First Solo trip to the Himalayas - SPITI

A solo trip to the Himalayas – even the thought seemed intimidating. Being a very finicky person when it came to choosing travel companions, I had no option but to venture out on my own. Not going to the mountains was simply not an option. The decision to travel solo came not because I wanted to experience the thrill of it but because my sister wasn’t there to go with me and I didn’t want to suffer grumblers and sulkers who start complaining at the slightest lack of comfort in these remote areas.

I wanted to avoid a multi day trek this time as I had neither the preparation nor the time for it. I selected Spiti, although a span of 4 days is too short a time to experience this unique place. To be honest, I wasn’t at all confident of pulling this off all by myself. But the good thing about travelling alone is that there is no one to complain if something doesn’t go right during the trip. So I didn’t make any bookings in advance except, of course, my flight to and from Delhi and bus to and from Manali. My only target was to first make it until Manali. As I had almost no expectations from this trip, I didn’t feel the nervous excitement that I usually feel before every trip.

Rucksack packed with just the minimum essentials, I set out on the 11^th of October, 2014 on my first ever solo trip to my most lovable destination, the Himalayas.

Day 1: I took a flight to Delhi. This journey was quite uneventful. I reached Delhi at about 3pm and halted at the airport for about an hour. I then set out towards Himachal Bhavan from where my bus to Manali was supposed to depart. I was under the impression that the bus would depart at 5:30pm. But as I reached there at 4:30 pm, the deserted look at the bus stop made me check my tickets. To my dismay, I found that the bus would leave at 6:30 pm! With my heavily prejudiced mind towards Delhi, this seemed nothing short of a punishment – waiting at a Delhi bus stop for over an hour! I sat under a tree – yes there were no benches. A group of art students arrived shortly whose task for the day was to create portraits. I saw a couple of them drawing me not because I was a good subject but a convenient one as I was sitting very still. Sometime later a group of youngsters arrived. They would be no more than 16 or 17 years old – girls with thick layers of kajal, nose rings, black nail polish strutting about with an air of arrogance and boys with spiked hair, head bandanas who followed the girls and nodded in agreement to whatever they said. Then with shaky hands each of them lit a cigarette and blew the smoke in the air like pros. Once the cigarettes were reduced to ashes, they left the place. Still no sign of a bus - I was beginning to get worried when I saw travelers slowly arriving. The bus soon arrived and in no time I was on my way to Manali.

At 10:30pm, the bus stopped at a place for dinner. I had already had my dinner in the bus so I helped myself to some chips. I was to face the repercussions of this little treat I gave myself later. As the bus left from here, I tried to get some sleep. As we were approaching Mandi, I suddenly woke with a churn in my stomach and immediately threw up. Motion sickness! I knew that now that it had started it wouldn’t stop until I reached Manali. This was bad news! The bus had a break down just a few kms before reaching Mandi. This was a blessing in disguise for me as it gave me some time to recuperate. It took 2 hours to fix the bus. It was now about 2am. 

Day 2: The bus reached Manali at around 8:30am. By now, I had thrown up around 7 times. I was totally drained. To say the least, my trip had started on a dismal note. I somehow hoisted my rucksack on my back, hired an auto and reached my hotel, the Johnson Lodge. The hotel property looked deserted. This discouraged me even more. I inquired at the reception if the hotel was empty. The receptionist replied that most of the guests had gone out. Slightly reassured, I moved towards my room. Check in was hassle free – just what I wanted at that moment. When I was ushered into my room, I had the first feeling of being on a holiday. It was a beautiful cozy room with wooden flooring, a large bed, beautiful washroom and a window overlooking the mountains. I couldn't have asked for more. I quickly freshened up, had breakfast and rested for a while. I don’t know when I fell asleep but when I woke up I felt better. I ordered some lunch but was unable to eat more than a few morsels. I thought I should take a walk around and so I went outside. The Hadimba Devi temple is about 2km from the hotel. So I started walking. It’s a lovely walk, but would have been better if tourist vehicles were not allowed on that road. The level of air pollution in Manali is alarming and most unexpected. On the way, I met a foreigner couple who would later go on to become my travel mates for the rest of my trip. They too found the pollution levels abnormal for a hill station. The Hadimba Devi temple is an ancient temple and the temple architecture is just fine. If you have seen temples in South India, this wouldn't fascinate you much. But walking in the cool air is just so much fun!

Hadimba Devi Mandir

On our way back, my new friends inquired about my plan. I said I had Spiti on my mind but I wasn't sure if I could set out for Spiti the next day itself. I decided against it and they asked if they could accompany me to Spiti. I welcomed the proposal as I would be able to share my travel cost. We went to a travel agent and booked a jeep for a 4-day tour of Spiti. Well, 4 days is too less to experience Spiti. But as I was short on leaves, that is all I could manage. 

Tripura Sundari Mandir

Day 3: Today we took a short tour of Manali. We visited the Vaishisht temple and hot spring. The temple is nice but if you really expect a hot spring, you’d be disappointed. We then went to the Naggar castle where I found nothing interesting and then to another temple, the Tripura Sundari. This temple was very nice and probably the most understated tourist spot in Manali. Not only is the temple architecture quaint but the stone carvings inside the temple are also unique. And all this with the mighty Himalayas in the backdrop make for a divine combination. After this, the guide took us to some waterfall and then to Manali’s biggest monastery. The monastery was very beautiful with lovely views of the Himalayas. I reached back to my hotel in the evening and as I was having an early dinner, I felt quite skeptical about the journey I was about to undertake the next day - 200km, 10hours road trip. There were so many questions going on in my mind. What if my most dreaded demon of motion sickness again engulfs me in its clutches ?

Manali's Largest Monastery

 Day 4: Set out for Spiti [kaza] at 7am. It was a Tuesday and Rohtang Pass was supposed to be closed for repair works. But our driver assured us that he’d manage it. And he did. We were stopped at the check post but after some discussions, they allowed us to pass. Rohtang is 52km from Manali. We stopped near the Beas Kund at Rohtang and the atmosphere was so calm and serene. I realized how lucky I was to cross Rohtang on a Tuesday only on my way back. There was not a soul around except us. As I alighted from the jeep,  a gush of chilly winds caressed my cheeks and oh what a feeling it was! With chattering teeth and my arms wrapped around me, I walked briskly towards the Beas Kund. The Kund and a few portraits of  goddesses are enshrined in a cave. The inside of the cave was remarkably warm! I came out of the cave and looked at the Himalayas rising majestically before me. All my doubts cleared away. I knew I couldn’t be at any place better than this at that moment. We returned to our car and resumed our journey. Little did I know at that moment that this was going to be one hell of a road trip!

Towards Rohtang Pass

Slowly after a few kms, all signs of a road vanished. What remained was only a kuchcha road. The driver navigated the roads with ease and smirked when he saw the awe on my face. The jeep trudged on like a bullock cart at times and like a roller coaster at other times. But all through the route, there were stunning views of the Himalayas and I didn’t know where to look. At about 12:30pm, we reached Chhatru. There was a small dhaba there and I had tea and a couple of chapattis. We then were driving towards Batal when it suddenly started snowing. That was the first time I had seen 

Kunzum Mata temple

snow! The route now became hazy and we were driving on blind curves. I had my heart in my mouth. Suddenly we saw small boulders rolling down the mountains. The driver now not only had to look on the sides but also above! On one side of the narrow road was a deep abyss. One slight mistake in that haze and we’d go straight down. We next stopped at Kunzum Pass at the Kunzum Mata temple. It was snowing even then. 

The road on which we drove!

Just before entering Spiti

We resumed and drove straight to Lossar. As we approached Lossar, the landscape changed and the mountains now were mountains of scree and loose gravel. They wore a yellowish brown look and it almost looked like a desert. I stopped here for some time and simply gazed at the beautiful scene before me. Even to the naked eye, the scene looked like a painting. I am glad I took this halt as on my way back, all this was covered in snow. We were about 50km away from Kaza now. As we approached Kaza, the landscape again changed. Now it looked more desert like and we could see the Ki Monastery perched high up from the distance. We finally reached our destination almost at 4:30pm after what was a bone breaking gut wrenching drive.

Kaza is the main town of the Spiti district and is at a height of almost 13000ft. There is a newly built beautiful monastery in Kaza and we checked into a guest house about 500m from the monastery. As evening approached, the weather suddenly became very cold. However, since we had to acclimatize, staying indoors was not an option and we set out for a walk to the monastery. It was extremely cold and we were also feeling a little breathless. It was dark now and the monastery was closed. We decided to head back to our guest house. We had an early dinner and retired to bed. I was hoping to catch the sunrise the next morning.

Day 5: When I woke up, it was 6:00 am but still dark. I decided to be in bed for some more time before going to my balcony. When I next opened my eyes, the sun was up shining bright! And it was a matter of just minutes! I discovered that the transitions of the sun here happen almost instantly, unlike in the eastern Himalayas, where you’d get a good deal of time to see a dawn, sunrise, sunset and twilight. 

View from Ki Monastery

Ki Monastery

Today we were to see in and around Kaza. My choice was to visit the Ki Monastery, Kibber village and Dhankar monastery. However, my companions were adamant to visit some other villages like Langza and Komic. As they were guests in our country, I decided to go ahead with their choice.

So we first went to the Ki monastery. It actually looks like a fort perched high on a hill top. Although the monastery itself is not that striking enough, the views from the monastery are simply stunning. It is literally a bird’s eye view.

From Ki, we went to Langza and then to Komic. I didn’t find anything worth visiting here. From Komic, we came back to Kaza for lunch and then set out for Tabo. 

Tabo is 40 km from Kaza and is at a relatively lower height of about 11000ft. It is famous for having a monastery more than 1000 years old. 

The Tabo Monastery was built in 996 A.D. We checked into a guest house next to the monastery. I loved Tabo and this is one place in Spiti which I would like to visit a second time. I was able to spend just one night there and was left quite insatiate. In the evening, I went to the old monastery. Due to the low light, I couldn't spend much time there.

Day 6: In the morning, I had Tibetan bread with butter and cinnamon for breakfast. The Tibetan bread was so soft and fluffy that I couldn't help asking its maker as to where the oven in his kitchen was. And, hang on, he humbly said that he maid that bread on a regular frying pan! Congratulating him on achieving this most unique feat, I again went to the monastery. It is very beautiful and truly lends an old world charm to itself. There are little dome shaped structures (like chortens) across the monastery complex made of what looked like mud; there were also small temples constructed across the complex with a distinct name. However, each of these temples were locked. In the morning, we went inside the prayer hall where monks were chanting. It was a surreal experience. There is definitely some great spiritual force in the Tabo monastery. You can feel it. No wonder that that the Dalai Lama has said that the Tabo monastery is second only to the great monastery in Tibet!

From Tabo, we set out for Giu. Giu is a small village and would’ve remained forever in obscurity had it not been for the “Mummy Lama”! There is a 500year old mummy of a monk in Giu. The locals believe that the monk was in deep meditation when there was a big landslide and the monk was buried alive. When they found the monk he was mummified and they found him in a sitting position. The locals revere the mummy as the “Mummy Lama”. The local guide said that even to this day the hair and nails of the mummy grow and there is a priest whose duty is to trim these!

From Giu, we started on our return journey to Lossar. On the way we saw a beautiful mountain stream flowing through the rugged mountain valley. If only I had a little more time, I would have sat near that stream for hours! 

 

Evening snow at Lossar

 As we approached Lossar, it had started snowing. This time the snowfall was a little heavy. We checked into a guest house at Lossar. In no time, the temperature had fallen to 0C. my feet were so cold that I couldn't feel them but I still went out to have a feel of the snow falling on my face. At around 7pm, the temperature fell down to -2C and the wind chill was making it feel even colder. I had a dinner of a steaming bowl of maggi and retired for the night. It was impossible to sleep in the cold night and the bed seemed as though a bucket of cold water were poured on it. 

Kunzum Temple after snowfall

The snow clad route

Day 7: When I woke up the next morning, we discovered that the water in the pipelines had frozen. I thankfully had some water in my flask with which I brushed. After breakfast, we set out for Manali. We wanted to visit Chandra tal lake but in this weather, it seemed improbable. I felt dejected that I’d be missing out on this but at the moment it was important to get back safely to Manali. As we approached Kunzum, there was a deposit of 5 inches of snow on the road. Our jeep was skidding very often. Kudos to our driver for navigating that road. When we reached Batal, we found many cars stranded there. 

 

We broke for lunch at Chhatru and continued from there. The journey seemed endless but the stunning views of the mountains kept me awestruck all the time. As we approached Rohtang, I couldn’t recognize it at all. It was teeming with tourists and make-shift dhabas. It was nothing but chaos and I thanked my stars for having allowed me to see Rohtang on a tourist-free day.

I was dead tired after reaching Manali. As I left for Delhi the next evening, I realized that although Spiti is usually advertised or marketed as a place for cultural or eco tourism, it is quite understated for its natural beauty. There would arguably hardly be a place in the Himalayas where the landscape changes so often. One moment you have the snow capped peaks, the next moment stark naked mountains and then again beautiful rivulets and streams blending perfectly with the clear blue sky.
This place is as much for the spiritual seeker or nature lover as it is for the cultural or eco tourist.

As I reached Delhi, I still couldn't believe that I had been on a trip to the Himalayas all on my own. It was only after reaching Mumbai and telling about my experience to my friends and colleagues that I realized that this was some accomplishment…