Kibber, Chiccham, Key, Hikkim, Komic & Langza
I was specially excited about this day because from Kaza, we had planned to rent out a bike and visit the villages around, finally halting for the night in Langza. Because of the taxi union in Kaza all vendors can rent a maximum of two bikes per day. So if you go bike hunting around 10:00, chance is you will not find any. We started early, but by the time we got petrol in our bikes from the only petrol pump in Kaza, it was about 9:30 before we were on the road.
Initially, I was very unsure of the challenge of driving on mountain roads in a place as remote and at the altitude of Spiti valley. But soon I realized that due to the lack of traffic, as long as I maintained a steady speed, there was not much to worry about. I soon was also able to maneuver the hair pin turns comfortably. We first headed for the Chiccham bridge, which is claimed to be the highest bridge in Asia. The road in the region around Kaza, till Chicham bridge are well maintained.
At the Chicham Bridge, we stopped to get a picture. I left the bike lights turned on and that discharged the battery. Since the closest mechanic was 25 Kilometers far, I was a slight worry. But we put some of our science education to use and using the momentum from the slope, we able to kick-start the engine. We did not keep the engine off for most of the journey after that. Our next stop was Kibber village. Here we stopped at a cafe for some food. Like other villages Kibber is a very small village at a very great altitude. People come here in winters to sight snow leopards and it falls within a designated wildlife sanctuary. We met a local here who we chatted with for a while and who advised us about stay options in Langza. While in Kibber we also met another bunch who were returning from Chandartal Lake and told us that completing the circuit to Manali is a far-out thought due to road blockages. They said a glacier had come on the road and was giving the Border Road Organization a tough time.
We then headed to the Key Monastery which is one of the prime attractions in Spiti Valley. It is another old monastery that is has a weird construction due to successive rebuilding after conquests or earthquakes. At the monastery, they offered visitors free Tibetan chai. In a low dark chamber, we sat and had chai. The room also served as a clinic to provide tinctures and mixtures to patients who believe in natural medicine. While we were at Key, there was slight rain for some time.
From Key we headed to Hikkim. Now this was a very long ride. We had to return half-way to Kaza and then head up another road that changed from tarmac, to broken tarmac, to no road only mud. Hikkim has the highest post-office. We all got postcards and posted back home from here. We then headed to Komic, which in the highest motorable village in Asia. The views from here are absolutely amazing. We stopped here at the only eatery in the village and had a plate of momos. There was also a very old Gompa here. Other travellers here playing cricket in the open field right in front of the cafe. Snow capped peaks surrounded us is all directions. We departed from Komic because we wanted to reach Langza before sundown.
The ride from Komic to Langza is mostly a mud road. The road is at an elevation that while driving you feel that all the snow capped mountains in front are in level with your eyes. We took about forty minutes to Langza. While I was not recklessly driving, I was driving faster to reach before sundown. By the time we reached Langza, we were terribly tired. We had driven on the bike for about 6 hours. At Langza, we hung around for sometime to admire the famous Buddha Stupa that faces the Himalayas and the magnificent view before we retired to a home-stay and stretched our legs for a while.
When we woke up, it was night time. If you look up on the internet, you will find amazing shots of the Buddha Stupa against the night sky. A lot of people visit Langza just for night sky photography. Even though it was terribly cold, we put on four layers of clothing and ventured out. We were the only ones near the Stupa for a long while before a group of people with professional cameras came and found themselves a good spot some distance down the slope. We witnessed the arm of the Milky way rise in the sky. We also saw three shooting starts, few satellites and most constellations very clearly. By 11:00, light from the moon was starting to make the snow capped peaks visible. It would take a couple of hours before the moon itself would rise. We went back to the home-stay and found the hosts waiting to serve us dinner. We felt a pang of guilty in assuming that they would sleep on not finding us in our rooms. But again, Spiti has the most generous people. Not only did they serve us dinner, but they patiently waited while we ate and told us stories from the region. There were two others who were also staying in the home-stay, though they had eaten ahead. After the cold outside, the living area, where a Spiti family shares a hearth, has its meal and spends a considerable portion of the day was many degrees warmer and a kind relief. After dinner we had little energy left and retired for the day.
We did not want to be charged for two days for the bike so we woke up early at 6:00 the next day to drive back to Kaza. The Stupa looked very beautiful in the morning light. All along the drive back, not a single vehicle crossed us. At Kaza, we returned the bikes and retrieved our bags from the store-owner. We then set about to inquire if someone would take us to Chandartal that day. But due to a lack of travellers going there we were unable to find a shared taxi. After some trying to round up people, we gave up and resigned to exploring Kaza. I visited the Sol cafe run by Ecosphere in Kaza, which is a social enterprise that runs various projects to help the locals through installing green houses and making travellers more sensitive to keeping Spiti sustainable. I recommend it to anyone traveling there. They have cool souvenirs to carry back and volunteering opportunities to give back to the community. At Sol cafe, I had a nice chat with two people one of whom was volunteering there.
I then had the stupid idea to go to the river that flows through the valley. But as someone warned me, it looks closer than it actually is. So I instead went to some farmland and tried to sleep. But again, not a nice idea in a desert. I then decided to walk to Kaza’s Zostel and hang in their common room. At 4:00, the bus for Mudh village was to depart. And we had to get on it to reach Mudh village next.
