Six people Vivek, Amby, Saurabh, Varun, Ruchika and Shibba were ready for most adventures trip of Spiti Valley. We started our journey from Delhi on July 10th 2015 and returned on July 16th, 2015. Our day by day plan was:
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Day 1, July 10: Delhi to Manali (Boarded Bus from Majnu ka Teela and left around 7:00 PM)
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Day 2, July 11: Manali to Losar (Reached Manali in the morning of 9:00 AM and left for Losar around 11:00 AM)
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Day 3, July 12: Losar to Tabo (covered Losar, Key, Kibber and Dhankar)
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Day 4, July 13: Tabo to Losar (covered Tabo, Kaza, Komic, and Langza)
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Day 5, July 14: Losar to Chandratal (covered Kunzum Pass, Chandratal Lake)
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Day 6, July 15: Chandratal to Manali (reached Manali around 3:30 PM and boarded bus for Delhi around 5:00 PM)
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Day 7, July 16: Reached Delhi in the morning around 9:00 AM
We were gathered in Vidhansabha Metro station around 4:30 PM on July 10th and then moved towards Majnu Ka Teela. We have booked bus tickets in advance from Red Bus in Northern Travels. Bus timing was mentioned 5:30 PM in Red Bus portal, but the bus came around 6:00 PM and left from Delhi around 7:00 PM.
Next day on 11-July 2015, we reached Manali around 9:00 AM (in 14 hours). We have advanced booked Innova car for next five days and hotel in Manali for refreshment. Our driver Deshraj received us from Manali bus stand and dropped in Hotel. We spent two hours in the hotel to get ready for next journey; two hours are not more if you are going with girls. Our driver came with two Dozen water bottles and some snack for the trip. We were also brought few water bottles and snacks. Around 11:00 AM we left Manali for Kaza and taken the first break at Marhi around 12:30 PM for Lunch. The weather was cold, so we first warm with tea and then taken food.
The road was okay from Manali to Rohtang Pass; Road was bad from Rohtang Pass to Gramphu but after Gramphu no road at all. Journey after Rohtang Pass was very beautiful; one side hills were covered with different color flowers and another side was a beautiful river. This day was full of adventures and fun, we crossed various water flow. Some of them were very scary and risky, but we have no option except crossing that. Chota Dhara was one of the dangerous water flow where the road was looked like a river bed. Between Gramphu to Kunzum pass we crossed approx 10 water flow. Before Batal, we took a small halt for the tea break.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv8cHq_8xig]
Watch this video of most dangerous water flow where some of the foreigner tourists also got stuck with his bike. We all come out from the car and need to cross by foot. Water flow was very fast and water was freezing too. I started video recording from my mobile to shoot this wonderful location. Our driver Deshraj crossed the flow first and then helped foreigner tourist to cross that flow. After passing Kunzum was, the road was good in compare between Gramphu to Batal.
We reached Losar around 8:30 PM. The whole day was little rainy and cold; we all also got tired due to continuing road journey from Delhi to Losar. So, we decided to night stay in Losar. Losar is the first village in Spiti Valley and having some good option for night stay. We stayed at Samsung Hotel; the room was Okay, but the food was very good. By the way, it's not advisable to stay in Losar due to high altitude. I and Ruchika got a headache due to high altitude, but everything was good after taking good sleep in the night.
Next day on 12-July 2015, the weather was pleasant and sunny. We woke up in the early morning and get ready for the further journey. I and Amby visited Losar Monastery and taken some photographs. Other people in my group also went for a beautiful morning walk. After breakfast and photo session, we left Losar and moved towards Kaza. Now, the landscape was different and amazing; we took a lot of stop for the photo session. Everyone wanted to capture the lovely landscape in camera, but you cannot capture everything that you can see with open eyes.
After one hour of the journey, we were able to see one of our favourite destinations Key Monastery, but it was still 10 KM far. We stopped our car before 5 KM to capture a superb view of key Monastery in our camera. Key Gompa was looking stunning from that point. The main temple of the Key monastery was mystical for me; there were different musical instruments for prayer. Musical instruments were very old and functioning; actually, we were key at prayer time and got a chance to participate in prayer. I and Saurabh sit inside the main temple and experience something different way of prayer by a group of monks. Prayer was in the Tibetan language, but the overall experience was unique; especially musical sound played by a monk (called Lama in local language). This is a good thing in Monastery that one Lama is worked as a guide to show the whole monastery without any fee. We have experienced same in all monasteries in Spiti Valley.
After monastery visit, we had a taste of local food Momos, Noodles and Thokpa in the restaurant nearby Key Gompa. Some children in the dress of Lama was playing cricket. So Shibba, Varun and Saurabh also enjoyed same with children. Now we were ready for next destination Kibber Village. This beautiful village is located in the laps of Himalayas. Most interesting thing is that every home in the village was looking same which enhance the beauty of this village (Even maximum home in Spiti Valley was the same).
We have planned for a night stay in Tabo instead of Kaza. So, we moved towards Dhankar monastery which was on the way to Tabo. Time was around 4:00 PM and weather got changed from sunny to cloudy. After few minutes, a little rain was started; so we were ready with our raincoat.
There were two monasteries; main (old) and new. We decided to visit the main complex first. Old monastery is situated on the top of hills which will amaze you. This multi-floor building was constructed by mud and wood. So the maximum of 20 people was allowed at the same time. There were 25 Rs per person entry fee to enter the main temple in old monastery premises. After visiting the old monastery, we came back to the new monastery which was located before 1 KM from the old monastery.
New monastery is just newly developed temple complex and having good open space for the event. Now, rain was stopped and some Lamas were enjoying cycling. All of us had the fun of cycling except me. Actually, I was busy in photography. A new monastery is a perfect place for photography. From there you can capture a complete view of an old monastery and mesmerising view of Himalayas. So after some photo session and a lot of fun, we moved towards Tabo.
Around 7:00 PM we reached Tabo and booked rooms in Hotel which was adjacent to Tabo Monastery. The hotel room was very good and clean, but the food was just okay. After hotel checked in, I, Amby, Ruchika and Shibba went for a night walk and discussed next day plan. The whole day was executed perfectly according to random plan. Everyone was tired, so we had taken good sleep to rest our body for next day.