Shimla, Kinnaur and Sangla Valleys

English - From Mcloud Ganj we took a gruelling 12 hour local bus through the mountains to Shimla. This was once the summer capital of the British Government when it got too hot in Delhi. Shimla sits at an altitude of 2500 metres and has a very pleasant climate when it isn't raining. After the horrendous journey here we arrived in a torrential down pour and the minute we stepped of the bus we were surrounded and hassled by touts all pitching to get us into their preferred guest house. Until you experience this you will never know how frustrating it is, only made even worse by having to climb up the side of a mountain with your backpack on for half an hour. Shimla is now a tourist haven for everyone escaping the unbearable heat of the Indian summer and it provided a base with which to plan our week trekking and exploring some of the Himalayan valleys. First of all we waited for friends Stu, Kate and Lucy to arrive before setting out on the arduous task of finding a suitable jeep and driver for some of the most treacherous and hair raising roads in the world. Some of the vehicles we inspected would have been better suited to a Sunday evening banger race at the Wimbledon stadium and Schumacher would have been impressed with the tires. However, we did eventually find what we were looking for and an excellent driver by the name of Ajay Baggat. We set off on our Himalayan adventure on the 6th, our first stop Sarahan, only 7 hours by jeep from Shimla. Here we stayed in a traditional wooden temple and all shared a room for 60p each and got our first glimpse of the awe inspiring view of Mnt Kinnaur Kailash. The next morning we set off again with our trusty driver for the Sangla valley, dubbed one of the most beautiful in the Himalaya. The journey took 6 hours on the most terrifying roads I have ever been on. Single track, gravel death traps, carved out of sheer rock, sitting hundreds of metres above the raging Sutlej and Baspa Rivers. If you meet another vehicle coming the other way (usually a truck in a hurry) you have to reverse until a passing point can be found - sometimes several minutes. Somehow the reassuring statements of "no tension sir" or "no problem sir" from Baggat just weren't enough to calm the nerves. We made it to Sangla in good time, stayed one night before heading even further up the valley to a village called Chitkul. This is the last village in the valley before you hit China and sits at 3500 metres. The people here were very friendly with weather beaten features, and I even had a go at ploughing a field with 2 Yaks. This gave the locals endless entertainment at my hap-hazard handling of the beasts! We also crossed the river while trekking in a metal cage on a pulley system before reaching the snow level. Here we stayed in Kinnaur camp at the foot of Kinnaur Kailash. The camp site sat at 3400 metres in the shadow of this 6000 metre mountain. It was absolutely amazing, we couldn't stop staring at the amazing views - this is true Himalayan scenery at its best! We stayed in the camp for two days, entertaining ourselves with trekking, cricket with the camp guys and eating dinner round the camp fire to stay warm. We finished the trip off with an 11 hour jeep ride back to Shimla along those stunning but terrifying mountain roads - needless to say we all breathed a sigh of relief on our return to normal roads!

Alex and Baggat

Czech - Z Mc loud Gange jsme dorazili do hlavniho mesta Himalay pradesh zvane Shimla, jelikoz jsme dorazili 12 hodinovym autobusem v pozdnich vecernich hodinach a velikem slijaku, bylo to pro nas o to tezsi najit hostel, predevsim v turisticke sezone ktera nedavno zacala.Par mistnich otravu, kteri za penize dohazuji turistum hoteli, byli neodbitny a pronasledovali nas vsude jen aby dotali komise, na pokraji nervu jsme zapadli do jendoho draheho hotelu, a zaplatili 550 rp. na noc, ale hlavni pro nas bylo konecne se vyspat a mit pokoj od indickych vteracu:]]]]]Dalsi den jsme nasli fain hostel na nejvyssim vrcholu mesta, zvane Upar hostel, kde jsme se ubytovali s ansimi 3 prateli ktere jsme uz pred tim poznali v Radzastanu a prijeli za nami aby jsme stravili par dni dohromady.Pornajali jsme si dzip s ridicem, jmenem Bagat, ktery byl uzasny kamarad, a povedel nam spousta o horach a tradycich. Prvni den byl dlouhy den jelikoz jsme jeli 6 hodin do prvniho mestecka ve vysce 2500m tzv Sarahan, kde jsme byly ubytovany v Hindi chramu, specialne delane pro turisti, takze jsme dostali mili pokoj a vsech nas 5 po hromade se delilo o pokoj.Byla to uzasna sranda, jelikoz Stew, Kate a Lusi, jsou lidicky s kterymi se nikdy nenudime.Dalsi den jsme putovali dal a to do posledni vesnicky z celeho Himalay prades, kde pouze rozdelovala masivni hora mezi Cinou a Indii, zde jsme udelali par treku, misto zvane Chitku.Mistni obyvatele jsou snad nejpratelstejsi lide z cele Indie, kteri zachovavaji stale sve stare tradice.Take jsme zde potkali spousta tibetanu, kteri kazdy den provadeli sve modlidby na koralkach, kterym se rika modlici koralky-kazdy budhista je nosi.Ten sami den jsme se ubytovali v campu zvane Kinnaur camp, kde jsme dostali ohromny stan s 5 postelema ,splachovaci toaletou a proutenym nabytkem,vazne super a mistni nam varili vinikajici namky, ztravili jsme zde 2 noci a po cely vecer jsme posedavali u ohne se sklenickou mistniho jablecneho vina, ktere spise chutna jako slivovice.Vecery zde byly vazne chladne takze jsme spali zachumleny v bundach a spacacich------jeste jednou diky my drazy rodicove.

Alex crossing river

Techto 5 bajecnych dni s nasimi prateli se stali nezapomenutelnym zazitkem a snad snad nejuzasnejsim mistem Indie.

Alex farming

Alex ploughing

Bapsa River

Boys Waterfall

China boarder

Chitkul Village

Crazy Sarahan

Girls trekking

Hobbits on tour

Kinnaur Camp

Kinnaur Kailash

Mountain Lizzard

Pee Stop

Sangla Mountains

Sarahan Temple

Spot the road

Temple Stu

View from Shimla