Some tips for your trip to Kinnaur and Spiti

There are many blogs and magazine articles that describe the places to visit in Kinnaur and Spiti, Himachal Pradesh. After our just concluded road trip, I venture to offer some practical tips to make your trip comfortable and enjoyable.

Views from Kaza

1. Can the elderly visit Kinnaur and Spiti?
If you are elderly and are not fit, do think twice before visiting these cold, high altitude places. The roads are bad,making long rides tiring. In several places including monasteries and hotels, you have to climb several steps or walk on slippery slopes, unpaved and covered with loose mud and gravel.

2. Your Car and Driver
A car in bad condition or an uncooperative driver  can mar a beautiful holiday. We booked cab from Manmahesh Travels in Shimla [+ 91 - 177 - 2814440, + 91 - 94185 - 60204 ].

Our driver was Ravi Gautam, who claimed to have 17 years of experience. He came 40 minutes late to pick us up from Shimla and did not receive our frantic calls in the meantime. We had to call the agency to check. He insisted on putting on music continuously, and was rude when we asked him to switch it off. We had to complain to his boss, after which his behaviour became insolent. While we wanted to visit places in certain order, he would drive in a different order without consulting us.

He would insist on stopping at dhabas of his choice.

If you get into such a situation, remember you have the option of sending back the vehicle. You will always get a cab even in remote places.

3. Jahoo Temple, Shimla
Lonely Planet and blogs mention the monkey menace. What they do not say is that the simians are fond of snatching your spectacles and running away. Imagine continuing your journey half blind!  We quickly walked through the place without daring to put on specs. I saw three incidents of specs being snatched.

4. Pin Valley

Drive from Gulling village to Mudh via Sagnam is lovely.
We could not find any restaurant or dhaba between Attargo to Sagnam. Mudh is another 14 km drive on bad road. Since it takes around 45 min. for food to be prepared in any place, we turned back to Kaza for a delayed lunch.

Keep some quick bites like fruits / nuts etc. always while on long drives through lonely places in Spiti.

5. Kaza to Manali
This drive on very bad road can take around 12 hours. Vehicles can take a hit from jutting rocks.Views up to Chattru are beautiful.
Kunzum La pass (15000 ft.) has great views.  You will will want to stay there for longer ... sadly there are no homestays around.

Food is available only in Losar, Battal and Chattru.

6. Carry Torch
Power failures can last hours. A torch is useful at nights.
Old monasteries in Tabo and Key are not lit and you are not allowed to use mobile flash. Use torch to light up ancient wall paintings, sculptures and Thangkas.

7. Drive from Manali to Delhi
We drove straight from  Manali to Delhi. It took us over 15 hours with breaks. In hindsight we should have stayed over at Chandigarh.

8. Dhankar Lake Trek

Dhankar lake is situated above the Village of Dhankar at the height of 4136 meters (13570 feet).
You do not need a guide to do this short hike of around 2 km to reach the lake. People around will tell you it takes half an hour to trek, but it applies only to mountain goats and villagers.

Be warned that due to the high altitude, unless if you are very fit, you will find it quite challenging. 
I was forced to walk very slowly, almost one step at a time, and had mild panic attacks looking at the path ahead. I would gasp for breath if I walked any quicker and suffered mild head and ear ache due to the altitude. There was no one around, except a shepherd couple who showed me the way up when I was  confused at a fork. Later, there was a sign and arrows showing the way. I took around 1 hr 45 min. to reach lake. The way back was easy, and I was wondering why I the way up was so tough.

The lake itself was a disapointment, just a small pond surrounded by low hills. Totally overrated place, I feel.


 

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Catastrophe in the making - building dams in the Himalayas

Massive plans are underway in Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bhutan to build several hundred dams in the in the Himalayan region, with over 150,000 Megawatts (MW) of additional capacity proposed in the next 20 years in the four countries. If all the planned capacity expansion materializes, the Himalayan region would  have the highest concentration of dams in the world. 

Here is the list of  impact  of damming and diversion of rivers  :

1. Submergence of lands, homes, fields and forests on a large scale with displacement of  lakhs of people. severe disruption  the downstream flows, impacting agriculture and fisheries and threatening livelihoods of entire populations.

2. Degradation of the natural surroundings

3. As the entire region is seismically active  these dams face high risks of catastrophic failures due to
earthquakes.

4. Climate change is resulting in the accelerated melting of glaciers and the depletion of the massive water
store of the region. Some of these dams – including the 3,000 MW Dibang project in India, the 1,000 MW Tala project in Bhutan, and the US$12.6 billion Diamer-Bhasha Dam in Pakistan – are among the world’s largest and most expensive planned dams.

5. In the Himalayas, melting glacier water will replenish rivers in the short run, but as the resource diminishes, drought will dominate the river reaches in the long term.

 6. The sudden bursting of glacial lakes is another major concern for the safety of planned dams, and ultimately the rivers and peoples of the Himalayas. Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) are a recent phenomenon. As glaciers in high-altitude regions such as the Himalayas melt, they can form large lakes behind temporary dams of ice and rock. When these moraine dams collapse, millions of cubic meters of water are released, resulting in massive flash floods.

Ganga Mukti Mahasammelan is being held today  in Varanasi to save the Ganga

Is travel to Manali in summer rewarding

The road from Keylong to Manali re-opened after six months in May 2011. But the BRO is still clearing the stretch  from Keylong to Rohtang. Tourists are being allowed only up to Marhi, as of last week of May. Rohtang pass is the reason why tourists flock to Manali in summer. Bu considering the crowds and the fact that being able to drive up to Rohtang pass is uncertain, is Manali worth the trouble?

First of all the distance from Delhi to Manali is 580 km on the route via Ropar, Bilaspur, and Mandi. The drive by car takes around 16 hours, with stops for lunch and tea. In summer, the weather is blistering hot  with dust storms all the way till Mandi. You will be very tired by the time you reach Manali.

When you reach Manali, instead of a charming hill station, you will be greeted by a concrete jungle with dirty narrow roads, and teeming crowds. The roads are choked with cars and people, just like perhaps Chandni Chowk in Delhi. Even the Log hut area, which is 3 km from the Mall and is supposed to  be un-crowded and calm, is not much better. In short, Manali in summer presents a ugly picture and is no different from any touristy hill station.

Rohtang pass is about 50 km from Manali. The road gets clogged with cars, with frequent jams. You should start before 6 am to avoid getting held up by traffic. The route crosses Kothi and Gulaba. After Kothi, the views of snow clad mountains is enchanting. But once you near Marhi, a claustrophobic scene of boisterous tourists and snow blackened with mud will hit you. If you were looking forward to a beautiful snow clad valley with view of Himalayan peaks, you will be disappointed and wish to retrace your journey.

Marhi

Yaks in Marhi

Para gliding at Rs 500 each ride, horse riding, skiing (very short slopes) are available in Marhi. There are food stalls offering instant noodles and beverages, but no other food. If the thought of riding a horse and making your way through crowds and slush does not excite you, you can chose to sit in the snow and watch the crazy crowds. Uncouth Indian tourists have no thought for protecting the hills; they simply litter the place without care. There no sign boards against littering or dust bins either!

Hidimba Temple, Manali

Within a 4 km radius of Manali, the places to visit are Hadimba temple, Vasisht temple with its hot springs, Manu temple and Buddhist monasteries. In peak season, there is a queue to get into the Hadimba temple. The interior of the tiny temple is rather plain with no carvings or paintings. There is no idol, only the foot prints of the devi and small brass idols.

Shiva Temple, Solang Valley

Solang Valley

Visit to Solang valley is more rewarding.  The shiva temple can be reached with a 2 km trek along a pebbled valley with mountains covered with forests on all sides. To reach the tiny temple, you have to cross a foot bridge across the river and climb few steps with icy water cascading down.  The temple is at the base of a waterfall, and a Shiva linga is formed from ice in winter, like in Amarnath. Horses are available for the feeble limbed. Adventure sports like paragliding and Zorbing Ball in Solang and river rafting are available. The Beas river makes for easy river rafting and even novices can try it. Actually it looked rather tame, even and old lady can enjoy it being no different from boating.
There is ski lift which costs Rs 400. The cable care will take you to the top where it is uncrowded, with grassy slopes and 180 degree views of snow clad peaks.

The Castle, Naggar

Naggar, is the old capital of Kullu and is about 20 km from Manali.  The Castle, built entirely in wood and stones, without mortar, and has been converted into a heritage hotel and Roerich House and Art gallery are worth visiting if you have time. Murlidhar Temple, Thawa is built in shikhara style and is 3 km far from Naggar village. It belongs to early medieval period. Tripura Sundri Temple is a massive wooden structure having three storeys. The top most storey of this pagoda type of temple has a canopy with a kalasa (pinnacle) at the top, crowned by a chhatra. Shiva temple (Gauri-Shankar) is about 4 km from Naggar, and can be reached from the highway with a 15 minute walk through a village road.

That about sums up Manali for those who do not intend to trek.

Letting go is hard

Apy has not come home since last night. We stood out and called it till 11pm.  During my fitful sleep, I kept getting tensed, wondering if he was safe.

This morning we are talking about Apy and wondering why he has not returned.  He must be about 6 months old now. When I feel sad about letting Apy go in my mind, I console myself that we did the best for Apy. I hope he is safe and happy and that he must have decided to let go of us, and fulfil his karma, his desires.

It is impossible to keep a cat at home and training it not to jump on to your bed or sofa. A kitten has its own mind. It gets restless and irritated if confined in a space or told  what to do.  Just like a human.

It was hard to let go of bratty, after he was carried away by a dog. Bratty was the cutest kitten there ever was. As I write this, my eyes tear up, remembering bratty, how lovely it would have been if he was still around, and playing with apy.

The grey one is bratty, Appy is all black....

Letting go of sorrow, memories, images of loved ones is a hard spiritual practice. I still find it hard to look at Amma's photo, though it is over two years now.

Maybe, instead of SEO Services, I should look for other entrepreneurship ideas, like spiritual healing (become a holistic healer, like the new age gurus, wearing Gucci and drving Mercedes :) ). Or even start a shelter for cats.  We were always worried where we could leave the kittens when we went for a holiday. There are kennels where you can leave your pet dog, but hardly any kitten kennels in India.

Coorg may be getting commercialised

While the promotion of tourism in any region is beneficial up to a point, we note with deep concern that Kodagu has already reached a stage where massive tourist influx threatens the fragile and precious ecology of Kodagu and the very societal fabric of the indigenous communities. Towns such as Madikeri are already reeling under water shortage and lack proper waste management systems.

During a recent weekend the streets of Madikeri were clogged with vehicles and there were chaotic scenes due to the entry of thousands of tourists. Madikeri was once a serene, peaceful town. Today, tourism has turned it into a dirty and polluted city like Ooty.

But you can enjoy unspoilt beauty by staying away from the center of town. Exotica Coorg Resort, 7 km from Madikeri, is a good choice for stay in Coorg.  You can take a break from the hustle and bustle of city life and unwind in picturesque natural surroundings of Exotica. The Exotica Resort in Madikeri is an all season resort for families on vacation and company conferences or workshops. It offers Outdoor swimming pool, Jacuzzi, Massage and multi-cuisine Restaurant.

Must See Places in Coorg :
Abbi Falls his beautiful waterfall lies about 5 km from Coorg.

Madikeri Fort - Located at the heart of Madikeri, this 19th century Fort offers an enchanting view of the entire town. The small museum within the fort displays historical paintings and memorabilia of the ancient kings.

Dubbare Elephant Camp

The Omkareshwara Temple is like a Muslim dargah and has a Linga near the door of the entrance. The history of the temple was inscribed by the king on a plate made of copper that is hanging at the frame of the door to the temple entrance.

Tadiandamol Peak

Cauvery Nisargsdhama Nisargadhama is a beautiful island off the state highway, two km from Kushalanagar town and 28 km from Madikeri. The 64-acre island, surrounded by the Cauvery river, can be accessed by walking across a hanging bridge.

 Talakaveri in the Brahmagiri Hills, is the source of the river Kaveri. A perennial spring situated at a height of 4,500 ft is the beginning of this mighty river.

Abuse of OTC drugs to beat stress by yuppies in Bangalore

The other day, when I was buying medicines from my pharmacist, a young man, stepped up and asked for something. The pharmacist immediately shook his head and the boy walked away.

The pharmacist, whom I have known for years, turned to me and shook his head “did you see how confidently he asked – without any fear?’. Apparently the boy had asked for spasmo proxyvon. Youngsters mix it with coke and drink it to get  a ‘kick’ or euphoria. It is widely used, he said by young working men and women to beat stress, mostly people who stay away  parents.  He was sure that within 10 years the boy’s liver would be damaged or he would get tremors and become like any other drug addict.

Read the story at earth-news.info/health