I am a die hard beach fan, my holidays constituted lounging bonelessly by in a beach shack & sipping on various alcoholic concoctions, letting the day drift by. So, when I was told by a friend of mine to join her & her family for a trip to the Kalpa and Sangla Valley in the Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh, I was totally circumspect about the idea. Mountains???? Et moi??? I would probably get bored to death within the first few days, & here we were planning a 12 day sojourn!
My wife however had enough of the beach & firmly put her pretty foot down to acquiesce for the trip. So the Himachal it was, from the 6th of May till the 18th of May
The first leg of the journey was from Mumbai to Delhi, on the red eye Air India flight. Landed in Delhi groggy, half asleep & squarely cursing the intolerable heat(considering it WAS mid may!). We had, of course, packed a whole load of warm clothes as per advice, & I was smirking after being exposed to a chilling 42 deg celsius in Delhi. Onward to Chandigarh by road, & the weather just got better & better, with the mercury spiralling & load shedding adding to our comfort.
Next day we took the HPTDC "Luxury !" bus to Reckong Peo(at 6 am from the Chandigarh Bus stand). 270 Kms was scheduled to take 14 hrs, and I quailed at the thought.
The moment we started the drive, & after we crossed the grimy & touristy city of Shimla, I started to fall in love with the vista & magic of the mountains. Narkenda, Rampur, and from Rampur onwards the bus started on a hair raising, vertiginous drive up to the Kinnaur valley. Roads are virtually non existent, & the faint hearted shouldnt look down the precipice, but the sheer majesty of the mountains!!! The moment we started on the climb, temperatures started plunging, as did the valley’s! Sheepishly, I was forced to pull on my jacket. The sheer beauty of the snow clad peaks, & the rushing Baspa river , made our tiredness of being rattled in the bus for 12 hours, drop away like a cloak. We landed at the termination of our journey at a quaint(if slightly commercial) town called Reckong Peo.
Onwards from Reckong to Kalpa in a Sumo, with the driver closely challenging Schumacher’s driving expertise, but by such time, we were hardened to the devil may care attitude of these drivers.
We parked ourselves at the Circuit House in Kalpa, very basic acomodation, but very hospitable & warm people. The dawn of the next day saw the mountains of the Kinner Kailash range coming abalze with the golden sheen of the rising sun. Nothing, no words or expressions, can ever describe the sheer awe inspiring beauty of the snow clad peaks at first morning light .One is just dumb struck ath the majesty of nature, & it just shows how small & inconsequential we are in the face of nature’s glory!
We trekked to the last village on the old Hindustan Tibet road, called Rogi. A straight walk of 6 Kms each way, and it was a total breeze, literally speaking too, since there was a gale force wind accosting us all through the walk. Rogi was a true revelation, a sleepy little hamlet, with a population of 500(yes, there are villages in India with such populations). We truly felt we were at the ends of the world, with a bunch of friendly, curious kids to give us company. Truly a village unspoilt by the ravages of tourism, no stray Lays packets, Frooti tetrapacks or empty cola bottles ruining the landscape. Heaven personified!!
4 days in Kalpa whizzed by, from whereon we proceeded to the Switzerland of the East, the Sangla Valley, which was approximately 45 Kms of mountainous terrain road from Kalpa. I wonder when it was the last time when a drive of 45 Kms took me 4 hours. Sangla was a picture postcard. Towering mountain ranges with densely forested valleys nestled in between. The only eye sore was the huge Dam on the Baspa river, which has totally ruined the delicate ecosystem of the valley beyond the dam point. The character of the river before the dam and after the dam is like comparing the Ganges at gomukh to the Mithi river. Beyond the basic circuit house accomodation at Sangla, one can also stay at the Kinnaur camps for a rough & ready experience, or the Banjara Camps, if you want a taste of urban comforts in the wilderness. The Banjara camps, although very well appointed, was not really our cup of tea, as it had too much of an urban feel. We essentialy wanted to be away from it all. Onwards from Sangla, we drove all the way to Raksham(population 735, jesus!!!), and had the most heartening meal I can think of in a long time. Basic food, but the taste , mamma mia!!!!!
The last outpost on the indo-tibet border was another lovely lay by village called Chitkul. Met a man there who was visitng back home, after completing his BA(Hons) from Shriram college in Delhi. Very warm hospitable people & family. It’s indeed like a breath of fresh air to meet people unspoilt by the commercial ravages of the materialistic world. We had to meet more content & happy people than the Kinnauri’s.
We actually crossed the Baspa which was in spate due to the glacier melting, on a primitive pulley & rope trolley, propelled purely by muscle power. Drank water straight from the streams, & ironically, filled bottles of "Himalaya Mineral Water" from the same streams.
An etheral holiday to say the least, far removed from the usual hustle and bustle of the hill stations during summer time. One note for the traveller to this region, expect no creature comforts, or have high expectations of the fare you get to eat. If you are a nature lover & want to see India’s pristine & unspoilt beauty, this is the place for you to visit. Apart from the local produce, shopping is not a major attraction, but then thats hardly the reason to visit this shangri-la. Go to Kinnaur, forget all urban attachments, be a thoughtful & considerate tourist, & please dont sully the surroundings. The sheer beauty of the place will enthrall you forever. Goa after this trip, Ha!! I am a true blue mountain convert, the ironical part being that if this review wins, then I get a free trip to Goa!! HAHA, will switch that for Kinnaur anyday!