The narrative is excellent, the interspersed facts make it very useful and informative. The pictures are icing on the cake. Very well done Aryan.

Hats off to the write up Aryan da...its just brilliant and the Pics as said by sunny bhai are indeed icing on the cake

SOOPER ride there Aryan & DCS! The logs till now are very good and the pics are just too mind blowing!

Now I really want a job change and move the NCR region .

PS: Why are some pics watermarked with ur ID and some with ur real name?

@Leon: Thanks. It's lovely to see your reply on this thread. Finally!

@Sarab: That was the project site of Jaypee. Each day, 24 hours water is thrown out off that dam into the river, and the force with which the water gushes out is simply incredible. As for the sound that the gushing water makes - you have to hear it to believe it!

@Rachit & Abhi: Thank you guys.

@Sunny: I am glad you liked the narration as well as the pictures. Thanks so much.

@Praful: I got bored of watermarking all the pictures the same way; just wanted some change in-between.

Well I am quite busy these days with office work...but the first thing which I do when I log in my PC is to check your thread Aryan Da and DCS bhai..... the pics and the narration in breathtaking.... I dont have words nor can I explain it in any word in present vocabulary.... i would just say hats off to you both to give us all such a meaningful and marvellous trip log.... which I know all would love to the core of their thumping heart........ seriously man its amazingly outstanding.......

DCS Bhai -- that was a nice shot you took of that notice on the wall for the pee and s&*($

Outstanding man I am checking DCS bhai's picasa for now.....

Aryan Da ----- dont know what to say but you are the best

DCS Bhai -->> I went through all your pic and man its amazing mmmm seriously I think you have taken almost pics of everyday so its like seeing your pics one can imagine your ride and all good going brother.......

still cant stop laughing whenever I think of your pic of the notice on wall hehehehehehehe

Wow! That is more than breathtaking. Undoubtedly that was the most beautiful set of pictures so far. The coloured stones were fantastic.

Btw; where did you get the info related to geological age and such similar stuff? Interesting to know about Lingti and it's age.

Time to get your card printed eh...

Yes, totally true. DCS has documented the ride in his own unique way, capturing everything that I just could not, and then some. Thanks to him, we get to know about the 'other facet' of this mammoth ride.


Thanks, am glad you found the pictures good enough.

I have been gathering information on many places of Spiti ever since I had plans to ride there. These bits and pieces of information I gathered during my research of the Spiti valley, some two months back.

no brother I asked both of you to share some tips, thats why I addressed as Guys instead of names... Ofcourse I would love to be your disciple if you could teach me something about taking such pics ..
But I must say these pics of yours ( Read both ) are masterpiece..
wish I also could do a trip like this someday and take such pics Like Aryan said, to take a ride of a lifetime

Kaza - Kibber - Ki Gompa - Kaza

Route: Kaza - Kibber - Ki (Kye) Gompa - Kaza

As soon as we reached Kaza, we gave a call to several people (friends and family) to let them know about the latest on our trip. After that, we started to search for a decent yet cheap guest house where we could spend the night. We did manage to find out a cheap guest house, where we freshened up a bit and decided to go visit the Kye monastery and the Kibber village.

We were very hungry. Enroute we decided to eat whatever we could lay our hands on, and so we did. Kye monastery is a short drive from Kaza, about 10-15 odd kilometres or so. The roads are decent too. Although the Kye monastery is a short drive from Kaza, but its location gives it a distinction from it's neighbourhood. Placed on a hillock, it stands apart from the rest of the valley, with construction crowding the hill on which it stands proudly for centuries now. Before visiting the Kye monastery, we continued on the same road and made it to Kibber, which is arguably the world's highest motorable village.

Situated at more than 4000 metres above the sea level, Kibber used to pride itself as the highest inhabited village in the world once, but that credit has now weathered down to only the highest motorable village in the world. With the expanding road networks, I am sure it will soon become the second, and later probably the third and so on and so forth in the days to come.

The village of Kibber is VERY Close to the Tibet border, and is mostly inhabited by the Tibetan Buddhists. There are just a few dozen houses in all of Kibber, and they all looked pretty similar to me. The villagers mostly rely on livestock to make a living, but as tourism is slowly but surely making inroads here, a couple of guest houses have sprung up. Kibber had electricity and even had a school, where school children were playing Volleyball in the ground. I wonder how do they manage to play ANY sport when we were having a tough time breathing even when sitting still!

The road that leads out of Kaza.


Enroute Kibber.


Bikes taking a breather at 14,025 feet.


Kibber Village - at 14,025 feet above Mean Sea Level (MSL).


Kibber Village.




Feeling proud and ofcourse mesmerized by the beauty of the Kibber village, we rode down the deserted path which had only rocks and dust as 'tarmac', towards the Kye monastery. The Ki Gompa as it is popularly known is one of Spiti Valley's most spectacular Buddhist monasteries and ofcourse well worth a few minutes (if not a few hours) of your valuable time. It's a fabulous, almost organic building that seems to be a part of the rocky outcrop above the Ki Village on which it sits. It is the biggest monastery of the Spiti Valley and a religious training centre of the Lamas.It is worthwhile to note that this Gompa dates back to around 1000AD, and is one of the oldest in the whole of Spiti Valley, second only to the Tabo Monastery that we visited day before.

We entererd the monastery after taking our machines all the way up to the monastery gates. We encountered an inner courtyard, confused and wondering which way to go. Just when our confusion was growing, a sweet voice offered us help. It was the monk speaking in a feeble voice, offering his assistance to us. The friendly monk took us through each room of the gompa. But before that he took us to the monks' kitchen where he offered us a cup of tea each. The kitchen seemed very very old, perhaps built many centuries ago, which still existed. Eventually, after talking with him for many moments, he took us to the prayer hall and lead us inside. He had a typical round Mongoloid face with small eyes and bulging cheeks. His robe clung to his body in a manner not very different from, say, a sari. It was a lovely experience visiting the Kye monastery. Although the monastery is so old, but there is really no visible evidence of the past. The buildings that stand today are made of white washed mud plaster and wood to support the roof. His Holyness Dalai Lam also paid a visit to the monastery, last, in the year 2000.

After giving us the full tour of the monastery, he escorted us back to the entrance of the Gompa, and humbly welcomed us to visit again. The goodness and the hospitality of the people of the hills just never ceases to amuse me. It never does, really.


Ki Gompa.













The Kye monastery stands on top of the hill, overlooking the Kye Village.









Kye Village.




We came down to Kaza after our heartwarming visit to Kibber and the Ki (Kye) Gompa. I still was having problems breathing, which eventually as I would find out will be there till I left Kaza. The evening at Kaza was much different than whatever amount of time we had spent up until now in the whole of Spiti Valley. It was actually a town full of chaos. Guesthouses littered the streets, and we could see many tourists roaming around. A few professionally run resorts too had sprung up in the outskirts of the town. However, after having a relatively heavy dinner we went back to our room, where we had to keep the windows open to let the air pass, so as to not have any kind of breathing problems or headache.

We were really having a tough time sleeping. We talked in length about our journey so far, where we have come, how much distance we had covered and ofcourse our journey back that was to start tomorrow morning. Eventually, we fell asleep to the cold climes, and the wonderful atmosphere to start our journey back the next day...


Next - We start our journey back from Kaza towards the National Capital, Delhi.

@ Ken: well, I for sure would not joke when it comes to receiving gifts.....!

@ Nio: Mate, if I call myself a photographer than I wonder what would I call Aryan, Ken,Jukebox,Sunny.....!! but I dont generally make different angles to shoot. hehehehehe. Most of the pics in the gallery were taken when I was on the bike itself. Its just Aim and Shoot.... Nikon P50 did its job wonderfully.
@ Shivanshu: Bhai, after the Era of Photography Film was Over, it was convinient and cost effective too to just aim and Shoot. 2GB ka card was enough for a week long ride.

@ Sarab: as told by Aryan, it was the water that was thrown out after the electricity generation........ aaj kal to log pani mein say bhe current nikal leytey hain....tabhi to aaj kal ki generation itni kamzor hai, bina takat wala pani pee pee kay.

@ Abhishek: woh gora gori incident bi batata hoon batata hoon


@ Aryan: I dont really know how my other mates are feeling after going through your wonderful narration, but I myself have been reading the stuff and going through the Photographs over and over again, Thanks Aryan for being a wonderful Companion on the ride and also for the wonderful posts. You Rock!! CHeers!

your pics gets better with every ride Aryan Da....that was yet another great write up with some beautiful pics

Thank you DCS, again, for those kind words. I look forward to riding more with you, and to such unexplored places. Let's cover the Lahaul valley, and perhaps even Chandrataal sometime soon. Chandrataal has always been a dream for me, ever since I remember.

WE rock!

wow you guys still have to finish the trip log and already planning next good good going bhai log ...

Shivanshu, I have changed the drive chain of my Zma to O Ring now, and have felt the significant difference. Now am waiting for the right opportunity to enjoy a ride that does not have the Crank-Crank noise of the Chain...lol