There was a really long break between the last post of this travelogue and this one due to a number of reasons including work and other stuff. Anyhow, now I have some time and inclination to write down the travelogue again. Last post here.
As we were packing up and heating poha packets for breakfast, 2 officials from Himachal forest department walked in and started chatting. They warned us against camping near the lake but were polite about it. Provided us with some information about the place, chatted a bit and let us off with instructions on what to do in places like that. Pradhan (the head shepherd I have mentioned previously) was there and started complaining how the excess of camping was destroying the vegetation, adversely affecting animals and making the place filthy. He was absolutely right, to be honest. One of the reasons, I didn’t want to camp in campsite was the noise which the idiot tourists make all night long. One night, there was a group of 7-8 people who kept on playing highly retarded Bhojpuri, Punjabi songs all night after getting drunk. Another night, there was a group of some Punjabi retards who after getting drunk kept on beating an old drum and trying to sing (scream) along the annoying noise. Nobody seems to care that the place is a protected wilderness area and making noise like that, specially after dark, littering and their retarded way of celebrating a day out is highly stupid. One of the Punjabi NRIs who stayed in the campsite was dumb enough to demand chicken by whining ,” Appa ithey aaloo khaan waaste aaye hain ” ? (Are we here to eat potatoes ?)
Dumbass is in a campsite in a wilderness, 12 hours drive from Manali and at least 7 hours from Kaza, nearest towns which can have chicken and feels like he is entitled to it which isn’t really that popular food in the area just because he and his equally stupid loutish friends drove from pind Punjab to remote Spiti. It’s a small mercy that idiots like him don’t stay for more than one day. To make it better, most of people in that group were without any winter clothing.
Anyhow, as we started our walk back to campsite we saw a number of new tourists on the way.On the way, wifey got a lift in a car going back while me and ACB took a goat trail which led to nowhere, We had to slide down the slate rocks for a good 100 meters before we found a proper solid ground to walk upon. Reaching back, me and wifey decided to move on further towards Kaza next day while ACB decided to go back to Manali. The rest of day wasn’t particularly remarkable as I spent most of my time napping and walking around the Chandrabhaga river bank while wifey and ACB chatted with other guests.
The French girls were taking a bus to Kullu airport and from there a flight to Delhi. ACB was offered lift in car of one of the guests. Our plan was to stay for one or two nights in Losar, in Dorjee’s homestay before deciding upon what to do next. So ACB left the camp at 8 am while we got in to another car with Jamaica and French girls till Batal 2-3 hours later. There we found ACB waiting impatiently for the bus. Due to some miscommunication he had stayed in Batal while the others drove away to Manali. He could just find a spot to stand in the bus while I helped him tie his luggage on the rooftop. I don’t think that it was a very comfortable journey for him.
Our bus arrived soon after and I had to get on top of bus again to tie our own rucksacks. The bus was already full, but there was some space to stand atleast. The ride up the mountain towards Kunzum La is very slow and quite treacherous. On the way, there was an earth mover coming from opposite direction on a very narrow stretch. It was impossible for bus to go back from there, so the earth mover driver tried to turn back. All he succeded in doing was to almost roll down the slope to river atleast 300 meters below. At one time, only 2 of his 4 tires were on ground while other 2 were in air. Bus passengers actually started filming the whole thing. Thankfully, earth mover driver managed to get it back on the road and then drove back in reverse.
Upon reaching Kunzum La, most of the passengers got off the bus to our pleasant surprise. The drive up Kunzum La was not very comfortable and the rest of drive was unlikely to be much better, One young man told us that they were going to lake for the local festival. Goddess Kunzum was kind to us again as we finally found space to sit. Drive to Losar was all downhill and Dorjee’s guest house was actually on the outer edge of village. After asking around, we finally found the right place and got down. I had to climb up the bus’ roof again to get the rucksacks which were completely covered in dust. The road leading to village seemed to be freshly laid. Later on we came to know that it was some central govt project to improve connectivity. But the quality of work was really shoddy and work was done for 1 km only. After that, it was same old broken stone trail.
We found the guest house without any difficulty but it was locked. One local told us that the family (Dorjee’s wife and daughter) were in their fields and will be back in a few hours. As we had no other option, we decided to have some snacks and wait. I walked around the village to see if there was some shop, but found nothing. There were only 3 kids who entered the guest house’s compund and looked at us as if were aliens. I saw one man working on his house and he invited me to go to his peas field and eat them fresh. I thanked him for the offer and then he told me that they had sent someone on a bike to call Dorjee’s wife back. It was a really nice gesture from them as they did it without us asking for it.
The houses in village were mostly made of mud, stones and wood with some concrete usage. The flat roofs were used to store dry firewood. Spiti River flowed just across the road and the old metal bridge made sounds like a jet engine whenever a heavy vehicle passed over it.
As I was walking around aimlessly, Sonam (Dorjee’s wife) came by walking briskly and opened the door for us. We had a cup of chai, rested and then walked around the village. A small, clean community with a primary school, government dispensary and connected only by a small uneven road. There were a few guest houses, a small police post and a few shops about 1-2 Km up, but this part of village was separated by a mountain stream. Dorjee family had 3 daughters, 2 were with maternal family for holidays and 1 was staying at home helping her mother Sonam with farm work.
They had built the house as a guesthouse to rent out to tourists passing through the area. It was not very luxurious but ok. Bedroom was a room with pictures of Buddhist, Hindu deities, Dalai Lama and some herbs being dried. For sleeping, there were two mattresses and thick blankets on ground. The windows were thick and air-tight to prevent cold air from getting in. People in this area need to sleep with every room made airtight. We had to open up the windows a few cm at night because we felt suffocated.
Toilet on the other hand was just a small shed around a hole on the roof. The shit fell in to a room which acted as kind of a compost pit. Not something that we were expecting, but still better than digging a hole in hard ground and then covering it up.
It was bit more comfortable accommodation when compared to campsite and pretty much how local villagers live. There were a few signs of modern city life though. LPG was being used in kitchen instead of wood which was the norm not too long ago. Electricity supply was fairly good and most houses had dish tv.The main dining room was kept warm by wood, coal fire. Food was quite simple but good. Most of the time, it was wheat bread with locally grown vegetables like peas, onions, potatoes etc. Very fresh and tasted pretty good.
During dinner, Sonam told us about a small village Kyamo at the end of road at a distance of about 5 km, supposedly the last village in that direction.
We thought that it might be an interesting idea, visiting the last village at end of the road, even though it isn’t exactly as cool as something like last village on border or something like that. So next morning, me and wifey packed up some water, snacks and started walking on the road along Spiti river. It was a sunny day but the wind made it feel like a really cold one. There was not particularly remarkable once you get used to huge mountains and rocks all around. During our hike of 5 km, we saw only 3 people. A shepherd and his 2 children with their herd of cows and zebus who just looked at us curiously from a distance. There were a number of mountain streams mostly fed by still melting ice on the the mountains all around. After walking for about 1 hour, we finally reached the village which was more like a cluster of 15-18 houses and fields all around.Most of the people were busy working there. One woman was not as shy as others and walked up to see us from up close and exchange a few pleasantries. We filled up our water bottle from a stream which was originated from a snow bank a few 100 meters away from the village and rested for a while. A few kids came up to look at us but ran away whenever I pointed camera at them.
After a few minutes, we started walking back to Losar. On the outskirts, we met Sonam and her daughter who were working in their pea farm. Wifey went with the girl to see their peas while I wanted to explore a cave like structure half way up the mountain nearby. From a distance it looked like a nice place where snow or water could accumulate and I thought there could be some water there. The stones coming down from that place also reinforced this notion. So while wifey went on to the farm, I started climbing up the mountain. It wasn’t such an easy thing walking up the incline on a very rocky surface after a walk of about 11 km. In the end it was all for nothing as the place was completely dry. The place had a dried out pond over there but no sign of water. Any water which had accumulated there had flown out months back. So I climbed down and followed the women back to guest house. On the way, they gave me some fresh green peas to snack upon.
We were pretty tired by the time we reached back home and rested while watching some old Hindi movie on TV. Right then, a small mouse entered the room and started running around. The little girl and wifey jumped up and started screaming as it came towards them while Sonam remained a bit calmer. I chased it with a broom trying to shove it away out of house, but it scampered below the TV table which was covered by a table cloth and hid there. Finally I found it hiding inside a small cardboard box. I picked it up and dumped mouse outside the window. As I was getting amused by all the scared women drama, I walked towards them holding the box in hand and claimed that the mouse was still inside. All 3 shouted even louder and started running around in circles. And I laughed and laughed and laughed.
Good end to the day.