Himachal Pradesh
Trip Start
Jul 28, 2007
1
43
90
Trip End
Nov 10, 2008
Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
First I went to Shimla, a british hill station. It's quite modern there and very popular with Indian tourists. The view from the city is quite nice and it's similar to the other hill stations were I have been so far. I mainly enjoyed the food there and walked around up and down in the city then I left for the real Himachal Pradesh.
First stop Sarahan. Met 2 Israelis on the bus, whom I would bump into for about a week. It was nice to have someone to watch my small bag while I climbed on the roof of the bus with my big bag (still about 18 kilos) to tie it up! There I shared the dormitory ( 1$ SIN, the best bargain ever!) in the temple courtyard with a very weird Russian woman who had her head shaved and was making puja in front of a saddhu baba picture. She left her 2 sons at home with their respective father, quit her job and is travelling for a 4 months in India! In Sarahan there is a well known temple where we were staying. It looks very different from any temples in India. In Himachal Pradesh, the temples are make of carved wood and they remind me of the old churches in Norway! It's called the Indo-Tibetan style. From here you get a wonderful view of the whole mountain range. I walked around to a small village where I was invited to a wedding. I had lunch with the people, took a lot of pictures and danced with them until I ripped my pants, no joke! The married couple had lunch with everyone, but they were not talking nor looking at each other. The bride always had her eyes down and wasn't smiling! After the ceremony, I walked with the people to the village. All of a sudden, everyone stopped and the bride started wailing. She was hugging every member of her family and crying really hard while her new husband was walking in a circle completely lost! Then, her family went to the right and some girls took hold of her and walked her in the opposite direction to her husband family most likely........
Next I went to Sangla. Another beautiful place set in the mountains. This time I couldn't see the whole range, but I was much closer to the moutains. There were apple trees in bloom everywhere and it was really beautiful. There are a few villages around built on the side of the mountain or in the valley following the river and it was really nice and peaceful to walk everywhere. I went to a beautiful buddhist temple where about 50 ladies were cooking the whole day. They told me they were getting ready for a festival? I went back later. They had finished cooking and were all sitting around. Most of them were knitting and one of the woman seemed to be giving some change back t everyone. I found out that they come from different villages. I waited there until past 5pm, the time they had told me something would be going on, but nothing was happening at all, so I left. I hope I didn't miss anything interesting.
From there I had to go to Rekong Peo in order to get a permit for the Spiti Valley. Rekong Peo is a big city with a wonderful view of Kinnaur Kailesh (6050m). It's the place to stock up on food before going further. But since it was too late to catch a bus for Kaza (12 hour journey); after getting my permit I went to Kalpa, a much more interesting village. From there you are higher and even closer to the mountain. I thought I was gonna die went I climbed up the path with my heavy bag to get to a cheap guesthouse (my neighbor was a cow), but it was well worth the effort for the amazing view I had from the balcony! There are only a few places to eat in the village and 2 small wooden temples, but really the view over the mountains is the main attraction. I got up early the next day to enjoy the sunrise. I sat on a big rock with a snack and my book and saw a small fox passing by. I walked around the whole day taking pictures and enjoying the nature. As I was leaving I met the Israelis again and had lunch with them.
Then on to the Spiti Valley. I had heard about it and wasn't disappointed at all. I was now at 3000-4000m and there were mountains all around me! First I went to Kaza where I had a room with a view over the mountains for 100 roupies! It was my base for the next few days. I lived on samosas, gulab jamun and thukpa (a tibeban soup) and was really happy. It was cold and windy, but the afternoons were nice. I did some day trips to monasteries from there. I first went to Kibber village. A very nice village at snow level (4000m) were the people live simply and where I saw all the cattles coming back at the end of the day and was invited for tea in a small house by a young girl. The kids had made 10 roupies, a few cents today. I am not sure how, but they were very excited to show their dad!
The view from there was once again amazing. I stayed in a guesthouse where the bus drivers stay and had dinner with the bus driver and the guy who sells the tickets. The next morning I set up on foot to Ki Gompa, the monastery that took me to this part of India. The setting is quite amazing, but there is nothing exciting inside. I climbed up around the monastery to take a few pictures then up to it to visit. Then I walked the 12 km back to Kaza. The next day I took a bus to Dhankar Monastery. When I got off of the bus, I could see the monastery in the distance, but I had no clue how I would get up there. It's 600m higher than the road and set on top of a rocky cliff! There seemed to be a path going up for a while, but surely it wasn't going all the way to the monastery through the rocks. Finally a local woman came by carrying something on her head and she told me to keep going. The only other option was the road, an 8km walk. So I kept going and finally saw a path. Man! I had to climb through all the rocks there and several time I though I was gonna reach the road, but I never did. The path went down instead and across a small river and then I arrived at the bottom of the monastery. I asked the way up to a group of worker who were taking a break and they offered me chai and some cookies. I really needed a break and some energy, so that was a blessing. I walked all the way up to the monastery were some monks offered me another chai! They gave me a tour. You have to buy a ticket there to preserve the monastery which is apparently falling apart so they are building a new one not too far, but it is really not the same, it has absolutely no charm! I went up to another part which was not opened and then came down. I got lost on the way back and it took me forever to walk down. I took a bus back to Kaza, but stopped on the way to take some more pictures and walked the remaining 7km to Kaza. From Kaza there is a road that goes through 2 high passes and ends up in Manali, but at this time of the year it is not open, so I had to turn back.
So I stopped in Tabo, also a small village, but there are no spectacular view from there. The attraction here is the monastery. I stayed at the monastery's guesthouse. It is 1000 old and the paintings inside are in bad shape but amazing! The walls are covered all the way up to the ceiling. It reminded me of Dunhuang in China (where the state of the paintings is much better). There are 7 rooms to visit. Each time a monk has to open the door for you. In the main room, there are some wooden statues sitting on a platform and they look like they are sticking out of the wall. I have never seen anything like this! Really impressive! The whole place looks like nothing outside, but is as a lot of character inside! I am very glad I stopped by.
On the way to Kaza I had taken a lot of pictures from the bus around the small village of Nako. So I stopped there for a day. The bus had to stop just before the village because of some trouble on the road. I could see a full bus load of people walking towards us, and then their empty bus making its way up. I got off since we were not moving and saw the Israelis for the last time. The Tibetan village was superb. I walked around the tiny lanes and everywhere there was a mani wall or prayer wheel. There again I visited the old monastery where beautiful paintings are hidden. There is a new monastery because this one is falling apart. It will only be opened in August when the Dalai Lama will come for 7 days to inaugurate it. The local people are looking forward to that event! There is a small lake here and the view around the village is breathtaking! Everywhere there are mountains and they are so close and beautiful, you just want to sit there and admire them for a whole day. I was actually happy to have turned back, it would have been a shame to miss this place. Unfortunately, I had to keep going to make it on time for my meditation course, so I left the next day.
I finally reached Manali but not through the scenic route I had planned to take. I had been there in September and somehow it seemed different. There were lots of Indian tourists and the bus stop had moved I think. I spent 2 days there enjoying cafe lattes, good food, a TV in my dirty ugly room (when there was electricity and no cable cut!) I used the internet and visited the temples and then moved on to Vashisht. Vashisht is just a few minutes away from Manali, but much better. You are higher and get a much better view of the mountains from there. The village is a popular tourist destinations for its hot springs and relax atmosphere. There's lots of good food there and nice walks. I had heard there was a waterfall so I set up to go take some pictures. The waterfall was very far away and quite high. I followed a path were cows were grazing and went all the way up to the waterfall. It must have taken me at least an hour and a half. There was no one around and a nice view. When I got down, I stopped at a small guesthouse to have a drink and found out I had gone to the wrong waterfall. The one where people go was actually 5 minutes away and didn't require hiking up at all!!! I was tired, but since I was almost there I decided to go have a look. It was a really nice waterfall and the setting was much better than where I had just come from! Ah well, at least I got some exercise done today! Not sure that was a good time though because earlier I had fallen down with my 2 backpacks for the first time and my back and one knee were a bit painful.
I still had one last small village to visit, in the Kulu valley this time. Naggar is a place were a few tourists go to relax and take it easy. Some people were staying there for a whole week! There isn't much to do though, apart from a short visit to the uninteresting castle and some walking around to temples. I stayed in a guesthouse where there was a very beautiful garden filled with flowers and ran by nice people. I only spent one day there, it wasn't really attracting after being so close to the mountains in Kinnaur and Spiti.
Once last stop in Himachal Pradesh. The sacred lake of Resalwar. The lake is sacred for both hindus and buddhists and is surrounded by hindu temples and buddhist monasteries where several young monks are studying and lots of monkeys umpp on the roof tops. There again I saw signs against the Olympics, but no demonstration. There is a giant statue of Guru Rinpoche above the lake. It's actually being painted now and is not finished, but will look amazing. Higher up, much higher up, there is a cave. It wasn't worth the hour and a half climb, but behind it there is a forest of prayer flags that is quite impressive. I don't think I have ever seen so many in one spot. I went back down a bit faster and had a last thukpa (tibetan soup) before heading to the ugly city of Mandi (there was a forest fire there last night) and on the night bus to Delhi.
