Prologue
I am always fascinate toward mountains, since Aditya told me about Lahaul and Spiti valley; i was kinda crazy about it. I was making some plan with my peer Shaurya to travel Lahaul and Spiti Valley but unfortunately again we got some hitches, being an engineer student in India, you don't have time to travel. One day my junior Vibhu wrote me an email showing his interest in travel, we started to work on it but no one agreed on Lahaul and Spiti. After my brief presentation and emails everyone finally agreed to travel to there. True fully, i didnt know that everyone is damm serious about it. I thought its paper plan. On 26th Sept 2005 finally we bought tickets of HRTC Volvo bus to Manali which cost us 810 INR. On the very next day we shoppe some medical stuff from CP, New Delhi for this laborious journey. Shuarya was still in dreams, while others Vinay, Vibhu and me thought its almost done.
Peoples: Me, Vinay, Vibhu, Shaurya Places: Delhi-->Manali-->Rohtang-->Kyelang-->Jispa-->Darcha (Lahaul and Spiti valley) Budget: 3000 INR (include travel expenses) Travel Expenses: 1610 (Delhi-->Manali-->Delhi: Volvo HRTC Bus) + 174 (Manali-->Kyelang-->Manali HRTC Bus) + 80 (Kyelang-->Jispa-->Darcha--> Kyelang HRTC Bus): Total = 1864 INR Machines: HRTC Buses, TATA Truck 501, Army Ashok Leyland, Volvo Buses.
The Travel Night
I was waiting for Shaurya at Metro station, i had imagined him with his bag only, and I didnt know that my imagination is too fallacious. He came with his family in a dashing car. I thought we're going to airport or something and then to Switzerland. Soon i realized its natural. Vibhu the most punctual guy in our group was also late to this tryst. Soon we left to ISBT and fortunately we were there on time. We're trying to find dashing VOLVO bus at creepy ISBT and we found them, they were quite different. I was expecting some young girls near me but unfortunately i was stuck in honeymoon couples.
The Travel Day: Day 1
We were in Manali after a comfortable journey in Volvo, tasty dinner at Haveli and rubbish movies shows. We poked around Manali Bus Terminal, it was same as ISBT but quit small. At 1330 Hrs we had a bus to Kyelang so everyone rushed to a paid locoweed put our stuff in a mini bus named "Hibachi Roadways Transport Corp. Keylong". I was seated with a young man from Kyelang, i start talking about that place. He told me about life and lifelines, BSNL Cellone service and winter stories. As soon as bus started Vibhu shout on me "We dont have water for this 6 hrs journey". 115 kms in 6 hrs it was beyond my imagination. I took myself over the bulky bags, accidental i crushed one eye of a banal old man, it wasnt too hard but i was sorry for it. I bought 3L "Neer" mineral water. Our bus had started and i was surprising, "is this is a Manali-Leh Highway? My town streets are wider than them". I should call that driver a highly trained driver, who roamed us over narrow roads. Within 2 hrs of our journey to Kyelang our bus had stopped for a Tea and Lunch at Marhi, it was very beautiful and quite town. Shaurya was hungry; he bought some cigarettes from Manali and was burning them in that innocent bus. We bought 2 roasted corns which cost us 10 INR, i couldnt eat them because of false teeth, but i guess others had enjoyed a lot. We were again in the bus and passing 13500 Feets Rohatang Pass, i just said "WOW!" i dont know how it came, but it was from inside. It was chilling; wind was string icy rocks and passing our bus. Suddenly i realized that Id die in this single T-shirt. Vibhu was quite bliss with Rohatang Pass and started to take pictures from running bus. "So, we are here" said Kyeland man who was seated with me. It was very dark and only few huts over there, it was Kyelang. Vibhu and I got a warm welcome in that cold night while Shaurya and Vinay jumped over that burning dump. I was scanning the village into my mind and trying to find some resources. We tried cheapest feasible room for a night. That room was quit decent but it was small, its designed for visitors from outside and loaded with all modern facilities like HOT WATER. Soon we took our Dinner from owner which was "Chicken and Veg Chowmin", Shaurya was pretty delightful and waiting for his dinner. As its served by a pink cheek boy his stomach was unplaced with acidity. He took pepfiz(antacid) and slept on a 2-bed set couch with us.
Searching for Adventure: Day-2
We all were fed up of traveling so long in distant places, according to our plan we should visited to Kyelang and nearby places but we headed to Jispa. We took an early brunch which was served by pink cheeks boy. Vibhu was paying the bill and i was asking some man about Jispa. He wears Army clothes and he was drunk. I just show my interest in traveling with him, he agreed to take us to Jispa. Vinay and I were with a new man, he was a nice man and knew many things about this valley. He suggested us to drop Spiti plan as it highly risky. This BRO truck driver knew many things about Leh too. We had a great time with me. While we were enjoying, Shaurya and Vibhu had worst time of there life. We reached to Jispa earlier than them, it was quite strange because we waited for someone about 30 mins during our journey. Jispa was simple and surrounded by big mountains. Bhaga River was passing though its heart. This village was very small and quite. I saw a truck coming toward us and then i saw Vibhu and Shaurya getting off from it. "Thats retarded man" Shaurya shouted, "He was drinking alcohol and driving" Vibhu added. Its quite hilarious for me to imagine that condition. Both vibhu and Shaurya took a deep breath and thanking god that they were safe. We hiked to Advance mountaineering and trekking institution in Jispa, its quite small and limited. As soon as we were into out room, Vibhu started to explore Jispa; he found beautiful river and small sandy beach. Everyone eked creativity and start exploring that beautiful town. We were at river bank after some awesome pictures Vibhu got an idea to cross the speedy river but Shuarya wasnt interested in it. Vibhu and Vinay crossed that river, somehow i convinced Shaurya its quite easy. As i stepped into the water; i realized how wrong I was, it wasnt easy to cross it with shaky Shaurya. I slipped 4-5 times into icy water. Hot stones were something best for our feets, Vibhu was kind of crazy about river i guess he crossed it 6 times while i was happy with twice. We played some other games too, junior was impressive in all adventurous games. We came back and were really hungry, we called home and shopkeeper was Delhi Return and pretty good in English. He told us to head toward Darcha, there were many small Dhabas. Darcha is 6 kms from Jispa, its hardly took 15 mins for us by HRTC bus. We were in Darcha, natural beauty is directly proportional to the distance covered on Manali Leh Highway; so you can imagine how beautiful place was it. We headed to very local food centre, an old man offered us "Thupa, Momos and Maggie" i was thanking god, i had something vegetarian to eat. We ordered 2 Thupa and 16 momos with a veggie maggi. I was happy with Maggie but others were not happy with their non-veg dishes. After very light lunch we made plan to trek 6 kms to Jispa; but Vibhu he wanted to explore it further. It was evening, we were into our room and deciding the Spiti valley. Everyone was garrulous about Spiti valley; Vinay and Shaurya had some problems with funds and Spiti was quite expensive. We played a game. There was only one bus from Rohatang Pass to Spiti and it reached there at 1100 Hrs. It was almost impossible but we were going to try it hard. Soon we took our delicious dinner and went to sleep.
Catching the time: Day-3
We wake up very early this morning, there was a bus at 0645 Hrs from Jispa to Rohatang. Bus stopped in front of us, it was full of local peoples, and we hardly fitted our self inside this small bus. Bus stopped at Kyelang, we couldnt travel anyone in that airtight bus, and so we decided to travel in next bus from Kyelang but it wasnt too easy. We waited for a bus and it was 1030 Hrs in my clock, we almost skipped Spiti exploration. I wasnt sure how'd we travel, but i realized everyone has reservation so i went to bus station and talking to officer. "These fucking bus and people pissed off me" i heard a mid-age lady shouting behind me. She came upright to me and starts shouting further. Few peoples understand English over there but she was angry. I tried to take her in stable state by talking. She was waiting for a bus with her husband since early morning but she didnt know how to catch these airtight buses. I explained the procedure, which i understood few mins ago to her. She was sorry for her cacophonous words. I reached to Rohtang after a comfortable and sleepy journey at 1530 Hrs, it was cold and windy. It simply implied we were late for a trek, therefore we made plan to stay at Marhi. We trekked almost 16 Kms downhill and reached to Marhi at 1745 Hrs. It was chilling, we ate Paranthas at Chamba Dhaba and planned to stay at guesthouse over there. "Hey, we have a wine shop" Shaurya said; "Yes, we should drink Vodka" Vinay and Vibhu added. I was quite shocked because i am an alcohol hatter person, but we were chilling. Shaurya and I bought 250ml Vodka and we had started it as soon as Shaurya put his creepy cigarettes down. Vinay and Shaurya had lost their control after 2 glass or pack whatever. Vibhu was thinking "why the hell we wasted our 200 bucks for this creepy spirit like chemical" and he was right. I was enjoying the show, someone should be in control; so i was the rescue man. It was quite funny to see laughing Shaurya and crazy Vinay in drunken roles while Vibhu was in full control after a small amount. Shuarya puked once into the bathroom and then we slept after a funny evening.
Most Adventurous Day of my life: Day-4
Shaurya and Vibhu planned to trek back to Rohatang uphill. I knew it wasnt easy at 13000 Feets so i was searching for an alternative. An Army trial vehicle was standing in front to our Dhaba; i found some army person eating some food and talked with them. They were from FireBrooke-3 posted at Leh. After 15 mins of open talk they agreed to take us to Rohatang pass in their trial vehicle. It was running slow but it was quite decent. Were at Rohtang in 70 mins. We thought that we were late but again i was wrong. Vinay and I waited for others for 60 mins, so we were early. Shaurya was breathing promptly but very bulky. He decided to cancel the trek. But Vibhu wasnt, we stared our 5 Kms trek on straight mountain, its called "the point". Its at 15000 feets and i didnt know that it'd be too painy for me because breathing was barely possible. I decided to stop before 100 feets to "the top" it was 1000 feets above "the point". But Vibhu and Vinay were still breathing high, they reached to the top, believe me it was very dangerous. My head was paining hard, i read in some book about high altitude diseases; so i started to walk downward. Trekking downward is most difficult thing on the straight hills. I slipped over ice, wacky stones and small plants. But in the end we all were safe to the base. Suddenly weather became worse and cold, wind was too strong and virtually we were into clouds. We took a bus very fast and returned to Marhi. Everyone was bypassing the loo one by one. It was vinays turn, after thirty mins in loo he came out with a big relief. Shaurya and me needed something hot but Vibhu was wrecked he needed some sleep. We came out and ordered black tea and coffee. Vinay came out and said "did you see my money bag" we said no. Soon the story cleared into our mind. Vinay had left his money bag in the loo. "How he can be so stupid, how anyone can be so stupid" i thought in my mind. We tried to find it but we couldnt found it. He had lost his 1700 bucks and driving license. He was feeling sad, we tried to cheer him by a delicious food and somehow it helped him. I made calls to my home and friends as we decided to go home tomorrow.
Returning to Hell: Day-5
We caught the first bus to Manali and we were back to Manali at 1200 Hrs with some hitches due to landslide. We reserved our tickets and went to eat something. Shaurya is a Chinese lover so he took us to a Chinese restaurant. It was quite and best place to tease some girls. We ordered "Tuna Sushi, some chicken, Vanilla Milk-shake, Pancakes and Noodles" Food wasnt very nice for me. Again i took small portion of it and surrendered. Then we went to the ice-cream parlor and enjoyed a big ice-cone. We still had 2 hrs, so we visited to Nature Park in Manali. After nature refreshment, its time for the books. Shuarya found that shop interesting and its was somewhat quiet different. It again shopped necessary stuff for our travel and departs to Manali. We were seated back this time. Two young girls from Sweden and United states came inside in the running bus, they were near us and waving here and there. I helped them with their big bags. Shaurya was quite attracted toward the States girl and he put some cigarettes and acted like a Hollywood hero but he was acting very stupid. Night was quite impossible for me and in the morning we were back to New Delhi. We stated thinking about School and study. It was like we were back to hell.
Travel Article: http://www.worldisround.com/articles/225290/
Photo Albums: http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2119470790&code=18646399&mode=invite&DCMP=isc-email-AlbumInvite
Vibhu's Album: http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2119243584&code=18693605&mode=invite&DCMP=isc-email-AlbumInvite
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