Kalpa , Himachal Pradesh.

After venturing for an hour and having breakfast at Chitkul, I kicked off to Kalpa, Himachal Pradesh. Kalpa is a small town located at Sutlej river valley and  a distance of 75 kms from Chitkul, Himachal Pradesh. Roads to Kalpa are narrow and in a good condition. Kalpa is just located above Reckong Peo at a distacne of 5kms.

Ride to Kalpa was short and offered beautiful view of Kinner-Kailash mountain range. It was around 1pm when I reached Kalpa. My plan was to camp at Kalpa, which however did not happened and finally checked in to the hotel with great view of Kinner-Kailash. Kalpa has plenty of options for accommodation and are pocket friendly. After resting and having my lunch at hotel, I decided to roam around and explore Kalpa. The very first thing I noticed was old traditional architecture made of wood and stones. There are few temples and a monastery in town. I did not ventured much in town and came back to my hotel for rest and other reason was to sit and enjoy the view of mighty Himalayas standing tall in front of me. It was a peaceful and calm day spent at Kalpa and prepared for my next stop Tabo.

Kalpa, Himachal Pradesh.

View from my hotel room.

Bell.

Roaming around in Kalpa.

Traditional old house made of wood and stones.

Wooden art.

Met this innocent soul at monastery.

Himalayas.

Temple.

Apple orchard.

Prayer wheel at monastery.

These flags are carrying good wishes.

Kiner Kailash, a thumb like structure in the middle can be seen.

Chitkul Village, Himachal Pradesh.

On my way to Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh, my next stop was Chitkul. It is a last village located on Indo-Tibet border and at a distance of 180kms from Narkanda, Himachal Pradesh. Riding to Chitkul was one of the best ride I had till now. Road offers the view of Sutlej river, the famous cliff-hanger roads of Kinnaur and the beautiful Sangla Valley on the way. 

My first stop was at Sutlej view point from where the view was beautiful and one can see the roaring Sutlej. After few snaps at view point I continued my ride and now I was riding along river, Sutlej. Riding in such terrain is always fun and breathtaking, but one should be cautious of incoming traffic. After riding few kilometers it was a cliff-hanger experience, now roads were narrower and I was bit slow. I parked my Enflied on the broadest point of the road, clicked few snaps and admired the beauty of the road. Cliff-hangers are considered to be one of the most dangerous roads around the world. These roads are narrow running parallel to river, with plenty of incoming traffic. Narrow roads continued to Sangla Valley where it gets wide opened.

Sangla is small village, with number of guest houses and hotel , at distance of 50kms from Chitkul. It was about to rain, so I decided not to take a break at Sangla and reach Chitkul asap. On the way one can find many camps for accommodation near Rakcham, a village at 14kms from Sangla. Road to Chitkul is un-tarred going through wooden slopes and streams without bridges. But again rough road offered beautiful view of Baspa Valley. There is a small army check point before 3kms of Chitkul where we have to provide identification and no permits are required for Indian citizen. It was 5:30pm when I finally made to Chitkul. There are few guest house at Chitkul which remain open in summers and shut down in winters due to heavy snow. After checking in to hotel, I wandered for an hour in Chitkul, talked with locals and came to know about Nagasthi. Nagasthi is at a trekking distance of 4kms from Chitkul, which is the last Indian outpost on Indo-Tibet border.

Next day I ventured for an hour in Chitkul and left for my next destination Kalpa, Himachal Pradesh.

Sutlej View point on the way to Chitkul.

Unknown village.

There are many water fall on the way.

Entering KinnaurValley.

Cliff-hanger.

Cliff-hanger.

Birdyyy..

Agriculture is the main source income for locals, Chitkul.

Hydro Power project.

Basapa Valley.

First glimpse of Chitkul, Himachal Pradesh.

Chitkul Village.

Store house.

View of my hotel.

Dense forest around Chitkul.

Basapa River.

Wheat.

Splash.

To be continued to Kalpa, Himachal Pradesh.......

Narkanda, Himachal Pradesh.

To travel to Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh holds its place on the top of my to-do list.he Spiti Valley is a desert mountain valley located high in the Himalaya mountains in the north-eastern part of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The name "Spiti" means "The Middle Land", i.e. the land between Tibet and India.

I planned to escape to Spiti in the month of August and planed my itinerary accordingly.First day of my ride started from Delhi via Chandigarh to Narkanda, Himachal Pradesh. At a distance of  5kms from Narkanda at an altitude of 12000ft and is a highest peak in Shimla region, Hatu Peak. At the top of the peak a wooden temple is dedicated to "Mandodari" wife of "Ravana". Government tourist guest house for night stay is available at Hatu Peak.  I planned to camp on the lawn of rest house from where the view was serene. It was a scary night for me as locals warned me about the movement of wild animals, which made me sleepless whole night. After a long tiring night view of sunrise from my camp was refreshing and  energized all of my senses.

On Day 2 my destination was Chitkul, Himachal Pradesh, at a distance of 180kms from Narkanda. I took a breakfast hault at Narkanda town  and left to Chitkul with lots of good memories from Narkanda.

Misty view of mountains after rain.

Break somewhere near to Kalka, Himachal Pradesh.

View of Shimla, Himachal Pradesh.

Towards Narkanda, Himachal Pradesh.

Yak rides can be enjoyed on the way to Narkanda, Himachal Pradesh.

Apple orchards at Theog, Himachal Pradesh.

Narkanda is not far now after a day long ride.

Lawn of tourist guest house where I pitched my camp.

Morning view from my camp.

Sunrise from Hatu Peak.

Hatu Mata temple.

 

To be continued.........