Day-2: Sarahan-Kamru-Sangla

I read in the book 'The Secret' that the Universe will set up things for you, if you wish something very much. Got an experience of this! Last night at the hotel we ran into a conversation with a German Couple regarding the best place to go - Is it Kalpa or Sangla/Chitkul? When we told that we need to go by bus, they were gracious enough to offer that we can travel with them. This gesture from them made our trip less hectic and also we reached Delhi ahead of our plan. They were going to Kalpa and we decided to go to Chitkul, so they told that they can drop us at Sangla as they planned to visit Kamru Fort also which is just near Sangla.

The reasons we chose Chitkul/Sangla over Kalpa are- A local in Sarahan advised that Kalpa is also similar to Sarahan with views of a different mountain range, Kinner Kailash where as Sangla/Chitkul is a 'valley'. Also 'Chitkul' has this tag of last village on Indo-Tibet border and if we do a trip to Lahaul & Spiti (my next target :)) it will be via Kalpa only. We left Sarahan at 9:00 A.M. and the ride was awesome. After around 15 kms from Jeori, Shimla district ends and Kinnaur starts. The road will definitely test your guts. Luckily there were no land slides and we reached Sangla with no issues. The Karcham, Wangto road is in a very bad condition due to the ongoining JP Hydro Dam construction and power plants. Below are some pictures. You can see the Sutlez river in full flow.



Our German host, Dr.Hermann is a Geography professor whose area of work is South-East Asia. We had an excellent conversation with him during our journey. We were a little bit embarrassed at times with his knowledge of India. He told that he visited India almost 25 times till now and he visited the mountains of Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan also. We discussed about the ecological damage JP Hydro is causing and about the locals fight against it. I too felt bad that the Sangla Valley is being spoiled so that some one in Gurgaon or Delhi can run his Air Conditioner. No wonder our P.M. is right regarding the N-Deal, we need clean energy badly.

Around 01:00 P.M we reached Sangla and we headed for Kamru Fort. It is at a height of 2600m and the fort is one of the oldest forts in Himachal. Kamru was the centre of kings of Bushar. The location of this fort is breathtaking. As per local tradition we need to cover our head and tie a thread/knot around waist to enter into the temple. The temple houses Lord Buddha and Kamakhya. Its said that the Kamakhya idol is brought from Kamakhya temple, Guwahati. Below are some pics of this amazing place:


After coming down from Kamru, we got off at Sangla and the German couple proceeded to Kalpa.