Route: Mumbai - Delhi – HP (Manali – Spiti – Shimla) – 17th
to 30th July 2012
It was time at last to get out of the crazy Mumbai weather
and be embraced by the beauty, awesome topography and amazing people that HP
has to offer.
It was time to explore, time for adventure and time to add
value to the life that seemed to be fading away with the daily routine in
Mumbai.
July 17th
was the chosen day to set out on a 2 week HP trip with my Travel Buddy Zariab (Zack),
Boarded the 12:55 pm Garib Rath
Train 12216 train from Borivali – Mumbai to Sarai Rohilla – Delhi, Altitude: 0–125 m, Distance:
1431 km, Cost INR 670 class- AC3 reached Delhi at 12:30 noon on July 18th.
Our goal was to reach the ISBT (Inter State Bus Terminal)
for which we hired a Hand Rickshaw for INR
20 per head to the Shastri Nagar metro station travelled via metro to Kashmere
Gate station INR 12 per head,
luckily there was a Mc Donald’s within the Metro station premises, we feasted
on some Happy meals by using my sodexo food coupons, rested for a while. The
ISBT was just outside the metro, we had an option to travel either by an ordinary
HRTC Bus (Himachal Road
Transport Corporation) or a HRTC Volvo INR
1000 the obvious choice was the ordinary bus INR 515 per head, Distance: 576 kms to Manali Altitude: 1,950 m
(6,400 ft), we left Delhi at 3:45 pm
and reached Manali at 8:00 am on July 19th, the journey was
extremely uncomfortable since the climate in Delhi was cruel as expected but it
got better as we began getting closer to HP.
Manali
was very pleasant apparently it has just rained the day before even though it
got slightly warm at noon it was bliss as compared to nasty Delhi-Mumbai
afternoons. As always we stayed at Hotel Vijayant, INR 400 per day not bad considering we head paid INR 300 per day back in 2010. Felt good
taking a warm water bath and feasting on a healthy meal of Carbs and Proteins.
July 20th
5:00 am we boarded a bus from Manali
heading to Kaza our destination was Chandra Taal Altitude: 4300
m. We had spoken to the locals the day before and were given 2 choices either to
hire a private Sumo for INR 7000
from Manali which would take us to Chandra Tal and back which sounded
ridiculously overpriced, OR to take a bus to Batal and then trek uphill for
about 14 km (or) to Kunzum Pass then trek downhill for about 9 kms. Most of the
experts had advised us to stay for at least a day above 3,000 m to get acclimatized but what
the hell we carried on to Kunzum Pass. The 5:00
am Kaza bus passes through Rohtang Pass then
Batal and finally reached Kunzum
Pass Altitude: 4,590 m (15,059 ft) at about 1:30 pm bus cost: INR 142
per head.
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| Gaddi |
During the bus journey we met Mr. Nawang Dhondan who works
with the Indian Ayurvedic Society he had extensive knowledge of Herbs that grow
in Himachal along with the in-depth knowledge of the local culture, he knew 6
languages along with Sanskrit, he was also a fellow trekker and had completed
several treks to Ladakh. While we got down at Batal for lunch (INR 60 for a hearty meal of mutton
curry + Rice) he had some dried meat which he picked up from Kangaddi Dhaba, he
mentioned that the meat (Goat or Ram) is pound and then dried in the freezing
cold which increases the life and sustains the taste.
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| Dried Meat |
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| Kangaddi Dhaba - Owner |
The view from Kunzum pass was amazing apparently the locals
believe that every vehicle that passes through needs to circle around the
Kunzum Devi Temple, failing to do so could lead to accidents or Bad luck during
the journey.
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| Kunzum Devi Temple |
After exploring the Kunzum Devi Temple we were all set to begin the 9km trek to Chandra Taal Lake not knowing that we would pay a price for not getting acclimatized to the altitude. The view towards the lake was breath taking with post card pictures all around. It felt like we had been walking through the Alps, there was almost no vegetation, rocks of all kinds, shapes and sizes and snow peaks; a mixture of the cold breeze and the warmth of the afternoon sun.
We had started the trek at around 2:15 pm after walking for an hour or so, we started to suffer from
mild altitude sickness with Headaches and breathless having climbed up directly
from Manali 1,950 m to Kunzum pass 4,590 m without giving ourselves time to
acclimatize. We pushed forward since there was no turning back (the next bus
was after 24 hrs), besides we had our equipment and a some food supplies and 2
liters of water in case we needed to camp, our progress got hampered due to the
frequent breaks. As expected it was a good mixture of uphill and downhill paths,
with narrow trails, paved through edges of rocks and slops, which needed some
careful threading through, this was a new experience nothing like we had
endured during previous treks at lower altitudes, exertion coupled with fatigue
and altitude sickness drained most of our strength, the winds were picking up
and it was getting dark which made it even more difficult to trek since some of
the ledges were very precarious.
We tried to push on but we had to camp in the middle of
nowhere for the night, the winds were too strong and we could not find any flat
ground to pitch the tent, as expected it was all slopes and rocks, luckily Zack
spotted a pile of rundown stones which may have been used by the Gaddi, we were fatigued, cold
and it was too dark to clear the ground, with some quick thinking Zack laid
down the inner material of the tent as base layer, protecting us from the
direct cold from the ground, over which we used our sleeping bags and used the
outer layer of the tent as a blanket, this was around 8:00 pm and now the long wait till sunrise begun, we had feasted on
some biscuits and were left with half liter of water. The winds were relentless,
the stones seemed to give us some protection from the winds but the shivering
just would not stop, felt like a continuous pattern of shivers, heavy breathing
and then shivers again….
Zack mentioned that he heard some animal noises, but my body
was busy fighting the cold to notice anything else, by 11:30 – 12:00 the winds finally slowed down and it was back to
fighting the cold, may have been (4 -6)°C without the winds.
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| One with Nature |
July 21st
Day break at last, the morning sun never felt so good, it was time to continue
our journey, we decided to rest for a little while, take care of the morning
business before heading out, to our surprise we found ourselves completely out
of energy and the sun seemed very harsh, Zack tried to climb up the slope but
failed at both the attempts, it was clear that our bodies had succumbed to
altitude sickness and fighting the cold on an empty stomach had drained us dry.
We pitched the most ridiculous looking tent on uneven grounds and decided to
rest for a while, our water consumption had increased due to the heat and we
were almost out, close to 2:00 pm
Zack spotted some fellow trekkers, he summoned the strength to reach them,
requested them for water and to send porters when they reach the lake,
apparently they did not have water. We waited till 2:45 pm gaining our strength we knew that waiting for porters would
be futile, the sun had simmered down and without any water we would not last
very long, we mustered all our strength and set out to continue our trek.
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| Heavenly view From the Tent |
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| Zack Climbing up the Slope |
The trek seemed to be much easier than the day before, our
bodies though fatigued may have been partially acclimatized; we spotted a
camera on the way which seemed to have been put up by wildlife authorities to
capture Snow Leopards,
encountering one would be very rare since they are an endangered species and
apparently they was just one of them in that location with a territory spanning
a few kilometers.
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| Chandra Taal Lake View |
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| Snow Leopard Camera |
After a few hours walk we started to feel the usual altitude
symptoms, but our progress was good, at around 7:00 pm we reached the “Base Camp” this is where the motorable road
starting from Batal ends around 1.5 km from Chandra Taal.
The owner of the Camp Jamaica
(Yes that’s his Name and No he is not Black) was kind enough to climb down the
slope and help up haul our equipment across the stream and up to the camp site,
during the final stretch up the slope we were greeted by a Gaddi Kutta fearsome
looking but friendly dog, we were relieved to finally reach camp, after being
offered some water by a fellow traveler (Royal Enfield - biker from Delhi) and
being treated to some warm tea by Jamaica we decided to sleep in one of his
Tents for the night {(INR 600 per
head includes: Tent + breakfast + Dinner) Excludes Lunch @ INR 150)} and pitch our own tent the next day.
We slept well that night although there was a slight slope
it was nothing compared to the previous nights ordeal.
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| Jamaica (Bottom Left) with Gaddis |
July 22nd
The next morning was a new experience with our nose bleeds and Light-headedness
but the morning view and atmosphere was out of this world. We decided to
dedicate the entire day to recuperate and regenerate our lost strength. There
were a mix of travelers from Mumbai, Delhi and Westerners (French and
Americans); there were also some Gaddis who had apparently travelled for 2
months to reach Chandra Taal from Manali now that’s some serious trekking.
There was also another camp site just a few yards above
Jamaica’s camp which was a Dhaba plus camp site as expected he sold his goods
for a premium (1ltr Bottled water INR 30,
Old Monk INR 400, Maggie Small
packet INR 30.)
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| View Of upper and lower Camps |
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| Food preparations Tent |
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| Protein Rich Lunch |
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| Caretaker's Stone Plastic Hybrid Tent |
July 23rd
I decided to trek to Chandra Taal after my morning tea and the usual crap in
the open since the camp site did not have a Toilet Tent. The walk to the lake
was fairly short just around 15-20 minutes, the best time to visit was in the
morning since its pleasant and mild sun brings out the Blue on the lakes
surface. The water was crystal clear and very soothing. Once again I was one
with nature with nobody around just the pristine ecosystem that Mumbai has
forsaken.
July 24th
The day we had decided to leave for Kaza after lunch, but since we had not
hired a vehicle to get here, we were at the mercy of local travelers to give us
a lift to Batal - 14 kms, Jamaica had mentioned that he would work his magic in
getting us a free ride, we were cool with that and stepped back to mingle with
our fellow travelers and the camp employees. When we checked with Jamaica about
the lift it turned out that he was all talk and could not get the job done, he
spoke about us paying the drivers for the lift. One of the drivers quoted INR 500 per person which was hilarious;
it was getting dark we decided to stay and head out the next day.
July 25th
Zack spoke to some female travelers; one of them was from America and the
others from the Middle-East who were kind enough to give us a lift to Batal, we
left by 10 am and reached by 11:05 am. The road was rough and dusty
with enough space for a single vehicle with a water crossing on the way; the
American had apparently travelled from Kinnaur to Kaza to Spiti and would end her
Journey in Manali. She was happy to recommend places in Kinnaur and share the
pictures she had taken from her camera.
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| Chandra Dhaba |
The Sumo stopped at Batal outside the Chandra Dhaba I had not visited this dhaba the 1st time
around so it was a good chance to explore, the owners were friendly and were
known to be very helpful to travelers and people who get stranded during harsh
climate. They were extremely reasonable with their pricing (Omelet INR 20, Beer INR 120), they also had a place stay Beds from INR 50 – 100.
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| Chandra Dhaba Owner |
We were waiting for the Bus going to Kaza which was
scheduled to arrive by 1:00 pm,
after refreshments and exploring the place, we were informed that due to an
accident towards Manali, the bus was delayed and might not make it today;
staying in Batal would have been a good experience but I was running short of
days. The Dhaba owner informed us that there were few vehicles going towards
Kaza, initially they quoted INR 500
per head but settled for INR 200 per
head which was a sweet deal for a Sumo. We left Batal at 3:15 pm and reached Kaza by 7:00 pm. The road to Kaza was amazing
there was a sudden change in landscape from snow covered peaks with no
vegetation to huge dry mountains with a lot of vegetation at the base, amazing
rock formations and high altitude crop plantations.
Most of the time the topography was similar to that of the moon.
The Sumo ride was one of a kind about 10-15 kms from Batal
we spotted the Kaza – Manali bus that was stranded, which meant that nobody
could travel from Manali to Kaza and back since both the buses were non
functional, we were fortunate enough to get a ride, the first stop after Batal
was Losar which was about 58
kms from Kaza, it’s also the place where westerners would need a permit to
enter, Home Stay is available at this location, we had Tea INR 10, it was a small settlement, good weather, greenery nothing
much to do really since we had just 15 minutes before heading towards
Kaza.
15 -20 minutes after leaving Losar our driver gave a lift to
a Ton of young local girls, they looked like they would have been in school,
later on he mentioned that they remove stones and waste from the roads for the
entire day and only get paid a maximum of INR
100 for their hard labor. It was difficult to believe that; throughout the
journey they were in high spirits, singing local and Hindi songs in spite of
living in poverty. They were inspirational in their own way…..
Reached Kaza at last at first it seemed like the dumping
grounds of HP, the air seemed like a mixture of dust and cement, with
construction sites in all directions and hordes of trucks parked along the
road. It took a while to appreciate the native beauty of the landscape, a
winter desert indeed, with very less rain fall the topography is similar to
that of a desert with Huge mountains on one side and the same time Crop
plantations at the base of the mountains besides a dried up river bed.
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| Agriculture at Kaza |
The people (locals mainly) as expected were helpful as ever,
Jamaica (The Camp owner from Chandra Taal) had mentioned that he has a few
hotels in Kaza and would give us a good deal. We were having difficulties
finding his Hotel “Tashi
delek” - Guest House, one of the locals was kind enough to stop washing her
clothes and get the location of the hotel, we reached the guest house met one
of the workers that we had mingled with at the camp site, he quoted INR 500 stating that the local price is
INR 700 and this was the last room
he had specially reserved for us, the room was excellent, clean with TV and hot
water, but this was Kaza not Shimla, tried to negotiate but it was futile, I
stayed back with our luggage while Zack went to explore the local scene, he found
a hotel with No TV but Hot water for INR
300 which was a sweet deal, since it meant INR 150 per head, the guy from Tashi delek tried to reduce the
price to INR 400 but his deceitful
tricks fell on deaf ears.
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| Hotel Sidarth - Kaza |
Checked into Hotel
Sidarth by 7:42 pm INR 300 per
day (Hotel checkout time is 12:00 noon), it was good to finally have a proper
roof over our heads after 5 days, not having looked in the mirror since 5 days, I
realized that I had a major sun burn on my nose, the skin had become scaled and
black, it was time for damage control, cleaning and cleansing was in order.
Zack’s skin, specially his Nose looked like it had been borrowed from Rudolph (The red
nosed Reindeer).
The warm shower and the wooden bed felt like heaven, slept
well that night after feasting on some Thukpa.
26th July
We decided to explore Kaza the next day, the morning heat was still intense and
I was in Vampire mode because of my sun burns. Kaza was filled with Dust,
cement and heat with huge mountain ranges, streams, greenery and dried river
beds. We were very close to the bus stand and market place. Towards evening we
inquired about the buses and shared cabs to Kinnaur – Reckong Peo . Apparently
they are very few cams going there prices at INR 700 per head.
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| View From The Bus Stand |
27th July
travelled by the 7:30 am bus to
Reckong Peo INR 257 per head. The bus had some vacant seats unlike the
Manali – Kaza bus, the last destination for this bus was Shimla. The roads were
much better being low lying, there were a few delays because of basic road
maintenance work but nothing too major. The bus stopped in Tabo near the
boys Hostel which looked similar to Kaza.
Reached Peo by 6:00
pm checked into Hotel Bhagwati INR 400 it was located just opposite
the bus stop, I had planned to leave for Shimla the next morning, the was also
an option to directly travel to Delhi but that would mean a 20 hour journey
which would be very exhausting.
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| Peo Bus Stand |
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| View of thick clouds from the Hotel |
That night we decided to take it easy, experimented with
slow shutter speeds and consumed some tasty treats from the local sweetmeat
shop; and yes some French fries Peo style.
28th July
I checked out at 7:30 am (Zack
stayed back headed to Kalpa that
day) boarded the Shimla bus INR 251 reached Shimla at 5:10 pm.
One of the locals heading to Rampur wanted
to cancel the bus ticket she had already purchased, she approached me and I was
glad to buy the ticket off her, since she had reserved the seat besides the
driver, that meant that I could take videos of the journey (on the down side I
could not fall asleep, since a sudden halt, meant that I would be sent flying
through the windscreenJ).
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| Football Stadium on the way to Shimla |
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| Inside the 2 story Shimla Bus Station |
29th July
reached Delhi - Kashmere Gate at 6:00 am, I had to board a 3:40 pm train to Mumbai from Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station (NZM), caught a
Rickshaw to NZM @ INR 150, reached
by 6:20 pm, the rickshaw driver had
offered to take me to a hotel (INR 300-
500), but I did not want to pay someone for wasting my time cooped up in a
room instead I decided to spend 9 hours observing and mingling with the Delhi
folk, spotted a few things; Railway officials taking bribe from a passenger who
was travelling with luggage that was heavier than the allowed weight, some
travelers were sold fake tickets by a stranger and the cops did not care about
that, until the passengers started to create a ruckus about it, local cabbies bickering about who gets the
fare, in a way it was very similar to Mumbai.
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| NZM Railway Station - Delhi |
The highlight of those long 9 hours was Mr. Baba and the Bhopal
Bros.
Mr. Baba was an old man from Calcutta who used to work in
Delhi, he left his usual way to life and became a holy man preaching the way to
attain Nirvana, he had made himself cozy near the base of a tree just outside
the Railway station, I purchased a cup of Tea INR 7 from a chaiwala near the tree, that’s when Mr. Baba asked me
for the time and we started to have a conversation, he mentioned that during
his days only a few people could own vehicles but days everyone owns one and
that’s increased the noise and pollution, I could not agree more, what begun as a Hindi conversation soon turned
into an intellectual English conversation with topics about corrupt Government,
man eat man world and how he left his government job to live a pure spiritual life.
He seemed interested in reading my hand I politely refused, we had a bit of a
falling out but were back on track when I mentioned that I had just visited HP
and was heading home, he started to mention how beautiful and spiritual
Himachal is and the abundance of culture and heritage it has. He asked me for
the time once again it was 9:00 am
he mentioned that he has to attend a spiritual gathering, packed his sleeping
man and his cloth bag, smoked his last Beedi and left.
Bhopal Bros were two brothers from Bhopal travelling to Haridwar they had a train at 12:30 pm and provided good company. Rahul was elder and Saurabh the younger, Rahul teaches
engineering students and was a typical Indian authoritative big brother to
Saurabh who was completing his Graduation.
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| Saurabh and Rahul (L to R) |
Rahul was kind enough to offer his home cooked meal which
included “a sweet Roti” and a
great tasting combo of Farsan,
I enjoy mixing food but this was a combo that I would never think of.
It’s always good to meet good and kind hearted people when
you least expect…….
All the best “Rahul” and “Saurabh” for you future
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| Inside NZM Station |
After the Bhopal Bros left I spent a few hours loitering
around the station, picked up some snack for the train journey. It was around 3:30 pm when the train arrived, I boarded the train thinking that it
was the end of my journey but I was wrong.
Apparently there were around 200 Sikh travelers, who were
returning from a pilgrimage to Hemkund,
my seat was reserved next to the family that had organized the event for this
year, my journey to Mumbai turned out to be quite enjoyable, I was treated to
some traditional songs and dancing, they convinced me to dance I was happy to
shake a leg. Got treated to some great tasting tea and snacks, the tea was
apparently from Hemkund. They were happy to share their experiences during the
pilgrimage which I found quite fascinating.
They had to cross through the Hemkund Glacier and endure the
cold before reaching Gurudwara Hemkunt
Sahib after which they are supposed to take a couple of dips in the ice
cold water. It’s simply amazing to be able to withstand the freezing water at
that altitude (4,632.96 meters -15,200.0 ft).
One of the young pilgrims shared a spooky story, apparently
when he was climbing the mountain to reach the Gurudwara; he spotted a young
girl ahead of him, thinking that she might be trekking through a short cut; he
followed her, after a while she disappeared, he then realized that he was near
the edge of a cliff and if he had followed her further he could have been
seriously injured.
The Sikh family and the fellow travelers were in high
spirits and generous, this was indeed a great experience.
This was an ideal way
to end my journey filled with new experiences, great topography and awesome
people.
