Stupid us: now that the weather in Manali has finally cleared up we are leaving for Spiti (a dry mountainous region in the North East of Himachal Pradesh) for a week. It's 5 o'clock in the morning and we are happily (or in Woody's case unhappily) bumping up and down in the local bus towards Kaza, Spiti's "main town." After just a few kilometres, vibrations (caused by pot-holes and substandard suspension arrangement of the bus) prove to much for Woody's glasses and one of the lenses pops out; impossible to find the tiny screw which had held it into the frame. He ALWAYS carries a set of spare glasses with him - well, always, but of course not this time. He has to resort to his cool prescription wrap-around-sunglasses: very useful in the dingy morning light! Several hours of riding along the Chandra river and Spiti river later (with only a couple of chai breaks in-between) the bus stops at Losar, where all foreigners have to register with the police. It's a cute spread out village at an altitude of over 4000 metres with a few guesthouses (probably nice to stay at). After that it's just another two and a half hours or so to Kaza.

23/09/10 Kaza, the "metropolis"

Our idea that it hardly ever rains in Spiti turns out to be a stupid misconception: it's raining or rather drizzling all day till late afternoon. Or maybe both of us should try to earn some money as "rain-makers"? Spiti is a subdistrict of district Lahaul & Spiti with Kaza as its headquarters. It lies at an altitude of 3600 metre (about 11,800 feet) and just the tiniest incline makes us (big "Wills Flake" cigarette consumers) short of breath. In recent years it has become a popular tourist destination; so there are guesthouses in abundance, almost all of which were full when we arrived yesterday evening. As we found out today half of Kaza's rooms are booked for film crew members; some said for a movie about the Buddhist monk Milarepa, others claimed it to be for a Bollywood movie titled "Yaara".

24/09/03 road workers' dance in Kaza

Our magic powers as "rain-makers" seem to have deserted us; we are happy with the clear blue sky which greets us in the morning though. The area is beautiful in its own way: arid barren hills around us, the turquoise Spiti river glinting in the sun. We are really a bit late here: all the crops on the fields have been harvested, only sheep, goats, cows, tractors are left. A little stroll along the road south of Kaza gives nice views onto the small village of Gilling across the river. We come across some female road workers who listlessly swing a pickaxe to produce some new potholes in the road, to be filled with tar later on. They are a cheerful bunch of women from Kaza who suddenly become animated when they see our cameras and put up an impromptu dance with shovels and pickaxes.

25/09/03 Ki monastery (Ki gompa)

We share a jeep with some friends from Jagatsukh (near Manali) plus two Austrians whom we met yesterday to go to the obligatory tourist destinations of Kibber village (about 20 km from Kaza) and the Buddhist monastery of Ki (about 12 km from Kaza). Ki gompa is the biggest monastery in the Spiti valley; 250 monks live here of which 70 are below the age of 20 years. The 900 year old monastery has a spectacular setting: it's white buildings are nestled around a pointy barren hill above Ki village with the gompa perched on top. The view over the valley is excellent from this desolate wind swept spot.

26/09/03 chocolate and flowers

On my way back to the guesthouse in the morning I start chatting to Ishi and Dulchek - two lively girls (11 and 12 years old) who are on their way to school, which starts as in most places in North India at 10 am (and finishes at 4 pm with a lunch break at 1 pm). Their - not unexpected - request for chocolate goes unnoticed, which they don't seem to mind. After school they drop by at our guesthouse to say good-bye and give me some flowers (surreptitiously plucked from the guesthouse garden) which I thought was very sweet of them - but still they didn't get any chocolate. We head down to the bus stand to stand and freeze for two hours waiting for the supposed 5 pm bus to Kibber village which never arrived. In the end we share a taxi jeep with a couple of college students from Kibber on holiday and several other hapless deep frozen tourists.

27/09/03 Kibber - the highest village in the world - or not?

Kibber is a village of about 350 people; it lies at an altitude of about 4200 metres. The claim that it is the highest inhabited village in the world is certainly not true, since there are several villages in Spiti alone which lie at an altitude of 4300 metre or above. But maybe it is the highest village accessible by tarmac road - don't know. When we were here a couple of days ago villagers were occupied with the last few tasks of the barley harvest: bundling straw into sheaves and getting the seeds out - not with the (traditional) help of buffaloes but with tractors. Now all fields are harvested, and the corn is threshed. We see one sole woman sieving through the last bits of barley chaff - gusts of wind enveloping her regularly in a cloud of dust and barley bits. Night life in Kibber village is somewhat restricted, the sole restaurant in the village shuts at 9 pm; after that it's time for star gazing (wrapped in all clothes we have with us). The sky is amazing at this high altitude in this dry area - the milky way looks like a stripey thick cloud crossing the sky.

28/09/10 sheep, goats and donkeys

It's 9 o'clock in the morning, the sun appeared from behind the hills about an hour ago and the village is alive with bleating, baaing, maaing. Sheep and goats come from all directions - shooed by their owners - to meet in the middle of the village. After waiting some time for late comers the big flock of woolly creatures is led up by a few people, mostly kids, to the hills grazing grounds for the day. During the day kids and women (what do the men do?) collect dried cow and yak dung in their little baskets carried on the back, presumably to be burnt in winter, since wood is scarce. The government subsidises fire wood in these remote areas, but it is still relatively expensive at 2 Rupee per kilogram. Donkeys are used a lot here, sometimes for the amusement of kids who try to ride these stubborn beasts or at this time of the year for transporting huge jute bags of dung.

29/09/03 first taste of winter

It has been hideously cold the past few days. Yesterday there was still some thin layers of ice on some streams a bit further up the hill even at lunch time. This morning we wake up to our first snow fall this year - uuuh, it's only end of September! Not like in Manali huge sticky flakes but very thin powdery snow falls. Temperatures in winter can get as low as minus 20 or minus 35 degrees Celsius (depending on whom you ask and whom you believe). They don't get an awful lot of snow over the winter - maybe one foot or so. It's a harsh life people lead here with a lot of hard manual work over the summer months. Six months of the year though - over the winter - there's not much to do apart from trying to keep warm, tending to the animals, spinning wool and watching television (most of Kibber's houses have satellite dishes). We miss the early morning bus down to Kaza (officially at 7 am), so we take one of several share-jeep-taxis instead. Designed for 8 people it's a bit of a squeeze with 14 adults plus one child in it; the open windows and swirling snow flakes inside the car just add to the cosy atmosphere.

30/09/03 Kunzum Pass - prayer flags and stupas

We are worried that there will be more snow and Kunzum or Rohtang Pass will close for a few days. Since we want to be back in time for the Dussehra festival in Kullu we take the 4 am bus from Kaza back to Manali. We are glad that we booked seats since the bus is packed with people and luggage. The scenery is breath-taking with virgin snow on the peaks; roads are deserted, 4 hours after leaving Kaza we pass the first traffic from the opposite direction. As on the way to Kaza, the bus stops at the stupas on Kunzum Pass. Some passengers offer prayers and prayer flags. It's a brilliant sight: the stupas hidden behind thousands of colourful prayer flags fluttering in the icy wind, snow covered mountains in the background.

7 years ago: Tabo, Dankhar monastery and Nako

One week in the Spiti valley is just far too ridiculously short. I would have liked to go to the Tabo monastery as I did about seven years ago. Built a little over 1000 years ago it is the oldest gompa in the region and it is where the Dalai Lama intends to retire to. Dhankar is another monastery high on the tourist agenda and (but) definitely worth visiting for its fantastic setting between desolate hills. Past Tabo a permit is required for foreigners (easily obtainable either in Kaza or Rekong Peo in Kinnaur). About 60 km south of Tabo the village of Nako is nice to go to - a green spot in-between barren hills with a small algae-overgrown lake... Maybe next time?

Kirsten nov 2003	<< previous next>>
[Back to Top]

Weblog updates

India blog 29 Sep 04
Photo diary 24 Jan 09

Quick Ref Popups

India
Himachal Pradesh