A Tour of the Moon Lands-Spiti

A Tour of the Moon Lands – Spiti Valley

Day 1:  Simla was slowly  waking  up from its night’s slumber. The busy town was a spectacle to watch.  Apart from the famous Simla mall, Christ Church is an important landmark of Simla. Apple festival is held every year in the last week of October. This festival show cases all the foody delights of Himachal which has an apple flavor in all its tarts, pudding  and wine.

 We started from Simla in the morning. We were escorted by our tour guide  from our  hotel. From  Kolkata itself I had a  phoned to  arrange for a vehicle for the entire round Himachal trip.We were greeted by the driver, who was a very cheerful man.    We passed through places like Rampur and Sarahan. The palace at  Rampur was worth visiting.  After that we went to Sarahan’s famous temple called Bhimakali temple.Here the wooden sculptures of the temple are something out of the ordinary.

From Sarahan we drove straight to Sangla. We will halt for the night at a hotel which was   already booked by our travel agent. Sangla is a beautiful place  with a green  valley and  snow  capped  mountains. There are apple orchards all around this place.  The apple over  here tastes something out of the ordinary.

Day 2: We started on our way to Chitkul. Rakcham village, en-route to Chitkul was a beauty to behold. Chikul is the last border town of India. There are numerous  hiking trails  from Chitkul.  There is an old temple over here  though  entry to this temple  is restricted.  With lofty  snow capped  mountains and  crop-fields,  this  valley  is  a  photographer’s paradise.

Just like the one at Sarahan, the temple at Chitkul is also intricately designed  with  wooden sculptures.  The designs  of  these  wooden temples transport a person to a different time  zone, which  belongs to the golden past.

After our morning trip to Chitkul, the other half of the day was  reserved for the drive to  Kalpa  Valley. The  drive to  Kalpa was  equally  scenic like  the  one  we had from Sangla to Chitkul.  There were alpine  trees all  around  with  the Kinnaur  Kailash range looming  from a   distance. We arrived at the  hotel where  we were to  put  up for the  night;  this hotel was again pre-booked by us.

Day 3: The entire day was spent visiting the apple orchards of  Kalpa. It was a day  of   rest.  There  is  one  incident  worth  mentioning.  I  was plucking apples from  one of the trees.  This tree I had  reached was  by clamoring  up   some  rocks.  I was  filling up  my  pockets  with  all  the golden and  red delicacies when I heard the sound of the garden  owner. Apple comes in two variants in Himachal; red and golden. I fell from the tree and injured my leg. I had to limp my way back to my hotel.

Sivling was quite visible from our hotel balcony. It is said that this Sivling changes it colour for about eight times during the day, though  we  could witness only three colours. The hue of Kinnaur Kailesh with the setting of the sun is a striking feature.

Day 4: Early morning we started on our way for  Tabo.  The  terrain  we found had changed. It seemed to us like a primordial  earth, which was young and rough, when  grasses  had  not  conquered  it.  It  was  like sitting in a time machine and  witnessing the  earth that  was  millions of  years ago.  At  around 12 o’ clock we  reached  a place called  Nako. There was a beautiful lake,  Nako Lake.   The color of this lake was  an emerald  green and  the color  was unlike that of  any other  lake  that one would get to see.

Moving on from Nako we passed by lesser important villages but the scenary around was breath taking. The terrain  was  that  of a  cold mountain desert.   The colours of the  mountains varied from  red to black. Other hues were blue and yellow.  The sky was a  royal  blue. It seemed the whole scenery was just like a color palette.

We reached Tabo at around 2:30 PM. All the shops were already closing.   Thanks to our driver, our  hotel was  already pre-booked otherwise we would have been sleeping under the open sky. There is a very old monastery over here which was built during the 10th century. There are cave murals in  this  monastery and  some say Tabo is the Ajanta Ellora of the Himalayas.

Day 5: At 5 AM we started on our journey. Today’s journey would be most hectic and daunting.   First we started on our way for  Dhankar monastery. On the way we witnessed moonscapes.These moonscapes will make a traveler think that he is making some  interstellar journey. The sun was playing tricks with the counters  of the mountains.   Here it seemed to me nature was playing the truant with the unusual.

Perched on top of a jagged mountain was Dhankar monastery. It was of course very impressive and photogenic.

From Dhankar we moved on to Kaza. The town of Kaza was very quaint  and scenic.   There was a big monastery known as  Kaza Monastery  which  could be seen from a distance.   Although  we were there  at around  11 o’clock it was pretty cold and the wind was biting.

From Kaza we went on to a village called Langza.  It was a beautiful place. It is around 18 KM north-east of Kaza.  The snow caped peak of Mt. Chau Chau Khang Nilda(20,679 ft.) dominates the skyline of the village. A variety of fossils of marine life can be found over here.

From hereon we again  had to back track our  way on the route to Kaza. From Kaza there was another road which took us to Ki Monastery. This monastery enjoys a spectacular location on  a hilltop. This monastery is the highest in Spiti region being around 13, 504 feet.  The  road to the top of the  monastery was steep and one has to walk all the way.

From Ki Monastery we took long drive to Batal. On the way we passed through beath-taking landscapes. Each place was a photographer’s paradise.

                             

 Day 6: Next day was a bit of shock for me. Our vehicle, because  of some problem,   would not be able to take us to  Chandratal. Luckily another  group  was  planning  to  go  to  Chandratal.   I requested them and boarded their car.    It was a big Innova and there  was room  for everyone.   The last kilometer of the route had to be covered on foot. The cold was biting, and it was enough to make one’s fingers feet numb. When the sun rose the scenary around was just heavenly.

On coming back to Batal, we started on our way to Manali. The road to Manali was something of a dream comes true.    There were snow-capped  mountains  and  a gurgling river  flowing by.   It  was dream come true. Reaching Manali would be the end of our journey but our hearts would forever be in this out of this world land called Spiti.