Mission Spiti 2015 - Day 07

Kaza – Langza – Hikkim – Komic – Demul – Tashigong – Gette – Kibber – Chicham – Ki – Kaza

As per the program, we left at sharp 08:00 for Hotel Spiti to pick the RJ 27 Team. Good for us, the sun was shining brighter than ever and it gave us the much needed warmth from the yet cold temperature. Our first stop was Langza and to our happiness, our driver could tread the slush quite well. The slush was also not too bad today and was getting even better with the bright sun.

Freshly Snowed Peaks

Clouds & Sun

Sachinji enjoying the Sun in Freezing Wind

Langza Village

Langza - the World's Highest Motorable Village

Clicking pictures, we went on to pass by Hikkim followed by Komic. On the way, we took numerous sudden stops to spot the Birds. Now we were in company of 3 members of Indian Birding Association. They politely advised us to reprimand them when we feel their birding stops had got beyond tolerance. At first, we felt amused at their excitement of spotting birds and then embarrassed when they uttered color names like scarlet-necked and chestnut-tailed which, to us brothers, was completely alien as our comprehension of colors was limited to the primary, secondary and tertiary colors. We belong to that group of people who feel bemused when looking at our wives’ new fuchsia footwear and for whom the purple does not look much different than violet.

Komic

Komic Gompa

Komic Gompa

Gorge outside Chicham

A Herd of Yaks

Chicham getting connected by Asia's highest Concrete Bridge
Is it Good or Bad?

Trek from Ki to Kaza

Our Horse at KayCee Lodge

Practice Contentment

Are you well Educated or well Traveled?

It is You who belong to this Land

Hikkim Village

Komic to Tashigong

Gorge outside Chicham

Bull-fight

Anyway, we took our time to assimilate – not the birding information – but their need for stopping the car abruptly and it was after Komic Gompa, that I could bring out the Task Manager inside me and announce “People: Now we have targets to keep. It is 11:00 and we are at Komic. We have to reach Tashizom at Kibber for Lunch by 13:30 after visiting Tashigong, Gette, Chicham & Kibber.” Everybody obeyed me and our Driver easily maneuvered through every place. The landscape around Chicham was very different and my brother could easily declare that to be much better than US Grand Canyon.

We had a wet filling lunch at Tashizom where the attendant charged me lesser for the Thukpa than yesterday. I did not mind. For the sunshine, there were more vehicles today on the roads than yesterday as well as parked outside Tashizom. The brooding spectacled 55 year old that I had spotted lurking at Deyzor the last night was at Tashizom with his family. He commented about our rush to drive 2000+ km in a week and advised us to take life easy which I did not appreciate especially when he told us that he was in the Army. Inside I was just defending myself “Let us exchange our lives first and then talk about driving easy. And then too, we are just driving 600km on the first day and the last. All other days have 150km on average only.” When that Retd Army Official left before us, he came inside to bid us a special goodbye and wish us luck for the drive ahead – my brother, knowing the look at my face, consoled me “See, Ankit, I did not go to him. He came to me to wish me luck. That means, regardless of his comment about our rush, he was appreciative and perspired of what we were doing”.

Driving back, we took the decision of getting down before Ki and walk to Kaza. All of them asked for the definitiveness of our decision to which we replied “Do have the free GLHT!” Inspite of taking 2 shortcuts in the walk for more than an hour, Kaza was still 8km ahead of me. It was quite sunny, a little cold and all my clothes were wet because of the sweat. I heaved a sigh of relief when the car picked us again but I was yet to realize the after effects of a brisk walk at that altitude. My head did not stop aching till after sleep. On reaching the Kay-Cee, I got on to my tasks ahead and asked Ritesh to boil as much water possible for me to have a deep clean shave with a good bath. I had decided not to take bath the next morning before our scheduled 04:00 departure for Manali. Clearing all the accounts with Jamaica, I did not realize what I realized in Delhi that I had forgotten to click a special picture with him for my souvenir. The chef at Deyzor treated my brother’s demand very well with his pasta and bruschetta bread apart from the regular momos.

Mission Spiti 2015 - Day 06

Kaza – Langza – Ki – Kibber – Kaza – Dhankar – Kaza

Waking up, I was feeling much better while the cold rainy breeze swept through the lodge. Getting ready with the stove heated water was not as difficult as I thought it to be – I recalled my days in MNNIT Allahabad & FMS Delhi Hostel. Lapping up the Tea-Toast, we geared up to drive to Langza in our freshly rain-washed SX4.

Topping-up at Kaza

World's Highest Retail Outlet

The landscape looked very different in the cloud color than the yellow sunlight’s color. We must have been 2.5 km before Langza village when our car got stuck in deep slush and for the first time in our lives, we realized what slush actually means. My brother asked me to get off with my mobile immediately so that if the car goes down the road, I will be in a position to call for help. After getting off, as I took my first step, I could not – 2.5 inches of slush was stuck on my shoes’ bottom and it felt like somebody had tied heavy weights (like Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander cycling practice session). So panicked we were that I ran at my best manageable speed to call for help from a team of laborers hidden from the heavy rain in a nearby camp. Not willing to get drenched, they came out very reluctantly and promised to come for help if something happens (in their view, the slush was easily negotiable).

Approaching Langza

Approaching Langza

Approaching Langza

My brother could negotiate the car out of the slush and we decided to try Ki-Kibber route which we had been told was black top. Yes, that, it indeed was and was a treat to our eyes as well as our tyres because of being freshly washed by the rain. The color of the atmosphere was rain white, a good change from the dusty yellow color we had been driving through since the last 5 days. As we pulled over into the Ki Gompa Parking, we did not realize how far we had to climb to get to the Fortress. Due to my urge to answer a minor nature’s call, a large group of Caucasians were ahead in queue for us and it did take a long time for the front-benchers in that group to understand what Buddhism was all about, what Spiti region was all about and then what Ki Gompa was all about. We were not as good students of Buddhism as they were and finding a subtle opportunity to skip the queue, we took the plunge getting ahead of them in the sight-seeing game. Proceeding with the Old Prayer Chamber as well, I quickly got down to my main target inside Ki Gompa – the GLHT. My brother hesitated – and even knowing that I am much more miser than him – I said its free and we’re welcome here for freebies unlike Delhi thereby relieving her of the hesitation.

Approaching Ki Gompa

Welcome to Ki Gompa

New Prayer Hall

From the Roof of Ki Gompa

Interesting Metal faces on the Roof of Ki Gompa

Our Horse SX4 in the Ki Gompa Parking Lot

The GLHT at Ki Gompa

The Ginger Lemon Honey Tea was the best hot beverage I have had in my life so far and it further re-affirmed my cultural concept that one should always survive on the local food and water when traveling because I strongly believe there is a reason why Chinese cuisine has maida based noodles with soya sauce and soup whereas Tamil cuisine has a lentil based dosa and rice based idli with spicy sauces and sambar. One could argue that cuisine is based on locally grown or available products which is a perfect argument but I would like to argue back that the climate and topography are the reasons for the growth of those vegetables or availability of those kind of animals. The GLHT was a blessing and warmed us to the bowels, quite literally, in that severe cold which was being further precipitated by the wet precipitation.

Ki Gompa

We proceeded to the Kibber village and the cut towards Tashigong & Gette showed a grim state of slush. We had earlier planned to stay the night at Tashizom Guest House but that was when we had a travel plan of 1.5 days. With slush cutting short our day-trip to just 4 hours, we decided to just click pictures outside Kibber and then have a Thukpa Lunch at Tashizom which, at 13:30, again gave us enough warmth required for the next travel slot. The rooms, we visited, were a treat (especially the Family Suite with the Bukhari) and I wondered how my wife and kids would definitely enjoy a stay here – provided they can come with me sometime in the future.

Trek Start Point from Kibber to Prang La

Tashizom Guest House at Kibber

You only get the Signal at this point at Tashizom

Kibber

Kibber-Tashigong Link Road

On my brother’s advise, I called back Jamaica and requested him to keep a small car ready for our Dhankar visit, which was ready when we drove back into Kaza. We declared that we would have to forego the Sagnam-Kud tour now. The Dhankar Tour was quite eventless but I did not forget to click the Attargu diversion picture. The Dhankar Gompa & Village, contrary to my expectation, had a tinge of difference from Tabo or Ki. I had not felt this difference between the Gompas of Hemis, Thiksey, Lamayuru, etc. We returned to visit the Kaza Monastery right in front of our Room and we again bumped into the RJ-27 Innova. Thereon, what followed was a nice camaraderie between the 3 of them and the 2 of us. They enquired about ChandraTal and we towed them into the KayCee Lodge to have a chat with Jamaica. After laying down a lot of permutations and combinations, it was finally decided that we would forego ChandraTal and rather complete the local Village tour in a local SUV which was arranged by Jamaica. On his advice, we proceeded to Deyzor for Dinner, also because Deyzor was the only property in Kaza with a Generator.

Gorge on the way to Attargu

Diversion for Pin Valley

Dhankar Gompa at the brink of Collapse

Confluence of Pin into Spiti

Eroded Formations at Dhankar Gompa

Dhankar Village

Wildflowers before Kaza

Quechua Tent

Quechua Tent

Son of our Driver (Owner of Homestay)

Kaza Monastery

Kaza Monastery

And to our surprise, what property it was. Deyzor looked like an Oasis in that cold desert. The Thukpa, I ordered for everybody, was the best I have had so far and the sauce accompanying the Momos was nothing like what you get at Delhi stalls. The delicious food helped the night come down heavy on us by putting us to a good sleep.