Spiti – Where Gods Reside: Day-2

 

Route: Bhaba Nagar – Wangtu – Tapri – Karchham – Sangla – Chitkul – Sangla – Reckong Peo – Kalpa

Total Distance Covered: About 150kms.

Time Taken: 7 hours

Highlights of the Day:

1. Watching the beautiful Kinner Kailash peak and other near-by snow clad mountains.

2. Taking 7 hours to complete 150 odd kilometers through some of the most treacherous route. The road in and around Sangla – Chitkul is in absolute peril, owing to the humongous hydro-electric project of Jaypee.

3. Feeling really bad for what this project has done to nature; it has really destroyed whatever beauty the area had.

4. Vodafone does not work in these areas. Aircel, Airtel and BSNL do. I really wondered why I use Vodafone.

Both of us knew that we had to reach Reckong Peo today where we were planning to stay for the night of Day-2. Another little plan that we had in our minds was to visit Chitkul which is arguably the last Indian village situated at the Indo-Tibetan border. It is the first village of Baspa valley and the last village on the old Hindustan-Tibet route. Also, our day-2 ride was through the Kinnaur Valley. For the uninitiated, Kinnaur is one of the twelve administrative districts of Himachal Pradesh. The district itself is divided into three administrative areas, namely, Pooh, Kalpa, and Nichar and has five tehsils. The administrative headquarter for Kinnaur district is at Reckong Peo, where we were supposed to camp for the night.

The ride through the Kinnaur valley can give you the jitters at times. It is in one way a good thing to be a little nervous as then you tend to concentrate more on the road ahead. ‘Road’ was a relative term after we left Bhaba Nagar. The potholes turned into rocks, bolders, sand, dust and everything else once we started the ride towards Sangla. Now, the Karcham Wangtoo Hydroelectric Project by Jaypee is envisaged as run-of-the-river development on River Satluj. But, I really fail to see the significance of this whole project. Ofcourse, it might provide electricity to the power starved valley, but at what cost? The whole project has jeopardized the natural beauty of the land, and all one can see kilometers on end is dust, sand, broken or no roads, workers working at a feverish pace, state of the art Volvo trucks running like crazy from one end to the other and what not.

Amongst all this chaos, we two paved our way towards Sangla. The Jaypee project is spread out to about 20 odd kms. or so, but it seems much more than that. I was really disappointed in this stretch – both by the condition of the environment as well as the tarmac. Also, a fact to notice is the conditions in which the workers work. They inhale this dust and dirt day in and day out. The whole area gave me a sad look, really. Development as it turns out does not benefit everyone, really.

Anyway, we moved on towards our destination – Sangla and Chitkul. For going to Chitkul or Sangla, one has to take a diversion from the ‘main road’ that goes towards Reckong Peo/ Kalpa which was to be our destination for Day-2. 

As soon as we approached the wonderful Sangla valley, the views began to change dramatically from what we had encountered back at the Jaypee Hydroelectric project area. The Sangla valley is situated on the bank of Baspa river. The whole valley gives a stupendous view of the snow engulfed mountain ranges being covered by rolling steps of green and thick woods of pine and deodar. The Sangla valley is also commonly known as the Baspa valley after the name of the river. 

We rode all the way to Sangla where we took a break, had our breakfast and called friends and family to give them the latest update. Eventually, we moved on towards Chitkul. Now, the ride from Sangla to Chitkul is anything but boring. Not only the roads (or the lack of it!) are interesting, but the views are absolutely out of this world. There were a few water streams that we crossed enroute which were really fun, not to mention absolutely beautiful to look at too!

Slowly, but surely we reached Chitkul. The Baspa river, which is a tributary of the Sutlej flowing all through the wonderful ride, follows you close-by on the side. We spent a considerable amount of time in Chitkul taking in the views, and talking to the locals as well. We were amazed to see the number of Bengalis who had come there. Actually, this is another fact that is worth mentioning here. Bengalis are not really known to travel, but this view changed after our Spiti ride. Be it Chitkul, Sangla, Peo, Kalka, Tabo, Nako or Kaza, Bengalis were everywhere. We were really taken aback. I thought only a few of us (Bengalis) travel, but I was proved wrong this time, and how!

After spending quite some-time looking at the vistas, clicking pictures, having a little snack and ofcourse talking to the host of Bengalis present there, we decided it was time we moved on, as our destination was quite some distance away. We started downwards from Chitkul and the very thought of riding through the bad patch of roads near the Jaypee project disappointed me big time. However, we really had no choice, but to ride through. Rest of the ride uptil Reckong Peo was pretty uneventful, with a few butt and photography breaks in between, and informing people back home (friends and family) time-to-time about the latest developments.

We reached Reckong Peo late in the afternoon, at about 4pm or so. We had decided even before the start of this trip, that we would end our ride each day by 5pm max, as after that it is not really advisable to ride in these areas. Landslides occur on a daily basis and the BRO workers can always be seen hard at work, clearing away the rubbles, and the stones whenever and wherever there were ‘slides.

Now, Reckong Peo or simply ‘Peo’ as the locals call it is the capital of Kinnaur district, one of the twelve administrative districts of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It is located at a height of 2,670 metres, and is about 260 kms. from Shimla and 7 odd kilometers from from Powari. Earlier Kalpa was the headquarters which was later changed to Reckong Peo. Peo is named after the group of people who used to own this place in ancient times.

It is a proper town, with tourists, shops and a whole lot of hotels and guest houses that have sprung up in every corner of Peo. A little disappointed, we consulted the map and decided to move upwards by 7 kms. to reach a place known as Kalpa.

Kalpa is located about 7 odd kilometres from Reckong Peo, but it seems like it is located in a different world altogether. This small village is abuzz with friendly people who are really helpful and even invite you for a cup of tea and a chat to their home! The ride/ drive towards Kalpa is really beatiful. The scenery changes dramaticaly from the gorgeous valleys, green orchards of the mountains to some of the stunning gorges that you could experience. The Sutlej carves a deep chasm in the Great Himalayan range as it rages through Kinnaur, to meet the Baspa river, which is one of it’s tributaries, at Karchham.

From Kalpa, one can easily get the view of the mighty Kinner-Kailash range. The Kinner Kailash seems to watch over the small, quaint town of Kalpa. We were absolutely mesmerized by the atmosphere, by the fresh air, by the lack of tourist and by the wonderfully chilly atmosphere. There is a strange nip in the air; it makes you feel really good. If any of you ever decide to visit the Kinnaur valley, do not forget to go all the way upto Kalpa and stay there. It is really an experience in itself.

The guest house were we stayed was wonderful, yet so cheap. We paid about Rs.300/- for a night’s stay, which included a geyser, attached bathroom and even a television set. Now, this is what I call budget! The staff was friendly too. Actually, people of Himachal Pradesh are really innocent and very friendly. For us urban dwellers they might even seem like dumbs but seriously speaking they are a really wonderful lot. People are one of the reasons I find Himachal so good and attractive a place.

We were relatively less tired at the end of day-2 than day-1 but we were nevertheless tired. On top of that the dinner was served a little late because of some problems in the hotel kitchen. As a result we went to bed late at night, which would end up affecting our day-3 journey…

 

Kinnaur Dwar - the entrance to the Kinnaur valley

 

The Baspa river keeps you company all through the Kinnaur Valley.

 

Enroute Chitkul

 

Near Sangla valley.

Sangla Valley.

Sangla Valley.

The Pulsar-200 dwarfed by the huge and utterly beautiful snow-clad mountains.

Chitkul - the last Indian village on the India-Tibet border.

The Prayer flags...

Chitkul

Macro, at Chitkul!

Towards Reckong Peo and Kalpa

The cracket yet colorful walls.

Kalpa village.

Melodramatically Dramatic!

 

The Contrast

 

Looming Large - Clouds hang overhead at Kalpa Village.

The White Giants...

The roads that lead to Heaven...

 

Chitkul - the last Indian village.