After driving for a week in Spiti and various parts of Kinnaur, it was time to head back to Shimla and catch the bus back to Delhi. We started our journey from Shimla in a Santro and drove through Jeori, Pooh, Nako, Tabo, Kaza, Key, Kibber, Langza, Koimik, Dhankar, Gue & Kalpa, along with various smaller stops on our way. Today was last day of our road trip and this post talks about the day spent around Kalpa and on the way to Shimla.
Here is a photograph of Kalpa village. We were staying in one of the hotels on top hill from where village was clearly visible. Some of the main places to explore in Kalpa are - Trekking to Chakka, Kinner Kailash Views, Suicide point near Roghi village, Narayan-Nagini temple, Hu-bu-lan-kar monastery, Sapni Fort & walks around the woods.
Above is photograph of Kinner Kailash peaks during early morning. Sun is about to rise and that's why you see orange shades of clouds. I didn't really think about getting up in the morning to see these mountains but everyone in the hotel was crazy to see these peaks. There were lot of sounds at around 4am as it seems that mountains are mostly covered by clouds and the only probability to view them clearly is early morning. So if you are around Kalpa and intend to see these mountains, don't miss to get up early and see. If you are lucky, clouds will remain away during the day as well.
Fellow travellers on roof-top of the hotel. Kalpa is extremely beautiful place surrounded by green apple orchards and snow capped mountains on one side. Along with this natural beauty, Kalpa has strong heritage. If you look around, you would find lot of tourists at Kalpa and there is very high probability that you would hear bengali language on the streets. And don't be surprised if you see restaurant menu in Bengali. Interestingly lot of Bengali tourists visit Kalpa and hotels here take best care of them. In fact, there are lot of folks from West Bengal who are running hotels in Kalpa.
These wooden houses all across Kalpa hills make this place more beautiful. We spent some time roaming around the village.
After breakfast, we packed our bags and headed towards Roghi village and the suicide point.
All suicide points I have seen so far, this one was very scary. Usually I hate these points but really liked this place. The surroundings are brilliant and the edge around the road is very scary. Just notice the bus crossing this place. There is hardly any space on left of the bus. Roads in this region of Himachal are very scary.
Mountains around Kalpa village are full of high & dense deodar forests. Lot of movies and songs are shot around this region of Himachal Pradesh.
Kalpa is one of the most visited places in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh and especially popular amongst tourists. Lifestyle of people is this region is very different. You would be happy faces all around and involved in agriculture. Apple is main cash-crop of this part of Himachal Pradesh. In fact, Apple from Kinnaur is considered very high quality & mostly exported.
Hindu temple is in middle of the village and above photograph shows the narrow lane taking us towards the temple and the fort. These wooden houses all around add a lot to the beauty of the Kalpa town. Bollywood movies like Highway are shot in the town and on these lanes.
During this trip we met lot of lovely people. Folks in these regions are simple and you find them in good mood, most of the times.
We spent quite good time roaming around Kalpa market. There are various small shops serving snacks, food items and daily use general stores.
It was early in the morning when every shopkeeper in Kalpa was gearing up for the day. Above photograph shows the only tailor in Kalpa market.
After spending our morning in Kalpa town, we started our ride from Kalpa to Shimla. The next town on the way is Rekong Peo. We had one punctured tyre, so we got that fixed in Rekong Peo. Rekong Peo is administrative headquarter of Kinnaur district. Unlike other places in Himachal, there is no place called Kinnaur but it's a district. In other cases, district names are on names of main towns. Like - Shimla, Solan, Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kangra, Mandi, Kullu, Chamba, Una & Sirmour. Other exception in Himachal is Lahual & Spiti.
Throughout our route, we noticed lot of such groups of women chatting on road-side. Most of them were having some happy chats and probably some local gossips :). This is a common case all across I guess. And I don't want to discriminate here, so we also saw men chatting.
There is a this huge flag installed in Rekong Peo. Not sure if we can call it one of the highest Indian flag at high altitude.
On the way, one thing which I found very special was - Basmati dhaba at Badhal. This place is usually very crowded during lunch time and you can see lot of vehicles parked across the road. If you are going from Kinnaur to Shimla this comes just before hitting Jeori. They charge 50 rs for thali and serve brilliant food - rice, tasty rajmah, kadhi, chane, salad. And all that is unlimited. I highly recommend this place for food on this route.
Before hitting Shimla we also bought 100 odd boxes of cherry and then used these boxes as drums while singing Himachali Songs. Don't miss the video added at the end of this post.
With series of songs in car, our trip ended and now it's time to start thinking about getting together again for next trip. Leh, or some trek in Himachal or Uttarakhand, Pushkar Camel fair is also coming and there are plenty of option for road-trips.
With series of songs in car, our trip ended and now it's time to start thinking about getting together again for next trip. Leh, or some trek in Himachal or Uttarakhand, Pushkar Camel fair is also coming and there are plenty of option for road-trips.
How to reach Spiti Valley from Delhi and things to do around Kinnaur/Spiti in Himachal Pradesh
If you liked this post and found it helpful, I would request you to follow these things when traveling -
1. Manage your waste well and don’t litter Use dustbins.
2. Tell us if you went to a place and found it hard to locate a dustbin.
3. Avoid bottle waters in hills. Usually you get clean water in hills and water bottles create lot of mess in our ecosystem.
4. Say big no to plastic and avoid those unhealthy snacks packed in plastic bags. Rather buy fruits.
5. Don't play loud blaring music in forests of jungle camps. You are a guest in that ecosystem and disturbing the locals (humans and animals) is not polite
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