This was our ninth journey since 2007. We - Vinod, Preetha and Deepak undertook this journey with lot of reservations. The high altitude, roads, climate, facilities etc. were unknown to us. The tourist season is yet to start and few friends (of friends) warned us about rooms without water (because the water was frozen) and extreme cold. Then the roads were simply unpredictable even on the eve of our journey from Kerala - 14th April 2011.
Kinnaur, fabled land of Kinnaras, is a district of Himachal Pradesh in India. The local people are said to be handsome, practice a mix of Buddhism and Hinduism and 9 hours drive from Shimla. Spiti, a cold desert, is the adjoining district. The people practice Tibetan Budhism and 8 hours drive from Rekong Peo,head quarters of Kinnaur. People use distinctive dresses and build unique houses in both the areas. The districts nestles in high Himalayas and lies on the India China border.
Preparations for the Journey
The planning was started in January 2010 with a tentative window of June 2010.Going through the Google earth, Lonely planet, DK's India and Outlook’s Himachal were the preliminary exercises. Then scanned through several websites including HPTDC, HRTC etc. Even a tentative schedule of 16 days was drawn up. But Deepak's result of 10th Standard exam and the uncertainty of admission in to the plus 2 stream prevented us from booking tickets. When the results came, the admission followed immediately and classes were started up within days. So the window was lost. With the sad demise of my father in the last week of June, all trips were postponed indefinitely.
In December we went to Thanjore in Tamil Nadu to see the Great Living Chola temples for a trip lasting four days. In January first week Deepak announced that he will be free from 14 April to 25 April since his regular classes and coaching classes are going to have simultaneous vacations. This inspired us to immediately book tickets to Delhi and back for the same dates. Because of advanced booking fares were low by fifty percentages. Since 15 April was Vishu, a traditional ceremonial day for Keralites, I was not willing to leave my mother alone at our ancestral home. It may be a tough day for her with all the memories and loneliness. So we decided to fly out from Kochi on the evening of 15 April.
Delhi and Agra which we have not fully covered so far were ruled out because of hot weather along will all major destinations in the main land. The obvious possibility was Himalayan states.
Initially we thought that ten days will not be sufficient to visit Spiti and planned for Valley of Flowers or Gangothri in Uttarkhand. But inquiries revealed that roads will not be open in these areas during April first half. E mails to GMVN remained unanswered and their website was not functional. The trip remained amorphous till mid-February. By that time it was clear that Uttarkhand is not possible. But after going to Spiti now, I feel that it might have been much easier.
By mid-February we settled for Himachal and train tickets were booked from Delhi to Kalka and then to Shimla and back. Another folly was revealed at this time. To save days we booked for the late evening and morning flights. The railways have the same habit in running trains. So flight times and train times are not matching and we have to sit out two nights at Delhi. The waiting times are so bad – 11 PM to 5 AM- that it is unfair even to call on close friends!
Preparations for the Journey
The planning was started in January 2010 with a tentative window of June 2010.Going through the Google earth, Lonely planet, DK's India and Outlook’s Himachal were the preliminary exercises. Then scanned through several websites including HPTDC, HRTC etc. Even a tentative schedule of 16 days was drawn up. But Deepak's result of 10th Standard exam and the uncertainty of admission in to the plus 2 stream prevented us from booking tickets. When the results came, the admission followed immediately and classes were started up within days. So the window was lost. With the sad demise of my father in the last week of June, all trips were postponed indefinitely.
In December we went to Thanjore in Tamil Nadu to see the Great Living Chola temples for a trip lasting four days. In January first week Deepak announced that he will be free from 14 April to 25 April since his regular classes and coaching classes are going to have simultaneous vacations. This inspired us to immediately book tickets to Delhi and back for the same dates. Because of advanced booking fares were low by fifty percentages. Since 15 April was Vishu, a traditional ceremonial day for Keralites, I was not willing to leave my mother alone at our ancestral home. It may be a tough day for her with all the memories and loneliness. So we decided to fly out from Kochi on the evening of 15 April.
Delhi and Agra which we have not fully covered so far were ruled out because of hot weather along will all major destinations in the main land. The obvious possibility was Himalayan states.
Initially we thought that ten days will not be sufficient to visit Spiti and planned for Valley of Flowers or Gangothri in Uttarkhand. But inquiries revealed that roads will not be open in these areas during April first half. E mails to GMVN remained unanswered and their website was not functional. The trip remained amorphous till mid-February. By that time it was clear that Uttarkhand is not possible. But after going to Spiti now, I feel that it might have been much easier.
By mid-February we settled for Himachal and train tickets were booked from Delhi to Kalka and then to Shimla and back. Another folly was revealed at this time. To save days we booked for the late evening and morning flights. The railways have the same habit in running trains. So flight times and train times are not matching and we have to sit out two nights at Delhi. The waiting times are so bad – 11 PM to 5 AM- that it is unfair even to call on close friends!
Regarding the outfits.
Anecdotes from Geetha,my sister in law who visited Shimla in december, frightened us about the cold. She advised us to purchase thermal ware and gave us the approximate location of a shop in Coimbatore which is selling such items. I, Preetha and Pramod went in search of this. Coimbatore is 150 km away from our home town! After few hours we managed to find out it. They advised us to try out the dress and select the tightest fitting ones. Preetha did accordingly but I selected a slightly loose one ( I usually wear size 42 shirts instead of the appropriate 38!)and bought a still looser one for Deepak. The search for jeans for Preetha ended quickly here because the starting ones were costing few thousands. After reaching home we found that Deepak’s is too large and one of my friends, Somadas, was kind enough to go to the shop at Coimbatore during a chance visit and the shop people were kinder enough to accept the change. But my casualness caught up with me later!
Rajesh,my brother in law is a veteran of Siberia and North sea and told us not to worry. He suggested us to maintain a number of layers of dress and peel away or add as per the climate. We bought around seven padded jackets during a visit to Kodaikanal during last summer; simply because they were being sold at throw away prices at the road side - just 100 rupees per jacket. Now they were forming the outermost layer. During 2009 February I went to Delhi with thin cotton shirts and was with Amrith. He scolded me severely and bundled me out to the nearest shop and (I bought three - one lined coat and two sweaters - instead of one because of the punch in the scolding. The low after season prices also helped.) We hoped that this will form another defense perimeter.
On a chance visit to the Bigbazar in our home town, Preetha identified a huge stack of thermal wear in a corner at about the half price of Coimbatore! But there was a catch - only one size- and that was suitable to her.
Rajesh,my brother in law is a veteran of Siberia and North sea and told us not to worry. He suggested us to maintain a number of layers of dress and peel away or add as per the climate. We bought around seven padded jackets during a visit to Kodaikanal during last summer; simply because they were being sold at throw away prices at the road side - just 100 rupees per jacket. Now they were forming the outermost layer. During 2009 February I went to Delhi with thin cotton shirts and was with Amrith. He scolded me severely and bundled me out to the nearest shop and (I bought three - one lined coat and two sweaters - instead of one because of the punch in the scolding. The low after season prices also helped.) We hoped that this will form another defense perimeter.
On a chance visit to the Bigbazar in our home town, Preetha identified a huge stack of thermal wear in a corner at about the half price of Coimbatore! But there was a catch - only one size- and that was suitable to her.
An Evening At Kaza
We reached kaza after a long dusty ride through the mountains. Driving besides the Sutlej, we passed small towns with tea shops and kids playing cricket and got view of kaza or ‘kaja’ as it’s pronounced locally a few minute before we reached the outskirts of town. It was already sunset, and the frozen river full of snow and few blocks of snow left behind near the road got us excited! However when we reached the inspection hut, where we stayed for the next two days, it was really cold. We found out that our socks and mittens were no good against the biting cold and decided to visit the market and see what kaza had to offer. We managed to buy mittens and restock strepsils from kaza. Even though remote kaza’s market had more shops than any other towns we had passed and it was lively.
After returning we had nothing to do, but to rest and get accustomed to the high altitude and try to get the cold out. The ceiling had a hole in it, and it took quite an effort to cover it by a newspaper. All curtains and doors were drawn tight to retain heat and the heater raised to warm the room. All three of us decided against removing shoes because it was too difficult at this altitude.
We took turns to heat water using the only viable power plug, and made an innovative inverted stool stand to support the kettle. After a few minutes we were relatively free and I( usually I’m not the one who gets through all the books, but now both dad and mom were lying downJ ) managed to glance through a book bought from Tabo monastery. Interestingly, the book was addressed to somebody other than the readers, and contained all sorts of cross reference to previous researches which didn’t make any sense to me. So dropping that endeavour I was about to download the photos when we heard some noises outside. To our surprise (quite pleasant surprise!) it was the chowkidar with food. He had made the food at his home and had brought it since no hotel stays open after 8.
The evening’s offerings consisted of two steaming curries and chapathies accompanied by a pickle, which we were happy to consume in the shortest time possible and get back to the warmth.
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