Travelling from plains to heights, from green hills to bare mountains, from express roads to no roads and discovering yourself.
This trip is a memory to cherish for life and repeat, if one is lucky enough.
Trip Duration: 7 Nights and 8 Days (13/07/2018 to 20/07/2018)
Route:Gurgaon-Zirakpur-Solan-Shimla-Narkanda-Sangla-Chitkul-Kalpa-Tabo-Kaza-Chandratal-Gramphu-Manali-Mandi-Gurgaon
Tips before planning : Vehicle with enough ground clearance (for safety) and 4x4 if possible, Diamox (for Acute Mountain Sickness) and some other medicines, Extra garbage bags to carry waste and wet clothes, Sunscreen (SPF 50 or more), UV shades, warm clothes.
Day 1: Distance covered-387 Kms
Starting from Gurgaon at 3:30, we took our first high tea break at an obvious point- Murthal (#AmrikSukhdev) to stuff our ever-hungry tummies with delicious #parathas, followed by a long stretch towards #Kalka. We diverted on a by-pass from Zirakpur (avoid entering Chandigarh if you want to save time). First night-stay was planned at #Narkanda, but owing to the fact that we all were #Chai-lovers and took frequent Chai-breaks, we reached #Shimla by 10:30PM.
As, we didn’t book our first stay (due to uncertain destination), we searched hotels while driving and ended up at a hotel named #FRIENDS, which also had a restaurant #AMIGOS. As hungry as we were, we had a lot to eat in dinner. Food was quite delicious and restaurant area was also nice. But, the stay at this place didn’t come out to be a good decision.
Day 2: Distance covered-246 Kms
Our day2 destination was #Chitkul (last inhabited village of India towards Indo-Tibet border), as we had booked the accommodation at #Zostel, Chitkul, so we departed at 8:00AM from Shimla and had our breakfast on the way. We reached Narkanda (63 km) at around 11:00 AM and halted for an hour. Bought BSNL prepaid sim and chai break as usual. At our chai point, we met a guy from Goa, traveling solo on bike with below knee length hair braids.
We reached Sangla by 5:00PM taking all chai breaks, testing our photography and posing skills. We requested a café person to make some onion pakora and kadak chai for us. Hilly terrain people are very helpful and humble.
The distance from Sangla to Chitkul was only 24km but that stretch was so raw and beautiful, which made us to take almost quarter to two hours to cover it. There were crystal streams across the path, lush green mini fields with stoned-wall and roughly cut tree-stem fencing, unpaved roads and pure breeze. Army personnel will check your car and related documents at the entry point.
We reached Zostel by 7:30PM. It is awesomely situated surrounded by hills and they have a lovely sit-out area. Ours was a four-seater bunker bed room with attached washroom. They also have family rooms, separate dorms for male and female travelers and also mixed dorms. Later, we had tea and wandered around in the village (which has very few inhabitants). Mesmerized by the unparalleled beauty of Chitkul, we sat outside and had our king size dinner in cold aura.
This place is undoubtedly my favorite peace-place….!!!
Day 3: Distance covered-72 Kms
We headed for #Kalpa via #Reckong Peo, where we bought some snacks from the market. Our stay was booked at “ #TheMonk” camp and cottages (not the hotel). It has huts in an apple orchard and gives the view of “#KinnaurKailash”. It was cloudy the day we reached but luckily we were able to see The Kailash in the evening and also next morning clearly through the caretaker’s binoculars.
The meals here were custom made as per your choice (the caretaker cum cook will make anything you want), you just have to tell him a bit in advance, so that he can arrange the ingredients. The stay was cozy in wooden cottages and gave awesome view from our balconies.
Day 4: Distance covered-226 Kms
We started at around 8:00AM for #Kaza, which was a long stretch. Taking our usual chai breaks we reached Sumdo by 3:00PM. From there we took a detour of about 12 km for Giu village to see the #Giu #Mummy Stupa (over 500 years old mummy of a monk). As we took a right turn for the village, there was only black mud and black water. Also, the BRO guys had just cleared a landslide. There are voodoo dolls at the entrance of this village and for once, you will feel like, you should not have come here. Well, I saw a mummy for the first time and it was thrilling as well as horrifying. Soon we headed back to the normal route towards Kaza. Took a half an hour break at Tabo (reached at 5:30PM). We reached Kaza at around 7:30PM and searched for a hotel as our stay was booked at Zostel from next day (we were travelling a day early). Finally we stopped at “Spiti Valley Hotel” on upper road across the market area.
Day 5: Distance covered (day tour)
After our usual king size breakfast, we headed for #Key #monastery and #Chicham Bridge at 9:30AM. Key Monastery is about 16km from the main market area and we were lucky to visit it because they were having an International celebration for next three days, during which general public was not allowed to visit the campus. There are several paintings and murals on the walls of this monastery.
Later we went to Chicham Bridge (Chicham Khas) which was approximately 7km from the monastery. It is said to be #Asia’a #highestbridge and is a perfect example of Civil Engineering marvel. It is situated above a deep gorge (about 1000 feet high). We sat and admired that, clicked a lot of pics and enjoyed momos and lemon tea.
We returned to Zostel by 2:00PM and relaxed. There is a big market at walking distance from Zostel. We had some local seasonal exotic tea and bought souvenirs for everyone. The guys wanted to relax a bit more, so they got themselves head and back massage. We had a fun and lazy day. Dinner had to be in Zostel because they serve THE best food, imagine having a perfect sizzler in Himalayas and they will serve you that. It was a bit cloudy later in the evening so we stayed awake till late to witness the magnificent view of The Milky Way Galaxy and succeeded to capture some awesome shots. It got extremely chilling so we headed back to sleep at around 1:00AM.
Day 6: Distance covered- (Almost 95 Kms)
We started at 9:30AM from Kaza and reached #Kunzum Pass at around 1:40PM (75kms). It is said that everyone passing, has to visit The Kunzum Mata Mandir to have further safe journey. Further driving approximately 9kms towards #Batal on Kaza-Batal road, there is diversion for #Chandratal. This road is very narrow (there are only few spots for two vehicles coming from opposite direction to cross) and unpaved. You have mountains on one side and deep gorge on the other side and the pathway feels a bit tilted towards gorge due to regular vehicular impact. At instance, we decided to return back tomorrow early morning to avoid any traffic and crossing by. We were counting our breathes not uttering a word…but it was fun.
We reached the Chandratal camp area at 3:30PM. There is no connectivity here, so one can’t pre-book any stay or so. We talked to the camp people and arranged for a four-bed tent for us. Then soon we headed for the TAAL. Its 2km drive from the camps before we reached the parking area. From there, we trekked for about 1km to reach Chandratal. The view from the trek is awesome and you will be stoned, the moment you have the first view of that sparkling water bounded by shaded mountains. We stopped to get that feeling sink in before walking any further. Finally we found ourselves a nice spot to admire it, away from the crowd. We sat there for hours, feeling the grass and the water, wandered around, clicked a lot.
You can spend time around the taal till 6:00PM only, so we headed back to the parking area. There was no lavish food here as the supply is limited due to poor connectivity of the place. So, we had lentil, rice and mix veg in dinner. There was a tent dedicated to dine-in due to chilling weather. After relaxing post-dinner we came out of our tents to spy on #MilkyWay Galaxy around midnight. Later the temperature was too low to stay outside, so we jumped inside two quilts to stay warm and slept.
Day 7: Distance covered (701 Kms)
We woke up at 6:30, had Maggi and headed for Batal at 7:00AM (to avoid traffic from opposite direction). Reached “#ChachaChachikadhaba” at Batal in an hour. This dhaba runs 365 days a year and The Chacha-Chachi are too much fun and lively spirits. They have satellite phone at their dhaba for emergency.
Again we took a break at Chandra Dhaba in #Chhatru, to relax a bit before notorious water crossings of #Gramphu. It was supposed to be a tea break, but we ordered a cheese omelette by mistake and then it happened again….. It was so awesome that we had three more of it along with two aloo paratha and a Maggie. (This dhaba is a must-stop for cheese omelette)
After Chhatru, one has to go through “#ChhotaDhara” water crossing. Here, the Chenab river flows parallel and almost on the route to be followed, with extremely large and uneven boulders.
We touched #Rohtang pass at around 12 and it was flooded with people going to Leh. It was too cloudy and rainy.
Here comes the best part…..we planned to stay at #Manali, but dropped the idea to cover a bit more of the distance….then we planned to stay at Mandi, but skipped due to heavy traffic…Later we thought of staying at Chandigarh, but it felt like too close to home and finally arrived at Delhi the other morning at 6:30 AM. This is how we flew from 4300m and landed on 216m in a stretch..!!! (The later part of the drive was totally relied upon uncountable cups of tea, uninterrupted playlist and chats, continuous poking to stay awake)
Warning: Not recommended if you are not a group of freaks.
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