Magical Kinnaur

March 2008

We enjoyed our first road trip to Kumaon so much that when we came back, we went crazy planning for our next trip, and bought all sorts of books, one of which was the Himachal Pradesh Outlook Traveller. While going through this, we kept coming back to one article - the one which described Sangla and Kinnaur in detail. It had been just 3 months since our wedding, and taking another big break from work was not possible - at max we could plan a five day trip, taking advantage of a long weekend. But was it possible to cover a far-way place like Kinnaur in just five days? We had our doubts, but nevertheless packed our bags and set out on another trip, this time to discover Kinnaur.

We left early in the morning, had a grand breakfast of paranthas at Murthal, and then finally stopped at the CCD at Dharampur for lunch. We were worried since our scheduled stop for the day was Rampur Bushehr, another 170 kms or 6 hours from Dharampur. After a hearty lunch and some freshening up, we proceeded towards Shimla. The road after Shimla is very picturesque, passing through Mashobra, Kufri, Theog and Narkanda. We finally reached Rampur somewhere around 8pm and checked into the HPTDC there. We were dead tired and after a delicious dinner, hit the sack immediately!

The next morning was lovely, and we were all geared up to reach Kalpa, a small village which offers excellent views of the Kinner Kailash massif. However, our spirits were soon dampened by the poor quality of the road till Wangtu, due to the construction of some major hydel power projects on the way. However, some parts of the drive on the historic Hindustan-Tibet road were lovely, with the road being cut out of cliffs at many places! We reached Kalpa sometime in the afternoon, after a steep drive of 6km from Rekong Peo, the administrative HQ of the Kinnaur district. The HPTDC here is beautiful, built in typical Kinnauri style! The driveway of the HPTDC was lined with a huge pile of snow on both sides, and our Esteem just about made it inside! And the view! Oh the view! Right in front of you lies the ethereal Kinner Kailash massif in all its glory, all its ragged edges shining in the sun. A sight to behold! We spent the evening gazing at it, and clicking away till the sun went down.

There was no water at the HPDTC, all water having frozen in the taps! We just spent one cold night here, and got ready the next morning to go to Sangla. But not before buying two bottles of local wine from Kalpa! :)

We drove back till Karchham, from where the road bifurcates towards Sangla. This road is pretty bad and quite steep as well, and just when one is starting to wonder where one is going, the wide and open Sangla valley unfolds after a bend, the Baspa riven flowing through it, apple orchards all around, and surrounded by the icy snow peaks that cut India off from Tibet. Its difficult to believe that such a beautiful valley exists at 2700m! We spent some time by the banks of the Baspa, marvelling at how the snow on the banks hasn't melted yet.... and then checked into a dingy little hotel, 'The Baspa Guest House'. In the evening, we went up till the Kamru fort, from which one can see and admire the entire Sangla valley. We watched the sunset here, and then retraced our steps back to the hotel.

In the morning, we had a problem to deal with. Since our car was pretty dirty, we thought of washing the windscreen with our car sprinklers - and whoa! the water froze! We then had to get some hot water and splash on the windscreen before we could finally take off to Chitkul, 26kms away. We were lucky that the road to Chitkul had been cleared of snow just two days back, and that made the drive lovelier, with snow piled up on both sides of the road. We really felt that we were driving to the end of civilization, and when we did reach Chitkul, that feeling was complete. A village with a few houses spread here and there, all covered under a thick blanket of snow, and a closed dhaba with a sign that read 'Hindustan ka aakhri Dhaba' - that's Chitkul for you! One can actually see the road ending here, and if you stare long enough at the huge mountains ahead, you may even get the feeling that you see Tibet somewhere there! We walked on in the snow for a km or so, but then the snow started melting and we could no longer walk properly without our feet sinking in the snow. Reluctantly, we made our way back, and then drove off back to civilization.

Our plan was to return to Rampur that night, but since we were reaching there early, we thought of spending some time at the temple town of Sarahan before halting for the night at Rampur. However, Sarahan stole our hearts, especially the beautiful location of the HPDTC there, right in from of the temple and on the edge of the mountain, that we decided to stay the night there. We strolled around the temple a bit in the evening, had some nice food while looking at the Srikhand Mahadev range from the hotel's dining room, and then soon later hit the sack.

The next day was a long one - a 16 hour drive to Delhi, which got further extended since we stopped for a leisurely lunch at Shimla, roaming around the Mall a bit. We finally reached Delhi around 1am, exhausted like hell, but our eyes bright with the memories of the breathtaking place that Kinnaur is.