
Sanjay Verma of the Great Himalayan Outdoors and Jagdish, the driver of the
white Xylo, which was to take us on our 09 day journey. We left Cecil Hotel at
9.20 am but in minutes, the driver of our vehicle got flagged down by the local
policeman for obstructing the Chief Justice’s rather long and noisy convoy
outside the Vidhan Sabha! We finally left Shimla at 9.45 am.
The first 64 km to Narkanda past
Kufri, Theog and Matiana was familiar territory having once travelled on it before.
Just short of Narkanda we stopped to take photographs of the 20kg cardboard
cartons of various colours, containing Shimla
Apples being loaded on to large and mini trucks. This was peak Apple
growing season, and four 14 wheeler trucks with Tamil Nadu number plates were awaited
loading.
From Narkanda to Kumarsain the road
was downhill, tarred but broken and we passed trees of Silver Fir, Spruce and
Chir Pine. We stopped for lunch at Amar dhaba at Kumarsain overlooking the Thanedar
hill famous for the Stoke’s Orchard that pioneered the Red Delicious,
Golden Delicious in the apple growing area of Shimla District. Some of the
prices per plate on the dhaba’s menu board were Dal Fry Rs.40, Rajmah Rs.50, Paneer
Bhujia Rs.110, Alu Gobhi Rs.60, Rice Basmati Rs.50, Tawa Chapati Rs.7, Tea
Rs.10 and Amer Thali Rs.90. fair cheap for today’s costs. We further descended
to Sainj on the Sutlej and thereafter moved along it up till Jeori. The Sutlej
at Sainj is muddy but calm and we took photographs of our first sight of
the river.
At Nirath (950m) 18km before Rampur
we walked down a short distance from the road to see the Surya Narain Temple,
some 500 - 600 years old. It is only the 2nd temple dedicated to
Lord Surya apart from Konark in Odisha, built in the Nagara style and
shape. It has carved wooden pillars,
cornices, flowers and flower buds. The foundation stone was laid in the 7th
century whilst the upper structure was made around the 12th century.
Further up the Sutlej we came to Rampur, once the capital of the princely state
of Bushahar, the biggest commercial town of Himachal Pradesh and once a major
centre on the trade route to Kinnaur, Tibet, Ladakh and China. We visited and
photographed ourselves in front of lawns of Virbhadra Singh’s Padam
Palace, a striking building of wood and stone. 11 km upstream of Rampur is
Jhakri where the 250MWX6 Francis Turbine Generators produce 1500 MW power from
the Nathpa Jhakri
Hydro-Electric Station on the Concrete Gravity Type of Dam. Before reaching
the power station the Sutlej waters are diverted through a 27.4 km headrace
tunnel. It was built between 1993 and 2004 at a cost of over Rs.8000 crores.
We continued along the left bank of
the Sutlej for a further 28km before turning right for 17 km to Saharan
(2165m). We stayed the night at HPTD’s Shrikhand Hotel with a lovely early
morning view of the Shrikhand
Peak (5227m) on the Shrikhand Range that separates the valleys of the Sutlej
from that of the Beas. The hotel in which we were staying had a lovely large
specimen of light pink Hydrangea. We took an evening walk to the local market
and saw wild pink and yellow Balsams and blue Pteracanthus flowers.
The Tragopan Breeding Centre which
we had looked forward to visiting was closed till 30th September. This
was quite a disappointment. Sarahan too, has a Virbhadra Singh property “Shanti
Kunj”. This is a typical Himachal type home of stone and wood. At the market we could only see damaged apples
selling at Rs.30 per kilo.
18/09/15.
DAY 02: SARAHAN(2313m) – 17 km –
JEORI(1381m) – via WANGTU BRIDGE - 57 km – KARCHAM (1899m) –17 km – SANGLA
(2800m) (92 km)
We went for a 4 km walk at 8.00 am.
On the way we saw trees of apple, pears
and walnut, an apple collection
cum grading centre, wild Morning Glory and red seeds of the Cobra Lily. We
visited the Bhimkali
Temple that is one of the 51 sacred Shaktipeethas, and the presiding deity
of the rulers of the former princely state of Bushahar. It is a multistoried
temple in the Indo Tibetan style with ornate woodwork and engraved
brass doors. The temple was very impressive, neat and clean, with only a
few Bengali visitors.
We drove back to Jeori and selected
apples at Rs.30 per kilo from a poor batch at the local market. The road from
Jeori runs along the Sutlej and around Tranda cuts
through rocks providing good
photographic opportunities. At one place there is a huge
vertical rock drop to the Sutlej. Many waterfalls
and rushing streams flow into the Sutlej from the mountains on the right.
We had lunch at the Tapri Dhaba.
The afternoon was hot and dusty.
The road to Wangtu/Karcham was breached and we had to take a 25 km detour over
a very narrow, bumpy and dusty high hill road. The road past Karcham was dry,
dusty and corrugated. The Karcham
Wangtoo Hydroelectric Plant has a dam located between these two villages
that is 322’ feet high producing 1000MW power. The impounded water is returned
to the Sutlej though a 1.2 km race tunnel. Just below Sangla is the third,
Baspa II Hydroelectric Plant of 300 MW capacity, which is a run of the river
power project requiring no damming and therefore no resettlement or
rehabilitation. We reached Prakash Regency Hotel, Sangla at 5.00 pm, which was a
decent accommodation. It was surrounded by mainly red
apples and some golden apple trees full with fruit. Black clouds were
gathering as per weather forecast so I took photographs of the apples
from our room’s first floor balcony while it was still sunny. There was a
walnut tree bearing fruit outside our room’s side window.
19/09/15.
DAY 03: SANGLA(2800m) – 8 km -
RAKCHAM (3050m) – 20 km - (CHITKUL(3450m) – 65 km - KALPA (2758m) (95 km) via
KARCHAM (1899m) & RECONG PEO (2670m)
The Tapri bypass traversed
yesterday had given me a slight back ache so application of some Powergezic Gel
became necessary. We had a paratha omlette breakfast and left at 8.30 am amidst
a light drizzle. We drove past scenic Raksham (3050m), 8 km from Sangla. I
would recommend a stay at the tented accommodation by the Baspa River at
Raksham instead of Sangla. The road to Chitkul took us past boulder fields
(some of the boulders were huge - as big as a small dwelling) apple orchards
and pink
flowering Buckwheat patches. A number of fast flowing streams crossed the
road. The area
is truly scenic with mountains on both sides of the Baspa Valley.
At Chitkul we climbed down a short
steep slope with the help of our guide Sanjay, crossed
a Bailey bridge, and walked 2 km along the Baspa near green and yellow
tipped pines (saw some White Cheeked Tits on the pines) and the Himalayan
Spreading Juniper (Juiperus squamata) shrubs. Higher up on the mountain
sides were Birches with yellow leaves. The Baspa was roaring and fast flowing
with a lot of Wagtails with their dippy flights and a pair of White Capped
Redstarts bobbing their tails and sunning themselves on the wet boulders at the
side of the river. The rain stopped during our return walk and a light sun came
up as we walked past the Red Buckwheat, cut and left to dry in the fields. We
re-crossed the Bailey
bridge, walked past the local school and up the paved road to Chitkul
village. The village had stone cobbled roads with a fast flowing water channel
running by its side. Harvested Buckwheat had been stored blocking all house
openings, stacked in the open and even on tree branches. All houses had TV
dishes, electricity and Birch logs stacked for firewood. I saw three Red Billed
Choughs (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax) with red feet on top of a house. Roads through
the village went from one house compound into the next interspersed with thorny
shrubs from one of which we saw a pair of Red Finches (Carpodacus erythrinus) fly
out with our naked eyes – too quick to confirm if it was the Himalayan white
browed one. We started back at 12.30 pm after having tea at the Chitkul Dhaba
and took photographs of apple
plantations intercropped with red buckwheat and some small buckwheat
patches. We crossed our Sangla hotel at 1.30 pm and spent 45 minutes climbing
up to the Kamru Kamashi Devi Temple past a lot of apple trees. The Kamru Fort
further up, is easily visible. Starting at 2.30 pm we drove past Karcham Dam
and the BRO establishment at Powari (2000m), Recong Peo (2670m) the head
quarters of Kinnaur District, and further 13 kms up 23 short ‘U turns’ on a
good tarmac road to reach Kalpa Kinner Kailash HPDTC hotel (2758m) at 4.30 pm
to have tea with pakoras and an early dinner at 8.00 pm.
Though our room had a grandstand
view of the Kinner Kailash Range through complete glass frontage we could catch
small glimpses of Jorkanden (6475m) and Mt. Kinner Kailash (6050m) a little to
the north, because of a cloud cover rising continuously from Recong Peo below
for the duration of our stay. This was one of the best days of our trip.
20/09/15.
DAY 04: KALPA (2758m) – 41 km – AKPA (2238m) – 16km – SPEELO (2246m) – 24
km PUH(2837m) - KHAB (2837m) – 10 km - KOH
(3598m) – 14 km – NAKO (3662m) (105 km)
A lovely start to the day with
sightings of lots of Himalayan Greenfinch (Carduelis spinoides), a sparrow size
bird with yellow patched dark brown wings and yellow under-parts and a few red
faced brown coloured Himalayan Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis), unusual for us
as these are only visible at these altitudes. We followed it up with breakfast
of the usual paratha, omlette and tea. Around 9.00 am we walked down the tarmac
road to the Kalpa village past apple and pear and chulli (wild apricots) trees.
Chulli was being dried on roof tops and had reached various shades of yellow,
green to dark brown. We visited the village Buddhist temple. One man was
playing a drum and would sound a gong on every third beat. The market had small
shops including one called Chini General Store (Chini is the old name for Kalpa).
We walked past a Hindu Temple established in 2014 next to a government primary
school displaying the following mid-day
meal menu. Monday – dal chawal, Tuesday – methe chawal, Wednesday –
khicdhri, Thursday – pulao, Friday - dal chawal, Friday – khichdhri, Sunday –
holiday.
We boarded our Xylo waiting for us
below the market and were in Jeori by 10.35 am. After that the rough road runs
along the Sutlej with several signboards saying “shooting stones drive after
watching” but we past them without incident. Just before Akpa we crossed the
violent Pangi Nullah on a Bailey bridge that came as a surprise with the spray
almost reaching us. There was a stretch of very smooth wide mechanically laid
tarmac near Speelo and how we wished that the BRO had done this all over. We
drove past Puh, a neatly laid out village famous for its Chulli, Apples and
Almonds. One of the most distinctive features of the Sutlej is that all along
its incredible length – which the N.H. seems to follow – one sees some very
calm stretches and the some really turbulent and rough rocky white water.
In fact these rapids have never
successfully run by enthusiasts as they are too dangerous. 11 km beyond Puh is Khab (2837m) where the muddy
waters of the Sutlej coming from Tibet cutting through the Himalayan range
at Shipki merge with the clean
glacial waters of the Spiti turning through a deep gorge. The difference
in colours is quite significant and we stopped to take photographs. Koh is
10 km further up from here, and the 30 hairpin bends climb 1800m in one sweep
to transport you to the typical Spitian (Spiti means “the middle world”) barren
mountains of a Trans Himalayan Cold Desert. The view of the Spiti Valley way
below from here is breathtaking.
We reached Nako (3662m) by 3.00 pm at our Kinner
Camp Swiss Tent accommodation with attached baths, to eat hot ‘thukpa’ for
a late lunch. I photographed an upturned Himalayan Greenfinch feeding on the
nectar of large sunflowers growing inside the compound. We took a walk around Nako
village in the evening. Nako is surrounded with snow capped mountains from
all sides so it is a pretty unusual sight. We visited a small village Buddhist
temple the most notable feature of which was the inscribed fawn and black “mane
stones” lined up on the walls outside the temple and elsewhere. Roads were very
narrow with cow enclosures outside the houses creating quite a stink. The famed
Nako Lake was in the centre of the village surrounded by Willow trees. I noticed
some foreign mountain bikers living in village home-stays. Came back at 6.00 pm
after visiting a handicrafts shop and changed into warmer underclothes as it
was cold and windy. We took an extra blanket and hot water bottles – the latter
a useful idea.
21/09/15.
DAY 05: NAKO (3662m) – 2km – MALLING (3008m) – 30 km - SUMDO (3232m) – 7km - HURLING (3120m) - 21
km – TABO (3260m)(60 km)
I took photographs of the mountains
in early morning light at 6.00 am. Breakfast was pancakes with honey, plain
parathas, omlette and tea. At 8.30 am walked up to the hill atop which is a
large prayer
wheel which spins by itself with the help of wind-vanes attached to it.
From here there is a lovely view of the surrounding snow capped ranges,
Nako lake and village. We left Nako Kinner Camps at 9.30 am. The famed Malling
stretch was bad and rough. Widening was in progress beyond Chango village with
drilling and bull-dozing, and was therefore dusty. Reached Sumdo where the
muddy Parechu descending from Tibet merges with the clean Spiti. Incidentally,
the Parechu originates just outside the Spiti Valley near Pareng La in Leh
District of J&K, flows 30 km in Ladakh before turning southwards from
Chumar entering Tibet at Lemarle for another 85 km to re-enter Indian Territory
south of Kaurik village, and then travels another 12 km to join the Spiti at
Sumdo. We arrived at the Dekit Norphel Hotel in Tabo at 12.20 pm. It was nice
and sunny so Anjali washed her clothes and managed to dry them on the balcony.
Brought a two cell torch from the local market where the shopkeeper told us
that there had been no electricity in town for the past three days. Walked to
the Tashi Khangoar Hotel and read some books kept there. We identified the
Finches seen, the Red Billed Choughs and Juniper shrubs.
Tabo also has a helipad as it is an
ancient Buddhist Centre. We then had tea at the hotel but did not go to the
caves above the village where some of the earlier monks and nuns were said to
have lived as it was a bit of a climb. Luckily, the electricity came back at
8.00 pm.
22/09/15.
DAY 06: TABO (3260m) – 21 km – SICHLING (3400m) – 7km DHANKAR (3700m) –
9km – LINGTI (3400m) – 18 km – KAZA (3680M)
Went to Tabo
Monastery, founded in 996 A.D. of the Gelugpa Sect (nearly 1000 years old)
and saw wall paintings and Thankas with the help of a torch as lights are not
allowed to help preserve the murals and paintings. This place is only second in
importance to the Tholing Gompa of the Tibetan kingdom of Guge in the whole of
the Himalayas. A new monastery building was under construction. We left Tabo at
9.07 am driving along the Spiti, now gradually getting calmer and the valley
wider. Just short of Sichling (3400m) saw shrubs of Seabuckthorn
(Hippophae rhammonides) bright orange berries or ‘wonder berry’ known to
contain 10 different vitamins, 24 trace elements, 18 amino-acids and many
bioactive substances. It has one of the richest known sources of Vitamin C -
4100 times more than lemon. Seabuckthorn is on the top of the list of Vitamin
E, beta carotene and flavonoid content, and contains omega 3, 6 and 9 oils
essential to our health and well being. I took photographs of the Seabuckthorn
and Himalayan Wild Rose plants. From Sichling we climbed 750 meters in 7 km through
a number of ‘U’ bends to the fort monastery of Dhankar built on a spur jutting
out in to the main valley and ending in a steep cliff.
This was the old capital of Spiti,
the seat of the Nonos or the early rulers for many years, before it shifted to
Kaza to suit the needs of present day administration. The best view from here
is of the Pin
Valley joining the wide Spiti Valley. Both rivers break into several channels and
its grand sight. We proceeded down the other side of the hill, via a gentler
road to Kaza that was covered by light misty clouds. We continued to Ki
Monastery 12 km beyond. Where the road turns right towards Ki Monastery,
Kibber village (4205m) is further 7km up the road. This monastery was
established in the 11th century and belongs to the Gelugpa Sect. Ki
had a lot of lovely old and new ‘thankas’. Some pretty coloured wax plates made
out of yak butter and vanaspati were a surprise. We saw their kitchen
containing old large brass vessels and were served a cup of herbal tea by the
local monk. Drove to Sakya Abode Hotel on the Kaza main road and slept for an
hour after lunch at 3.30 pm.
We took a stroll down the Kaza
market in the evening past small shops of Israeli restaurants, general
merchants, woolens, and other tableware and pottery. A covered drain runs
through the centre of the road which is the lowest point with concrete slabs
sloping upwards both ways towards the edge of the road. This is a unique
construction design that I have seen for the first time.
23/09/15.
DAY 07: KAZA (3680m) – 14km - LANGZA
(4300m) – KAZA (30 km)
Got up early and took some early
morning shots of the
snow clad mountains from our hotel as there had been fresh snowfall the previous
night. We left Kaza at 9.00 am. The road
was fairly good being 70% tarmac and we reached Langza (famous for its marine
fossils) in an hour stopping for photography en route. Langza village is in a
bowl surrounded by snow-clad mountains it has a statue
of the meditating
Buddha in a sitting posture facing north. The spot where we stopped was
very breezy and picturesque and lots of Red Billed Choughs (Pyrrhocorax
pyrrhocorax) were riding the air currents. Some local school girls showed us
prehistoric Ammonites or Spiti Shale. The Chau
Chau Khang Nilda Range (meaning Blue Moon in the Sky) presides over this
Bowl with several subsidiary peaks like satellites to the moon. Chau Chau Khang
Nilda Peak (6380m) is the highest.
We returned to Kaza for tea and
conversation with Veer Singh Parmar son of a Darjeeling
planter. We borrowed two books for browsing, 1) “Spiti – Through Legend and
Lore” by Kishore Thukul 2006 and 2) “Exploring Kinnaur & Spiti in the Trans
Himalaya” by Deepak Sanan and Dhanu Swadi (2nd edition 1998/2002).
In the evening we took a picture of the Sakya
Kaza Tangyud Monastery built in the
14th century and walked down to the end of Kaza market. We went to
Ecosphere / Soul Café and purchased Sea buckthorn Jam and Crush and a black
woolen Kinnauri shawl. We went to bed after an early dinner as we needed an
early start.
24/09/15.
DAY 08: KAZA (3650m) – 56km – LOSAR -27km – KUNZUM LA (4550m) – 11km - BATAL (3950m) – 32km – CHHATRU
(3300) - 17km - GRAMPHU (3320m) - 15km – ROHTANG PASS (3998m) – 15km - MARHI
(3400m) – 33km – MANALI (1940m) (203km)
Left Kaza by 5.15 am in the dark as
it was a long 203 km hill drive for the day. Outside the wooden bridge on the
Spiti ahead of Rangrik the driver stopped briefly, folded his hands and closed
his eyes for a short silent prayer. Sunlight started showing on the snow at
7.30 am and I took some photographs of the snow-clad mountains in golden
colour. 16 km short of Losar we passed Kyoto village (3850m) that has some
spectacular scenery of vertical limestone formations on the opposite bank where
the Takling Nalla joins the Spiti.
We reached Losar
at 8.00am and had breakfast of tea, chana and parathas served straight off the
tawa with a “chimta’ by the lady cook at the Samsong Guest House. Outside, the
air was cold, the mountains bare brown in colour with snow capped peaks. As we
travelled on I took photographs of the Chandra
Range especially the well known CB13 and CB14 Chandrabhaga peaks from a
distance and then again closer up at Kunzum
La pass. There were great views of the snow on the ground and all around at
Kunzum
La. We took photographs at the Kunzum Devi Temple with its Chortens and
prayer flags. This was one of the most memorable sights of our trip. We left
after a short stay, the road now descending steeply down a number of “U” turns.
There were four empty Indane cylinder Lorries in front of us at this stage,
that we gradually overtook, one at each ‘U’ turn with great difficulty. The
road was wet and slushy. Soon the Chandra
river was visible and we crossed it at a Bailey bridge at the base of the
hill at Batal (3950m). We had tea at the Chacha Chachi shop and saw Wagtails as
well as a number of Yellow
Billed Choughs with red feet (Pyrrhocorax graculus) in the air and one
feeding of left-over kept out by the tea shop.
We drove past many glaciers on a
difficult stone track including the Bara
Shigri Glacier which is the biggest in Himachal Pradesh being one km wide
and over 10 km long, all along the Chandra River. The road is very bumpy past
Chhatru, badly cut up with water pools and small waterfalls right up to Gramphu
and towards the Rohtang pass. In the stretch just before Gramphu the mountain
is on the left and the valley to the right is almost vertical and so deep that
one cannot see the river water even though the road is barely six to eight feet
wide. It is a frightening and difficult driving situation. Two vehicles cannot
cross each other and the one downhill has to reverse to find a barely passing
spot. Nearer Rohtang pass the road improves and is fine all the way down to
Manali where we reached Johnson’s Lodge adjacent to the mall at 5.00 pm.
We walked down the mall in the
evening and visited a few shops. The Mall is now only for pedestrians and paved
including the side lanes. We visited the ‘Bookworm’ shop and picked up “Spiti –
Adventures in the Trans Himalaya” by Harish Kapadia (2009, 3rd
edition) which proved to be an excellent purchase and has been used well in the
preparation of this article.
25/09/15.
DAY 09: MANALI – 40 km – KULLU – 88 km - MANDI – 68 km
- BILASPUR - 105 km - SHIMLA (301
km)
We got up early at Johnson’s Lodge
to see two snow peaks visible from hotel window. Saw the famed Himalayan Blue
Magpie with yellow beak and a long black and white tail with a white tip (Urocissa
flavirostris) on a Deodar and in flight. Left the hotel by 10.10 am but got
stuck for 45 minutes on a narrow section of the N.H. near a mosque due to
milling crowds and cars parked on the roadside for Bakr Eid. We drove up the
hill at Naggar to Nicholas Roerich’s house cum memorial.
Spent an hour and saw
the residence, small museum and cremation site stones. All the places are along
a stepped hill walk with various trees, and flowering shrubs/plants. Amongst lots
of butterflies saw a Chocolate Pansy (Junoma iphita). We visited the dry fruits
shop outside on the way to the parking site and picked up a bottle of Tomato
Garlic Chutney, some Kinnaur Hing, small
local garlic, a packet of local Rock Salt and 1.5 grams Kashmir Saffron. We now
headed home taking the bye pass road past Kullu where Pomegranates and Apples
were being sold by the roadside. We had lunch at a Dhaba alongside the Beas River 30 km short
of Mandi. Soon after Aut we drove through a 2.8 km long tunnel. We continued
straight to Mandi and Surendra Nagar, past the Beas – Sutlej Canal and a 6 km
long badly corrugated and dusty and bumpy road turning off at Bilaspur before
starting the gentle climb up to Shimla past Darlaghat . At 7.30 pm we stopped
for tea at one of the many Dhabas at Shallaghat. We reached Shimla at 8.50 pm
after a 2 hour night hill drive bringing to an end one of our most interesting
holidays.
