Nako-Tabo-Kaza
We changed buses at Reckong-Peo, the capital of Kinnaur Valley, to travel to Nako. As soon as the bus arrived, there was a huge commotion to get on it. There were a bunch of people traveling all the way from Jammu to Leh in order to lay telephone wires. They had pre-booked the entire bus. We had to cram and stand during the entire journey.
While the travel time was supposed to be five hours, the bus easily took seven to eight hours to reach its destination. Standing in the bus, we met two people who were traveling all the way from Argentina. This was their third visit to India and they had learned English only one year previously. I was impressed by their tenacity. We also met Ankur, who was planning to run the marathon in Kaza. The Himalayas have something to offer to everyone.
The bus journey was tedious and treacherous. The landscape slowly changed from the greenery of Kinnaur to the desert landscape of Spiti. It is hard to describe the grandeur of the mountains we witnessed on the way. They extended all the way up to the sky it seemed. The road was cut into the rocky mountains, while on the other side steep cliffs went down to a vigorously charged Sutlej river. Rocks frequently fall from the mountains onto the road, causing delays, sometimes lethal accidents. The roads are constructed in parts by the Border Road Organization(BRO) and in others by the Public Works Department. They schedule blasting throughout the path to manage the menace of falling stones and widen roads. In a way it is an ongoing battle that the causes delays and inconveniences that the local and travelers must incorporate into their plans.
Our bus also faced delays, as we waited for the roads to be cleared after a session of scheduled blasting. We stopped at Pooh to have lunch and then continued to Nako. I cannot describe how relieved we were when we reached Nako. It is a small village at the entrance of Spiti Valley and has a famous lake and a tenth century monastery. This place was our first introduction to the the way people live, house and sustain themselves in the valley. We must have reached Nako around 6:00. To make use of the last remaining day-light hours, we hung around in the bus-stop area absorbing the 360 degree views. Then we headed to the village which was less than a kilometers away and found ourselves a nice place to stay. For dinner we had Thukpa, momos and hot chocolate, a much needed respite. The night sky had started to dawn and we knew it would be one of the best night skies we had seen till date. With every passing minute, the stars seemed to increase exponentially in the sky. It almost looked as if it was textured. We spent some time on the roof of our home-stay, looking at the stars before we went down to sleep after and exhausting day of 12 hours in the bus.
Next morning, we started early to explore the Nako lake, the village and the monastery. I really loved the monastery which was unlike most modern monasteries. It was a small chamber with wall murals that were chipping and five stupas of the Buddha representing five elements (fire, water, earth, wind, sky). A friendly and jovial monk gave us a special early morning tour. He told us about the Gue Mummy. Gue is a landmark hamlet in Spiti where one can see hair and nails still grow on the skeletal remains of a monk(Sangha Tenzi). Nako village is typical of the other villages that you might see in the valley, with perfectly rectangular houses made of stone and painted white. On their roofs, they store accumulated dry grass to feed their cattle in winter. As we passed through the lanes of Nako, we had to cross many herds of sheep that we running amok.
At 10:30, a bus arrives at Nako and leaves for Kaza. Again, being one of the only few buses that ply on this route, we were unable to find a place to sit. As the bus meandered through the mountain desert we played songs on our speaker to entertain ourselves. At the Sumdho checkpost, when the bus stopped, we decided to get down an try to find ourselves a ride to hitch-hike. Luckily, a lone man driving an old Maruti came along. We asked him if he would drive us to Tabo. Reluctant at first, the man acquiesced on hearing that there were only two with one bag each and had been standing in the bus for the entire journey. But as soon as he said yes, our bus started moving. We had no choice but to board it as our bags were on the carrier on the roof. But the bus stopped again some time later at a rest-stop for tea.
To our surprise, the old gentleman was waiting for us there. He told us he was not leaving without us and had specially waited ahead for the bus to arrive. We quickly fetched our bags from the carrier on the bus and joined him in the car. The comfort of the car was relieving. The man was a post-office official at Kaza and for the next hour all along the ride to Tabo, he told us of the peculiarities of the region. He told us about roads, water, education, the government and life in the valley. We realized people were exceptionally warm and kind here. Along the journey, two people stopped the car to interact with the man and offered us tea at their homes.
The landscape also changed as instead of the road meandering up the mountains, we now moved on straight roads through the valley. We reached Tabo well before the bus was to arrive. We visited the monastery in Tabo, which is among the oldest that can be found in the valley. Some of the chambers in the old monastery were locked, but we did our best and tried to get a peak. But we had to hurry, because we had left a bag in the bus.
When the bus arrived in the Tabo bus stand, we were done seeing the monastery and boarded the same bus to get to Dhankar village. One hour of bus ride the bus dropped us on the junction from where a road forks for Dhankar village. But remember this is Spiti and there is no transport to connect the last 6 kilometers till the village. We decided, we were not hiking in the harsh desert sun and instead went down to the Spiti river flowing through the valley. We spent about two hours just enjoying the landscape and the ferocity of the river. Around five we decided we better get back on the road and wait for a ride till Kaza or we would be stranded in this place for the night.
We were in good luck. After some waiting, we found ourselves a ride with two people who were driving all the way from Delhi and had decided to be on the road for a month. Their car was more of a storeroom and we had to make space to find place to sit. But the people were very sweet, making light conversation, smoking joints and enjoying the scenery. Only the joints worried us because this was the Spiti of treacherous roads, but we reached Kaza soon, safely. One the way we offered a ride to another local and got introduced to the use of the word “Julley”.
“Julley” is a special word used in the valley with a cheer whenever you want to greet, bid goodbye or say thank you to anyone. Over the next few days, we also started using this word frequently with the locals and experienced its power to spread smiles.
At Kaza, the first thing we did was find ourselves something to eat. We had literally not eaten nothing after breakfast. Then we resolved our accommodation at the old circuit house that my friend Aditya had arranged for us. But by the time we settled in, we had walked through the market about two times and realized that kaza is barely a mile long. The market is full of hip cafes, hotels, eateries and places to buy souvenirs.
At the rest-house we freshened up, headed out to dinner but were back soon as we were uttlerly exhausted. We planned to cover Kibber, Key, Komic, Langza and Hikkim villages the next day.
