An Adventure from the roads less travelled - a motorcycle trip to Spiti - Part 2 of 3

For part 1 click here and for part 3 click here

For me, the most inescapable moments are when I find myself lost in nature. The moments that are so pure that they are capable of dissolving away the rest of the world. Moments, that are hard to escape but when you do, you just remember that you have forgotten to slow down your motorcycle at a turn and its too fucking late.

There are times, when there is no escape, you have to fall .Then when you fall , just fall safe!

Day 3 /Reckong Peo to Nako/ 103 kms

The view of Reckong Peo in the morning

In the morning breakfast, Shravan had treated us with the biggest omlette parathan known to mankind. Shravan, the care taker of the lodge had also entertained us with the numerous Spiti videos. You named a place in Spiti and he reaches out to his pockets in a quick movement that resembled the act of pulling out a gun. And there came the humongous cell phone with the Jio connection for watching uninterrupted youtube videos. It seemed, he really wanted to makeup for the unprofessional accommodation last night.

Reckong Peo, administrative HQ of Kinnaur District, is the last petrol Pump before Kaza. We refueled our bikes from the sole petrol pump in town. This is also the point where you make that last call back home. There is no cellular connectivity beyond Reckong Peo, unless if you are carrying a BSNL SIM card.

We rode with our new found biker friends whom we met last night.The roads till pooh were bad! If I was on a bus, I surely would have puked my guts out. Not to mention that I was about to choke on my own burp (if that is practically possible) from the half digested food, while getting vibrated on the bike. 

These were the better roads on this stretch

Just before reaching pooh, we had to register our bikes at a check post at Ribba. The roads leading to Khab, the rendezvous point of Sutlej and the Spiti River, were equally bad.

However, the ascent of Kazigs with numerous hair pin bends was the highlight of the day.  The Kazigs is a stretch of 7 zigzag roads which resemble the Ghata loops of Leh-Manali Highway. The newly laid roads were smooth as smooth could be. And the view? You have to see it to believe it. It felt that we were riding at the top of the world with all the mountains beneath us. We had pulled over a thrilling 70 kmph on these roads. That seemed like a big risk on the hindsight. A small slide on the gravels would have been a 60 feet drop down to the valley.

The ascent of Kazigs ( courtesy BCM touring)

A small 1 km road on the right from the highway took us to Nako our destination for today. Although, you could reach Kaza the same day from Recong Peo, a stay at Nako is highly recommended. There are two advantages to it. The first is that you get to enjoy the amazing view of Nako for a longer time and the 2^nd is that you get a full day on the road from Nako to Kaza where you could visit other places on the way.

Located at a height of 12000 feet, Nako is one of the cleanest villages I have ever seen. 

View of Nako from the Hill Top

First time in the trip, we got ourselves good beds and clean rooms at a small lodge right at the starting of the Village.

At Nako, we spent most of our time in the small restaurant run by the nicest lady in the village. Rest of the time we were busy getting drunk.  

Day 4/ Nako  to Kaza/ 111 kms

Consecutive three nights of alcohol specially at this height of 12,000 feet also throws in some AMS symptoms for free. The throbbing pain in my head had the potential to make me backtrack to Reckong peo and then to Shimla. This is typically, the point when u swear of no more alcohol in the trip.

First thing in the morning was having a bar of chocolate and a Diamox 250 mg, the life saving pill. Followed that with a lemon tea and a stroll around the serene village which put me back into the game.

The later half of the morning time was spent looking at Vasu and his friends who were all over the ground covered with grease and dust. They were figuring out how to replace a punctured bike tube. Vasu, who was a biker from Mandi appeared so stoned yet rugged enough to survive any situation. He was intently meditative in the whole process. He ordered his friends with a hoarse tone while he figured out which tool size would open up the tyres. It was quiet surprising, that a place like Nako didn't have a bike mechanic.

View of Nako Lake in the morning seemed like a painting

We started for Kaza late at 10 am after that not so sumptuous but delicious breakfast in the small restaurant run by the nicest lady in the village. 

A few kilometers before Tabo, is the village of Sumdo which is the point where you enter spiti. We had to register our bikes at this checkpoint. 

Just after Sumdo, a colourful cemented arch invited us into the village of Gue. The earthquake of 1975 had opened up the tomb which had the mummified body of Sangha Tenzin. The 500 years old mummy is now housed at a  monastery in Gue.

An 11 km drive along a narrow road took us to Gue which hardly has a score of houses. The monastery was situated at the far end of the village above a hill.

The newly built non operational Gue Monastery. The mummy was housed in the small house at the left.

The mummified monk- disturbingly peaceful

The mummy kept inside the glass chamber, with the empty eye sockets, the perfectly preserved teeth & skin, surprisingly, looked to be at peace.

According to locals, to free his village from a plague of scorpions, the monk had undergone natural mummification which in simplified language is a suicidal process through slow starvation.

Entry to Tabo. Every prominent village in Spiti has this colourful gate that invites you

We had our lunch break at Tabo, at a restaurant that served the best mutton momos in the world (now, that is subjective and debatable). 

Tabo is a small town situated in a valley at the banks of the Spiti river which houses more than a 1000 years old Tabo monastery, the would be retirement abode for the Dalai Lama. Unlike the other monasteries which are on hills, this is located in the plains. Unfortunately, we decided to only take a glimpse from the outside and head to Kaza.

Roughly around 20 kms from Tabo a signboard points you towards the Dhankar Village. And this would be the right time to introduce the fellow biker who had received an SMS regarding his boss marking him as absconded. He was so distressed that he raced all the way to Kaza, 2 hours ahead of the group (which we didn't know at that time) while we waited at the junction of the road leading to Dhankar monastery. I thought taking a long leave is simple: inform your boss in advance, complete your projects on time and pay your colleagues a portion of your monthly salary to keep the show running until you are back.

After the futile wait of an hour or so, we left the main highway and took the 11 kms road going uphill towards the right. 

Entry and Exit gate to Dhankar Village

Dhankar, the capital of Spiti in the 17th century had a strategic Fort, which got destroyed in the 1975 earthquake (almost all the stories of Spiti have always got something to do with the faithful 1975 earthquake).

The main attractions here are the 2 monasteries and a lake. The new Monastery is located right at the start of the village while the old one is located a few meters ahead.

The brand new Dhankar Monastery

The dilapidated old Dhankar monastery as seen from the new one

The old Dhankar monastery was in shambles with visitors not allowed in certain parts. The monastery has been selected as the 100 most endangered monuments by Worlds Monuments Fund. 

It was getting dark. We could not visit the Dhankar lake (courtesy, the wasted hour while waiting for the fellow biker) which was an hour’s trek away at a height of 13,500 ft.  Later, I saw a video clip of the serene lake from a fellow biker and it was definitely worth a visit.

The roads from Dhankar to Kaza are some of the most scenic in the trip. As we motorcycled our way to Kaza, I marveled at the view of the straightest roads with barren fields flanked by mountains on both sides. The Spiti river, sparkling in the setting sun, showed more elegance now. 

The roads leading to Kaza

After a lot of goof ups, we finally arranged to fix our stay at New Kaza hotel, our first decent accommodation in the last 4 days. 

Day 5/ Rest Day- Kaza/ 0 kms

The mud roads which govern most of the stretches to reach the villages in this part

A 40-minute uphill drive from the town took us to Hikkim, where you have the worlds highest Post Office at 14,400 feet. 

Hikkim - Highest Post Office in the world

Rinchin Chering, the postman at Hikkim was a humble man and showed us around the office. It looked more like a house from inside then a regular post office. He told us how the govt. of India in 1983 had setup his residence as a post office and he has been the postmaster of this place ever since. 

Komic, the worlds Highest village connected with motorable road

Next stop was Komic which was just 3 kms and 5 mins away. Located at 15,050 feet, its famous for being the worlds highest village connected by a motorable road. 

Komic monastery

The Monastery here, is said to be 500 years old. With only a handful of houses and a mere 114 people living here, its one of the least populated villages.

Langza, the fossil Village

7 kms away from Komik, was Langza Village at a height of 14, 400 ft, primarily dominated by the statue of Lord Buddha, overlooking the valley. Famous for its marine fossils, it is also known as the fossil village.

The large buddha statue dominating the Langza village

After completing our village tour, we returned back to Kaza. Today was also a bike repair day and our bikes desperately needed some TLC. With a broken head lamp and a bent leg guard, my motorcycle actually needed more than that.

We went to find the only mechanic in Kaza, who was drunk at 1 in the afternoon and couldn’t be found anywhere. After an hour of waiting, he arrived in a semi drunken state. He seemed not pleased to have found so many people waiting for him.

While, our bikes were getting repaired, we had ample amount of time to explore the town and the market.

Main market, Kaza, incase you are wondering how Kaza looks like

In the evening, we stumbled upon a walk in birthday celebration. It seemed that everyone was invited to that party.  We were literally dragged to be a part of the celebration. This is something interesting and unique about the Spiti culture. Every kid of the valley gets one huge birthday party in his lifetime, where all the villagers join. This also explains a lot about the bond among villagers in Spiti.

There are few  good cafes/restaurants to explore at Kaza . 

Himalayan Cafe serves the best food in town

Sol Cafe, Kaza

Sol café being the best of them. With the interesting ambience and the prettiest girl with the brightest smile greeting you at the counter, you are bound to fall in love with this small café. 
For part 1 click here and for part 3 click here