First and foremost: Wishing you and your family a very very Happy Diwali!!!

The Journey so far…

Day 5 | Losar to Kaza and Rest for the Day

8th May 2013: I somehow survived the last night but did not want to persist staying at Losar, Sahil had work so I decided to leave alone to Kaza early morning. Thankfully the bus service between Kaza – Losar started only last evening, so next morning I was supposed to get the bus at 7 AM for Kaza. I was so disappointed that I even SMSed one friend Bhaskar who was supposed to leave from Kaza that morning for Sangla to wait for me. Special Thanks to him as he waited for me to arrive but unfortunately his plan was to Nako and then to Sangla while I was interested to go back home as soon as possible due to all this disappointment 🙁 … I opted to have complete rest in Kaza at Tsering’s Hotel Snow Lion to ease out the left over symptoms of AMS. I was already feeling very light and headache was all gone too and just 300-350 odd Mtrs descend to Kaza from Losar, did the magic 😀 I had my breakfast with Bhaskar and his friends, thanked them as they left for Nako and I went to sleep. Nothing really happened whole day as I just took complete rest in the room and couple of short walks with Tsering in the market of Kaza.

Day 6 | Failed attempt to Langza – Komik – Hikkim from Kaza

9th May 2013: Next day, I decided to travel on my own to Langza – Komik – Hikkim, got a sumo for Rs 1200 for whole day. On the way gave some lifts to locals who asked us to take the route from Hikkim side as ascend will be easier since the road has just opened a day before. Unfortunately I forgot to carry water with me 🙁 and after some heart pounding moments on the road to Hikkim, there came a stretch where slush was too much. We tried everything, putting mud on it, pushing vehicle through it and but sumo refused to dodge that slush 🙁 🙁 … I was feeling exhausted due to lack of water and psyche too :D, sought of I was loosing confidence in the skills of taxi guy, so asked him to get down to village. Slowly while getting down I was not feeling that well to wait for an hour for water otherwise could have visited Langza at least 😥 … Anyways the trip was such only !! But, you can enjoy some pictures of whatever I could cover there in that short foray…

Sakya Tangyud Monastery, Kaza…
Sakya Tangyud Monastery, Kaza
An Aerieal view beyond Rangrik…
An Aerieal view beyond Rangrik
Rough roads leading you to Komik…
Rough roads leading you to Komik
Rough roads leading you to Komik
Can you see the vista and yes we had to clear the boulders ourselves 😀
Can you see the vista and yes we had to clear the boulders ourselves
As if you are on top of everyting
As if you are on top of everyting
The slush where car refused to climb and sadly I have to turn back to Kaza 🙁
The slush where car refused to climb and sadly I have to turn back to Kaza
The slush where car refused to climb and sadly I have to turn back to Kaza
But the vistas beyond were like
But the vistas beyond were like
But the vistas beyond were like
And yes, we turn back
And yes, we turn back
And yes, we turn back
The Tiny Kaza Town, somewhere near the bridge I stayed at Snow Lion
The Tiny Kaza Town, somewhere near the bridge I stayed at Snow Lion
Magical Views towards Losar
Magical Views towards Losar
That’s Road to Rangrik Village, just ahead of Kaza
That's Road to Rangrik Village, just ahead of Kaza
That road goes to Langza, so as to complete the circuit as Hikkim, Komik, Langza
That road goes to Langza, so as to complete the circuit as Hikkim, Komik, Langza
Lowering down towards Kaza
Lowering down towards Kaza
Came down all the way, somewhere up from there
Came down all the way, somewhere up from there
A tiny Fall as seen from below
A tiny Fall as seen from below
Day 7 | Kaza Rest Day

10th May 2013: I was waiting for Sahil to come back, but he came late on next day as he had some work. So, I did kind of nothing but just slept the whole day and once he arrived we continued some good gup-shup sessions with locals which I was involved for the last couple of days along with Tsering. Overall experience of being with Tsering, getting to know about the local life especially in winters, their culture and his love for Spiti Valley along with the people there was something really commending. Since, he has roots from the Spiti only so he had tremendous knowledge of the place as well. Stay with him at Sakya Abode OR his other guest house at monastery is a MUST. You can even stay at his Home Stay too which is well versed with comfort and facilities one require.

Day 8 | Kaza – Tabo – Nako – Kinnaur – Matiana

11th May 2013: Next morning we started from Kaza with initial plan of reaching Kalpa BUT unfortunately this day as well the car started giving trouble with signs of electrical failure. Sahil faced similar problem before so he told me that if it will stop then it will not start again. In the fear of it, did nothing BUT just kept driving and last hopes of taking pictures were also lost. It was drizzling when it became dark but we continued, finally halted the journey again at Matiana at Krish Rauni Resort for just the night in the hopes that car will start next morning.

Day 9 | Matiana – Shimla – Chandigarh – Delhi

12th May 2013: In the morning we woke up, got ready and went to see if the car will start… Well, the add insult to the injury, car just failed to start !! I had to join office the next day, so I decided to leave Sahil and continue the journey back home in buses from there. It was raining, I waited on the NH-22 under a tree shade for a bus to arrive for Shimla and finally it did. Since, it was some local bus it took about 2.5-3 Hrs to finally reach Shimla main bus stand for a journey of 50 KMs… But, it was memorable one and rains just added the charm. I was actually enjoying it after sometime. Then, I took a bus from Shimla bus stand to Chandigarh of Haryana road ways which took about 5 Hrs to reach Chandigarh. Then, took the Volvo from Chandigarh to Delhi to reach at mid-night where my dad came for the pickup. After a long long day, finally reached home, hugged the wifey & junior before crashing in the bed to re-civilize next morning.

As it was raining at Matiana near Narkanda
As it was raining at Matiana near Narkanda

This ended this Tale of mine to Spiti Valley, which was not that good in terms of taking pictures or exploring the places in Spiti Valley but at least the time spent with the locals up there in Spiti Valley was worth the memory for long time 🙂 … I hope you enjoyed it 🙂 🙂

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I am Dheeraj Sharma - a traveler, techie, and Himalayan lover. Since 2009, I have been helping thousands of travelers every year plan memorable & budget-friendly trips to the Himalayas - Smartly, Safely, and responsibly.

6 Comments

    • Thanks you so much again 🙂 … Guess, you should plan a trip to Spiti Valley as well to really witness such pristine beauty 🙂