TUESDAY, 6 JULY 2010
Manali - Spitti (Kaza) about 10 / 12 hrs Shrared Jeep or bus from Manali
leave Manali 4.30am - arrive 5pm Kaza
1 July 2010
If you ever wondered where all the 'all in one' ski suits went - then wonder no more. They're here in Manali - on the way to the Rohtang Pass. It's a ski destination for Indian tourists - although most of them put on welly boots and fake furs or the old used 'all in one's' and wade in the slush that's left once the pass is open.
I'm in a shared jeep with luckily only two israeli tourists and two locals - tho can you imagine, a local woman from Spitti who's mobile phone went off about 15 times before 6am - in the end i had to suggest she switch it off before I threw it out of the window - international business I think not. We managed to avoid falling off the edge of the cliff, running over the goats and drowning in the icy snow water and then when we were on a flat open road managed to drive into the back of the car in front. Their car was dented - no damage to our jeep but had to watch a small fight, loud argument and then we were off again.
Kaza 3600m
Spitti is nestled behind the Northern Himalaya mountains but south of the Tibetan mountains.
Kaza was a welcome sight after such a long journey with no sleep - mainly because I think i wanted to see the scenery. I went straight to bed and woke up in the middle of the night with no water and headachey, sinusy, but could do nothing til daylight. I watched from my bedroom window the sky change colour and the locals come to the water Pump near my guest house to fill their buckets with water or wash their face and clean their teeth. I find a german bakery - shame such tourism here but at the same time v. glad of a brown roll with salad in it for breakie. I wander around the samll village and meet a couple of people sitting on a balcony outside a grubby looking local restaurant / dhaba - they suggest I come up and join them the paratha (10 rupees) is good and I can have a hot lemon. We look at maps and talk about trekking and the German woman and I decide to go trekking when we have acclimatised.
I moved to their guest house across the river - a traditional house. Get tea in bed in the morning (or fresh mint and hot water for me). BUT these guest houses have Boy servants from Bihar - bought for cash possibly for life - I think they send them to school and i'm told they're used to fetch water and help round the house - the boys look happy enough but they're soooo young - I wish i could speak Hindi to find out more about it from the boys. Next door's says he is 14 and will see his family again in 2013! poor kid.
Kaza - Kibber (about 1 hr on the bus)
stayed at : Rainbow guest house - Everything about it disgusting including food.
We find a HomeStay to have breakfast - really nice place and good food - soup for b'fast.
To aid this we take a local bus to Kibber 4200m - I take the front seat yeehaa manage to get it - big mistake. Its the worst bus journey - along a gorge with windy road and we have to reverse a few times to get round some bends - I didnt want the driver to see how scared I was so all I could do was close my eyes.
In the village all the donkeys, yaks, cows, goats graze together and at the end of the day they're brought back to the village by the shepherd and each animal makes its way to its own home. Same in the morning. I loved this.
We though a walk to Chimche would be a good idea a quick warm up 2 1/2 hrs - which involves crossing a gorge by hanging in a metal basket on a cable and being pulled across by ropes - yeah right.... well we did it. It looked worse than it was. The village was unexciting but one Swiss man, Sebastian, who walked with us was going to stay there so we got invited into a local house for chai - great to see how they live - the houses are like monasteries with low matreses to sit cross legged on and low tables in front for food / cups etc. They have a wood burner inside but use cow dung for fuel - which I was told was carconogenic. mmmm new research.
We walk back to the village get our packs and walk to Kee Monastery - 1 hr or so downhill via a road - or over the hill via Gata (couldnt be bothered to do this) so took short cuts sliding down the cliffs to avoid wakling all round the road. Two Korean men are walking with us. Its v. hot. When we get to the Monastry unfortunately about 20 US students are there also - we were thinking to stay the night but the room was a bit grim and they dont wash the bedding so we started walking back to Kaza (and got a lift immediately).
Langtze - Komik 4,600m - Damul - Langlu - Dankhar Trekking
The next day we take a bus to Langtze and arrive in the cloud about 2pm - we have the name of someone who lives here where we can stay but there's about 6 houses and everyone looks a little inbred. One man who gets off the bus with us says we are in lower Langtze and the house we need is in upper - but he wants us to have a chai in his house - ok - I think he wants to sell us a fossil really. after Chai we decide to walk the 2 1/2 hrs to next village of Komik
Komik.
We can see quite far ahead the path up up up and round the corner but every time we came to the end of our view there was another huge area of fields and hills to cross. But, excitingly we found the rivers that were dried up had some fossils in - not amazing but the first ones i found myself. Eventually we get to Komik - its just turning dark and the contact we have here has left the village and someone else has taken the room (how dare they)... We wonder to the next couple of houses and find one who has a room and will give us dinner - 9pm they said well at 9pm dinner was not looking like being served and Angela was getting really grumpy and saying that it was rude to ask for dinner before they eat as a family, traditions etc... and she said they'd said dinner would be 10pm. well if you dont ask you dont get . So i asked and got and was happy. Angela was pissed off cos they wouldnt cook her a noodle soup! so she went to bed hungry. But we're not staying at restaurant hotels. You eat what u r given. We had to share a large mattress on the floor in a big room with logs for a ceiling and a large square concrete washing area in the corner . The loo was a separate room in the house with a hole in the ground and a pile of earth beside it - you pee in the hole and shovel mud on top. No water. No bathroom - I dont think they wash up here.
Komik - Damul (5 hrs)
Head off after a chapati and dahl left over from dinner and seem to walk endlessly up hill. Its getting harder and harder. Eventually we reach a pass and things flatten out a bit. 5000m - no wonder i was huffing and puffing. phew. Stop and picnic - chapati and tomato as thats all we've got - no villages nor tea houses here. The only thing we follow is a random foot path hoping we are going the right way. Spy the other tourist who was staying in the village but he was about 10 mins ahead of us. We catch him up at the top of the mountain to Damul. We now have about 1 hr down hill. Exhausted as I am. relief of seeing a village helps. This village has a rotation system (bit mafia based) and they charge double everywhere else so we didnt really want to stay here. We found a place that would give us some lunch (fried rice and insy wincey bit of a hint of a vegetable). then i got a migraine and got freezing and there was no way I could walk to the next village (let alone the right house to stay in). We got an ok from the owner that we could stay in this house and then we had a string of locals, including the village coordinator telling us we couldnt stay here. Luckily Angela speaks fluent Hindi but this also meant we had to endure a battle over every bill and every conversation - I was glad i could only say hello and good bye after a while. eventually all was cleared and we could stay the night. Dinner 9pm again. bed. breakfast - chapati and butter. mmm and worse still - its now pouring with rain.
Damul - Lalung (3 hrs)
I have a rain over coat but no water proof trousers. Anegla has full waterproof kit - but the jacket leaks and her rucksack jacket leaks. The only thing thats wet for me is my lower legs but light trousers dry quickly.
We think the rain is bad enough but when we find the path (after being told to take the road - which didnt exist), we have a bigger problem. Its soft black mud and we have about 5 inches of mud stuck to the bottom of our boots and have no grip and have a lovely route down hill - mud, rain, cloud - we slip and slide and have to cross many small ish waterfalls that are gushing. Angela wants to walk directly to Dankar and skip Lalung - ugh is my view - its long enough and hard enough in the mud and rain as it is. We walk and walk and dont stop for water or snack cos its too wet. The cloud is only about 40 ft above us - its quite exiting. But neither of us really have any idea which way to go other than following the biggest most used path. We reach a cross roads - one path leads to the river but no bridge and its to Dankhar (6 km) the other left goes to Lalung (1 more hr) so we head here - i'm v. relieved. We walk across a stoney ledge and have to watch out for falling stones from the weight of all the rain then we cross the river and walk up up up up a hill. But we find Padme the school teacher (who we've been suggested to stay with in the middle of the village) and luckily because its raining she's not at school (school is too wet inside). she speaks good english and gives us a room to leave out wet things and makes us Rice lunch - no fire as they cook on camping gas stove but at least we're inside, drying out and sitting down. I have the worst pain in my shoulder and really do not want to walk the extra 8 km to Dankhar in the rain this pm. I suggest we do first thing in the morning to Dankar and then hitch back to Kaza or Mud or Tabo or take bus - this seems to settle her restlessness a bit - she has a man she wants a phone call from - but we have no signal out here.
Langlu has the best monastery in the world (according to me) its 1000 years old with a 1000 year old tree outside. Its history is that two sculptures inside one either side of the door protect it. and each buddah , tara, lama etc are sculpted out of mud or clay and painted. Archaologist or historians have been here taking samples of the mud used and cannot match it to anything local. The myth is that when the monastery was built the lama asked the Gods and Goddesses to help and this is what materialised. 108 were built but only 4 have been found.
We meet 16 Indian tourists in private jeeps here - they're driving back to Kaza and Angela hitches a ride. I didnt want to go back to hum drum place yet so stayed alone. But not for long - A young Indian woman from Bihar doing research for WWF a tourist organisation was staying at my home stay also and next day was heading to Kaza. Next day i'd decide if i walk to Dankhar, take shared jeep or go elsewhere.
Lalung - Dankar
Its still raining. I'm advised not to walk and that its really not a good idea to travel in the train for landslides. After breakfast the indian girl and I are quickly told to head to the jeep taxi. Then we're told they're not enough people to go so taken to another house to wait. We sit by the fire and wait and wait. i've decided to head to Kaza as its the Dalai Lama's birthday and all sorts of Masked Dances and celebrations will be happening. We finally get told to go to the jeep and its got 8 people on back seat. 4 on front seat. 6 in boot and abuot 6 people sitting on the roof - basically its full. The indian girl nearly cries. However. two tourists suddenly appear with a private jeep - they're going to Dankar and then Kaza - wow - what luck, how amazing. We just have to go to the monastery here again and then drive in the rain to Dankar (place of another 1000 year old monastery that's on the top of a rock that's crumbling so huge appeal to try and save it). Not as impressive as Lalung but good to have seen it. Its freezing. and the two tourists are now going to walk 1 hr up the hill to see a lake ! Thank goodness here's a cafe and indian woman and I and driver and a lama head here. Its full of israeli smoking tourists bored and grumpy because they're stuck here - no bus nor jeeps leaving - roads too dangerous and there's no electricity and no hot water. WEll, I've not had a wash for 4 days.
Heading back to Kaza in the jeep - and there are 10 landslides - some really big ones where the road has disappeared and we all have to get out of the jeep and push rocks level and watch the driver tilted to 45 degs to get over the slide. We walk / jump across and jump back in and drive to the next one... but get to Kaza safely.
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