Where have I have traveled the past few weeks?

The past few weeks I traveled through Kinnaur and Spiti Valleys in the Indian State of Himachal Pradesh.

Kinnaur and Spiti Valleys are not heavily traveled by tourists. The valleys are better described as gorges, with steep rock walls. The roads are rough stone and dirt ways that have been blasted out of the cliff walls. They run alongside a wild river, the water a chocolate color, that always has rapids because the elevation is always dropping down the river course. Landslides are frequent and the road is constantly being repaired or rebuilt by earthmovers and dynamite.

On the map the important features are the brown and white coloring at the center and north and east, which symbolize mountains between five and six thousand meters high (sixteen- to nineteen-thousand feet). Everywhere in these valleys the relief is very sharp: everything is a peak or a cliff or a river gorge.

Tibet is located immediately east of the region and presumably the terrain here is very similar to that of Tibet.

Kinnaur has vegetation because it gets monsoon rains from the south, as it is getting now. There are pine, hemlock, birch, and elm forests up to the alpine elevations. Spiti Valley, because it is blocked by the six thousand meter high Himalaya range in the center of the map, gets much less precipitation, and is a desert. It reminded me of the American Southwest because of some of the red stone in the valley walls. It has virtually no trees, but it does have green vegetation growing on the rock.

Kinnaur is known for having its own unique culture that arose due to hundreds of years of relative isolation. The people's faces have a distinctive look and tradition of wearing green felt-lined caps and tweed jackets. There is a mix of Hindu and Buddhist religious worship due to the proximity to Tibet. One might find a statue of Buddha worshipped alongside statues of Hindu gods.

Spiti has a very Tibetan culture. The people look Tibetan and there are many Buddhist gompas (monasteries). Refugees from Tibet cross into India south of Nako.

I started in Manali in Kullu Valley. I rented a jeep with a group of people and took a nine hour ride to Sarahan. After a couple of days looking at the timber-and-stone Hindu temple in this town perched up on the side of the valley, I took a local bus to the mouth of the Sangla (or Baspa) Valley. Here the group found a jeep to hire to take us to the the town of Sangla.

The jeep ride to Sangla was probably the most dramatic of any road on my trip. The road is blasted from the side of a cliff. The road is wide enough for one bus, with occasional areas just wide enough for another to pass. A bus coming in the other direction usually meant one bus carefully backing up to a wider section of road, and then the drivers passing slowly so that their side mirrors would just miss each other.

From Sangla we took another bus to Chitkul at the end of the valley. Chitkul has lovely views of mountains. Because of the proximity to Tibet, there is an Indo-Tibetan Police Force camp further up the valley. Travellers seem to be a new phenomenon in Chitkul and I was usually stared at as an alien. The architecture is traditional stone and timber housing. An irrigation system of stone and concrete diverts water through the village.

I attempted to walk up to Charang La (Charang Pass) at 5300 meters from Chitkul. It was a tiring and frustrating experience, as there was unstable scree (loose rocks) the entire 6000 feet of elevation of the climb. After five hours I estimate I made it about halfway up (900 meters). I turned around and came back down to make it to Chitkul by nightfall.

From Chitkul. a bus took me to Rekong Peo and Kalpa. Kalpa has fantastic views of a massive mountain named Kinnaur Kailash across the valley. I took a walk through farms and pine forest higher up the valley wall to get a better view.

In Rekong Peo I got an inner-line permit to continue my travels up to Spiti Valley. The permit is required by the Indian government to pass closely to the Tibetan border. A bus took me to Nako, a beautiful town high on the valley wall. It has a natural source of water which allows the villagers to plant green rice paddies in an oasis in the middle of a desert. This was Spiti Valley and the trees were now gone.

From Nako a bus took me to Tabo. Tabo has a thousand-year-old Buddhist monastery. On the outside the temples look like one-story adobe huts, but the inside walls are covered in frescoes of images of the Buddha and statues of the Boddhisatva. There is a quiet guesthouse run by the monks with a library about Tibet, Buddhism, and the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama plans to retire here when he finishes his active days as the Dalai Lama.

From Tabo a bus took me to Kaza, the administrative headquarters for the Spiti Valley. Kaza turned out to be a gathering place for travelers because there are a number of places to visit near Kaza.

From Kaza I went to the small town of Kibber, high up a side valley at 3600 meters. Kibber was a very quiet and picturesque place and was ideal for chilling out for a couple of nights.

From Kibber my Irish friend Dave and I walked down a cliffside to Ki Monastery. This monastery is built dramatically on top of a small hill. After touring the monastery the monks invited us into their kitchen for tea. The monks were of all ages and spent most of the time kidding each other in Tibetan.

From Kibber Dave and I caught a jeep back to Kaza. I took a bus up to Pin Valley, a side valley of Spiti. There I stayed in very rustic settings in a family's home. A few other travelers talked to a guide who had just walked up from Kafnu near Kinnaur Valley. He was returning with his assistants and horses the next day. In a change of plans I decided to take advantage of this opportunity for a trek. Instead of returning to Manali, I would walk back south to Kinnaur, and then continue further south to take care of my visa.

We had a fantastic four day trek over Tarik La (also known as Bawa Pass). The vegetation and climate reversed itself on my return to Kinnaur: dry and treeless in Pin Valley, and then lush, green, treed, and raining after we crossed the pass and walked the valley to Kinnaur. The pass is at 4900 meters, which I figure is the highest I have been.

After camping one night in Kafnu I caught a local bus and traveled nine hours to Shimla. After a few days rest in Shimla I took an A/C deluxe bus to Delhi. Now I need to take care of the visa.