The Mountains Are Calling And We Must Go�. - 17 Days in Leh & Spiti

[MG]

Finally I'm starting it all over again

First view of hillsSolan city at night

[Rune]

Wish you luck.

Oh and offtopic,

What is that something big you have finalized for 2012?

[darkknight]

finally you got the time:

@all: This will only be a monologue sorta writing --nothing funny as in Vishwas sir's log nor as eloquent as alankar's

But hopefully MG lens will appease all of you

ps:i am not a poser.with only one person behind the camera the other has a "moral responsibility" to be in the frame

[alankarmisra]

@all: This will only be a monologue sorta writing --nothing funny as in Vishwas sir's log nor as eloquent as alankar's

Well thank you for the compliment but to be honest I'd rather read what you have to say than write what I have to say because the latter takes too much effort and the former gives me joy and pleasure without doing a thing. So PLEASE GET ON WITH THE LOG!

[tourer_kashif]

Finally Mg realized that....Readers are waiting and I must write

[satyenpoojary]

This calls for a story telling G2G - Vishwas style, so what if either of you had anyone as 'interesting' as Mr. BS!

[kingkong]

But hopefully MG lens will appease all of you

ps:i am not a poser.with only one person behind the camera the other has a "moral responsibility" to be in the frame

yeah it will.....

ps: good that you made it clear...,

Finally I'm starting it all over again

keep it coming.....

[MG]

DAY 4 – 19TH JUNE – SHIMLA TO RECKONG PEO – 260kmAround Narkanda






Somewhere around Sainj where you get the first view of Sutlej













Maintaining a constant speed of 60 in the hills crossing narkanda we took a lunch break at Rampur the largest town around at around 4 pm.
Just before Rampur


The hotel was beautifully located over the flowing river & the outstretched wooden deck offered an excellent view.


Leaving Rampur at 5 we still had around 110 kms to cover.

Crossed jeori & moved towards wangtu.
Just after Jeori




Structures like this makes you feel so small






The road is calling you


First view of snow, look closely at the top left


A small sleepy Himalayan village

As wangtu begins you wonder where exactly you are going. The roads deteriorate to no roads as you enter karcham.

The entire area looked & reminded me of the 70’s movies wherein workers & labourers were brought in from outside to work in mines & industrial camps & what not

The entire area seems to be covered in dust flying here & there---humongous sized trucks carrying people & material across the treacherous pathways, small stalls selling eatables all only contributed to my feeling.

Later came to know that this for the ambitious jaypee dam project that the scale of this particular hydro project was such huge that it warranted for many of the workforce present over there.

As we moved on from karcham we only could thank the rain gods as it would have been very very difficult to attempt that particular terrain in the rains.

As we neared the dam an eerie feeling crept upon me. The entire stretch in the night looked had an uncanny resemblance to Hollywood movie’s rendition of a desolate planet where everything is destroyed & left to the nature’s forces.

The sound of the gushing water war near deafening to the ears—the old trucks standing on the roadside & the huge kailash kinner dwar excited & frightened at the same time.

The pics as you can see don’t do complete justice to the surroundings on that particular night.
Jaypee Dam site


Jaypee Dam. See how the water is gushing out,one of my favourite shot from the whole trip



Reckong peo from here was another 30 kms. & we moved without any difficulty reaching peo at around 9.15 pm deciding that we will return again to experience the effect of the dam in the morning the next day.

Finding a decent hotel we made arrangements for stay & headed out for dinner.

Having boiled vegetables & watching India-pakistan match we retired for the day.

[phanikar]

.

My favorite shot as well MG

[tourer_kashif]

the last pic is really nice
waiting for the next day....

[MG]

DAY 5 – 20TH JUNE - Reckong Peo - Kalpa - Peo - Nako - 145km

Morning 8 am & we head to 14 kms. up towards kalpa keeping the luggage at hotel room in peo itself.
Room at Peo


The short journey took us through thick pine trees up towards kalpa & first views of the majestic kailash kinner range.













The entire tops were covered in snow & this was our actual first view up close of the snow caped mountains.








The highest point in the range is the Kinner Kailash Peak




Stopped for a photo break & spotted the kinner palace hotel board.
Hotel Kinnar Kailash








Rode up till the hill top hotel for sumptuous breakfast with a view of the forest covered hills.








Spend sometime & rode back to peo. Gathered our belongings –bought some sundry items & left around at 12 pm.

The journey from peo begins with the mountains changing their way & giving rise to very different vistas around.






Immediately after 20 odd kms from peo comes a beautiful bridge over a natural huge waterfall where the cascading water always forms a rainbow in sunlight.








More & more brittle & barren landscapes greet the eye after this. Vehicular movement turns to a minimum but construction activities are going on this entire patch.






The roads deteriorate further up & run almost parallel to the river. Travelling some 40 kms ahead & crossing a bridge near Powari you get to see an extremely rare sight in the Himalayas---butter smooth tarmac.
Both of us looked at each other & just ripped the throttle to triple digit speeds.
Just before the bridge in Powari






The tarmac after Powari






It’s a pity that this stretch ended in just 10 kms. Beyond this there were absolutely no roads.

1 km up ahead saw that construction work was on & the road was completely closed but huge boulders.

Chatted up with the workers & waited till the roads were cleared & continued ahead.




No sooner than some kms passed than the bike wobbled & we faced the 1st puncture for my rear tyre.


We removed the puncture repair kit but than decided against it as someone gave us information about a village ahead 25 kms who had a mechanic.

Reached Spillow & enquired for the mechanic who didn’t have any idea about tubeless puncture. So took a lunch of noodles & lunch plate, had the rear tyre pressure of more than 40 psi & moved ahead towards pooh a village with better mechanic.

The road wound through some real bad patches & finally got puncture removed at pooh.

We were still around 70 odd kms away from nako, our destination for the day.

The time was around 5.30 when we left pooh.

The road next was ok sorts weaving through solid mountains on the right & moving upwards away from the river.






As you finally leave the river behind near Khab begins a series of loops called kazhigs loops which are very similar to the famous gata loops of leh.
Just before start of Kazhigs loop






See the Kazigs loop behind, very similar to Gata loops which comes enroute to Leh


Crossing these you travel further & see a small hamlet nestled alongside the mountain covered in all green.

That’s Nako for you. We made it around 8 pm i.e before dark so were comfortable to scout around.

Reaching there we realised that no network works for mobile in Nako. Also all the lines were down & because of the himachal CM visiting Pooh there was no electricity too,

The air was significantly cold & we found a nice home stay with all facilities.

Had hot dinner of chicken & vegetables, transferred the pictures to laptop & had a sound sleep.

[vatsa.devil]

pure awesomeness. .. loved the pics. I dream of doing this some day and putting up MY log on the tourer section.

[MG]

DAY 6 –21st June - NAKO TO KAZA – 93km

The day begun as usual at 8 am.

Visited the nako lake which actually isn’t much to look at & moved towards the monastery at Nako.
Nako Lake




Tourists near Nako Lake




The monastery was overlooking majestic mountains on the right & cool wind was blowing our way.

It was a beautiful calm and serene place but the main entrance inside the monastery was closed.
Nako Monastery




Himalayan range as seen from the Monastery




We looked around a bit & moved back to leave from Nako.
Small but very pretty Nako village


As we were getting ready two foreigners came up & asked us for help with their broken down royal Enfields.

Since the problem was a major one it was decided for them to load their bikes onto trucks & take them to Manali.

We advised them on the approximate charges for the transport & started on our way for the destination-Kaza.

Soon after you leave Nako you see a helipad at the entrance of the village which was missed by us in the evening time the earlier day.

This sight of a helipad in villages would be oft repeated on our journey thenceforth in himachal.

5 kms ahead of Nako comes the famed Malling nala..

This basically refers to a huge mass of water cascading down the mountains on to the road & finally flowing down in the deep valley below.

As it was morning there wasn’t much water & we managed it comfortably.

Beyond Malling comes nice tarmac with loads of twisties to enjoy on your bike.

As you reach 30 kms below to Sumdo BSNL network is available. Sumdo is the last place which is open for normal people and tourists and from where Spiti valley starts beyond which a road cuts for Kaurik 17km away which is one of the place where we shares our border with China.
On way to Sumdo




Updating our folks about our status & a water break we moved towards Tabo.
Just after Sumdo


The grandeur of Himalayas


A little ahead & we were almost parallel to the river. There was this offroad patch which went all the way to the river bed. We knew we had very less distance to cover for the day so both of us couldn’t resist & took the bike through the sand right up till the river bank.

Rested & enjoyed the beauty for a while but getting the bike back onto the roads took some major efforts but managed it nonetheless.

Nitin looking for all the possible options






Finally we were there


View of the other side of the river.


Nitin posing


This is the offroad patch.See Nitin coming on his R15








What happens to your shoes after a short offroad dash


This is how the road is all the way to Tabo


Tabo at a distance of around 60kms houses a monastery known as the tabo monastery.

Just outside Tabo. The xBhp pose with a twist


We stopped for lunch at around 4 pm & had local Tibetan speciality ‘Thenduk’. Unfortunately no non veg was available & had to do with vegetarian fare.
The place where we had our lunch




The owner enquired about us & asked if we needed petrol. As we were moving towards kaza which had a petrol bunk we refused the repercussions of which we had to face later on.

After lunch & a visit at the monastery we made our way back onto the road once again.
Tabo Monastery














Helipad at Tabo


Just outside the road opens like this


But within kms you are back to this






Rode for sometime & than passing a bend came to the majestic view of the river near Shijling.

It was a minimum of 900 metres wide & gushing towards the plains.
River bed near Shijling








As the road was almost touching it both of us dismounted our steeds & spent the next hour lazing around & capturing photographs.

Time was on hand & maintaining an average speed of 40-50 we crossed a hydel project & moved towards pin valley.

Pin valley – located at a distance of 60 kms from kaza you have to take a diversion 30 kms before it.

Deciding to visit the next day we made our way towards kaza & reached around at 6 pm.

Found a decent hotel, unloaded the bikes & rested for a while.

The night found us visiting a restaurant having a very friendly & knowledgeable owner.

Over a few drinks & excellent momos & thenduk we sat talking late into the night.

[tourer_kashif]

All the pics are just awesome.

[MG]

Thanks Kashif. One of the best days if you ask me in terms of clicking