Kinnaur Travelogue

Planning.
Day-0-Delhi-Shimla.
Day-1- Shimla-Sarahan.
Day-2- Sarahan- Kamru-Sangla.
Day-2- Sangla- Chitkul
Day -3- Chitkul- Sangla-Chandigarh-Gurgaon.

Pics- Picasa Link

Miscellaneous:
1. We were lucky not to face any land-slides. Land slides can throw plans into dis-array. Therefore keep atleast 1 day as buffer in your plan.
2. Below are some contact numbers i gathered for stay, though i didnt use them much.

Place	Hotel Name	Contact No
Kalpa, H.P	Parvati Guest House	Govind Sharma- 9805375215
Kalpa, H.P	Hotel Shivalik	9418342999
Kalpa, H.P	Hotel Ashoka	9418696177, 9418707077
Kalpa, H.P	Hotel Royal Voyages	9418051773
Kalpa, H.P	Monal Residency	01786 226117, 98169 59989
Sangla, H.P	Madhu Guest house	9418423842
Sangla, H.P	Prakash Guest House	9418275062, 01786-242218
Chitkul	Thakur Guest House	01786-244320, 244275, 9418274192

I think i gave enough details in this blog for a newbie to plan his Kinnaur trip. As they say, Happy Kinnauring..

Day 3 & Day4-Chitkul- Rakcham-Sangla-Chandigarh-Gurgaon

Next day we woke up around 9:00 A.M and had our breakfast at the Thakur Guest House/Dhaba. Aloo parantha was good. Then we had the option of waiting till 01:00 P.M for the bus to Sangla. After some discussion, we decided that we will start trekking with our bags and go as much as possible and then when we are down, get into a jeep or the bus that comes by. This decision proved to be very good as we had amazing views of Baspa valley while trekking down from Chitkul to Rakcham. By the way dont confuse Karcham and Rakcham. Karcham is a place where JP is building dam that comes between Jeori-Sangla. Rakcham is a place midway between Sangla and Chitkul. Some people stay at Rakcham also instead of staying in Sangla or Chitkul.
We walked around 7-8 kms and were tried. Then we got into the back of a jeep and for the next 20-30 minutes we were standing on the back of a jeep which was travelling at a height of 3400 metres. Its an amazing ride almost equivalent to getting a helicopter view of the Baspa valley. We got down at Sangla and i was suprised by the driver who refused to take any money from us. I wondered to myself thinking - Who Say's You Need Money To Travel? All You Need Is A Desire, Some Guts & The Humanity Still Left In The World :).
We had momo's as our lunch in Sangla and then we found out that there is a bus to Chandigarh at evening 5:30. I cancelled my Shimla-Delhi volvo bus ticket online. There is only one net-cafe in Sangla that charges Rs.40/- per hour :). We got into the bus and were lucky to get seats. Travelling night in a bus in hills has its advantage - since you cant see much outside you will not get frightened by the dangerous roads you are going through :). We reached Chandigarh at 7:00 A.M next day and then caught another bus and i reached Gurgaon by 2:00 P.M. Thus my first trip to Kinnaur was completed on a high.

Sangla-Chitkul

After getting down at Sangla, we found that the last bus to Chitkul left. So we tried to check with the jeep guys and they were quoting Rs.250/ and also it started to rain. Since we were damn hungry, we thought we will have lunch first and then decide if we should go to Chitkul or stay in Sangla itself for that day.We were having lunch at a small restaurant in Sangla and then again i was lucky to hear someone telling our restaurant hostess that 'he is going to chitkul'. I ran to him and asked if he could take us also. Bingo, he agreed and he also waited till we finished our lunch.

The jeep ride to Chitkul was amazing with some beautiful views. From his conversation, we kind of guessed that the guy is some government engineer responsible for that area. Our guess was confirmed when he took us to Chitkul PWD Guest house and arranged our accomodation in Chitkul.
The PWD Guest house is just at the entrance of Chitkul village only. Its a nice place to stay. Also there are few other stay options in Chitkul like Thakur Guest house etc. Since it was off-season, i think we were the only travellers who stayed in Chitkul that night. The PWD Guest house has 2 normal rooms and 1 VIP room. For non-himachalis, the normal room rent is Rs.200/- + Geyser - Rs.10/- + Blankets - Rs.10/- and electricity charges - Rs.2/- :)
Though it was getting late (around 5:30 P.M), we thought of doing the walk to the last check-post. This is not a trek and is just a plain walk. It took around one and half hour to and fro as i was taking my time clicking pics. While returning i chatted with village women who were in groups. They told that they were returning from some temple/place where they offered prayers as its a 'Janmashtami'. After coming back, our care-taker told that he cannot arrange dinner in PWD house and advised us to try a new restaurant in Chitkul. I think its name is some 'seeshmahal'. We got wet while coming back in the rain and also i dared to put my bare feet in the small stream that's coming from the melting snow. The feet were numb in just 3-4 seconds. We returned back to the room and slept after shivering for some time.

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.

Day -1 - Shimla-Sarahan

The Volvo reached Shimla on time at around 6'o clock in the morning. We got freshened at the bus-stand and thought of having a chai, but heard that the bus to Kalpa is leaving. We didnt want to waste any time as its better to travel in morning when its pleasant. So got into the bus and took tickets till Jeori. Below is the bus which proves that - No (Back) Pain, No Gain. The bus stopped at a place near Narkanda for Tea. After that it reached Rampur by around 11:00 am, i.e around 5 hours for Shimla-Rampur. Below are some pics we clicked near Rampur bus-stand. After that by around 12:00 we reached Jeori.





At Jeori we had to wait for around 1 hour for another bus. The auto guys were asking for around 250/, but again we didnt feel like spending money. The bus was completely packed and i just dozed off, dont know how i fell asleep with so much sweat.

Sarahan:
1. As we enter the village, all the pain is gone with the sight of the 800 year old Bhimkali temple. Its just amazing. We checked into the HPTDC hotel - Srikhand which is just 100 metres from temple.
2. Finished our bath and then had our lunch at Srikhand. Tasted their special dessert - Srikhand Kheer made from Corn, Cashew, Bread, biscuits and milk.
3. Started trekking to the Bird Pheasantry (Chidiya Ghar) which is on a small hill. Not only we get amazing views of the temple from this place, but we can see the beautiful bird 'Monal', which is Himachal's state bird. Dont think its just another chidiya ghar and give it a miss. The trek is very simple and to and fro you can do in 1 hour along with plenty of time for photography.
4. After coming back, we went into the temple and i soaked myself in the temple surroundings and savoured it to the fullest. The next day is Janmasthami and there was decoration going on. Its an amazing feeling climbing those stairs of the temple. We attended the Aarti also and then had Momo, Thumpka at the small Tibetan eatery near the temple. Below are the beautiful pics of Bhimkali temple and the HPTDC Srikhand hotel.

Day-0-Delhi-Shimla

Boarded the Volvo from Himachal Bhawan, near CP. Finding Himachal bhawan near Mandi house is a little bit tricky. Thanks to Subodh's father, we found it easily. The Volvo's to Shimla are maintained very well. We had very good Aloo-Puri as our dinner, Courtesy- Subodh's mother. But i couldnt sleep well because of the blaring of movie played in the bus. The movie is -Kambhakht Ishq - A high budget 3rd rated crap movie- similar to other Akshay movies-i.e. leave your brains at home. Hero & Heroine calling each other 'bastard' and 'bitch' is not comedy for someone like me!
All the stunts Mr. Akshay does in this movie are showed everyday 4-5 times in the Universal Studios, L.A. I saw them in the one day Universal Studio tour in L.A. After Chandigarh the movie was stopped, thanks to those who complained.

Planning Of Kinnaur Trip

In August, 2009 i was planning to go somewhere during my birthday as i was getting 4 days holidays. The state i zeroed-in on was Himachal Pradesh. As i have been to Shimla last year, this time i wanted to explore something interior of Himachal which is less travelled by Indians and thus a little bit less crowded. I remember pradeep's pics of 'chitkul', which is the last village on Indo-Tibet border. After browsing 'indiamike.com', i found that i can club this place along with 'Sarahan'. For more than 6 months i was in awe of the pics of 'Sarahan' Bhimkali temple and now atlast here i go.

So now coming to the trip planning. The below sites were of immense help:
1. IndiaMike
2. Srinivasan's Blog
3. Himachal Tourism Site - For booking of accomodation in Sarahan.
4. HRTC website - For detailed list of bus timings. Though the site may not be up-to-date, it helps in just getting a feel of the bus timings. As we are not travelling in a big group, we didnt want to splurge money on a private vehicle for the whole trip.

Few people on Indiamike advised me for a one night stop at Narkanda, but as per the suggestion of one of my colleagues i didnt. The reason is -dont waste one night in Narkanda and spoil the 4 day trip. Instead go to Narkanda in a weekend if you want, more over there is nothing in Narkanda in no-snow season.

Now this is the itinerary i planned (though it changed pleasantly later)
Day 0- Delhi - Shimla Volvo.
Day 1- Reach Shimla early in the morning. Catch a bus to Sarahan from Shimla Bus stand. This will be the regular bus and be prepared for a bumpy roller coaster ride in the hills. For Sarahan, we need to go via Rampur, Jeori. We can take any bus to Kalpa, Sangla or ReckengPeo and get down at Jeori and take another bus. Sarahan is around 170 kms from Shimla.
Do the trek to Bird Pheasantry, Attend arti in temple, spend time in and around temple.
Day 2- Check out and leave to Sangla or Kalpa. Most of the day in travel. Night stay.
Day 3 - Explore Sangla/Chitkul or Kalpa. Night stay.
Day 4 - Leave for Delhi. A very long journey.
Day 5 - Back to Office :(

Hampi - Every Stone Has A Story To Tell

I always dreamt of going to Hampi when i read about that place as a kid in history books. I could visit that place at last now. Courtesty - Recession. :) Like all other companies that are doing cost-cutting in these times of recession, my company made it mandatory to take 5 earned leaves before this financial year. Everytime i have to chase manager for leaves (if they are for more than 2 days), but this time he kept chasing us. So there i have my 5 days of leave and i went to Hampi with my parents. And then i realized i havent gone anywhere with my parents after joining in my job. Thats damn 3.5 years. All this made my Hampi trip more special and memorable.

Before posting this entry i thought for a while what's the use of posting one more travelogue when there is already Giga bytes of information on the web. I thought it serves 2 purposes:
1. Good way for me to recollect about the trip at a later date.
2. I can consolidate and provide the necessary details so that any of my friends can refer directly and save time.

Hampi is one of the 2 UNESCO declared heritage sites in Karnataka. The other one in Karnataka is 'Pattadakal'. (I will be posting that travelogue too) Total there are 27 UNESCO heritage sites in India. Below are wonderful links that give good information if you are planning to go to Hampi:

Mind-blowing 360 degree view of the Hampi monuments:
http://www.world-heritage-tour.org/asia/south-asia/india/hampi/map.html
Beautiful Travelogue:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/39200-hampi-visiting-forgotten-empire-vijayanagara.html
Also refer to the information present in both 'wikipedia' and 'wikitravel'. Below i summarise regarding stay, transport and food.

Stay:
1. If you are very much fascinated about these beautiful places and want to take your time and see them at your pace, you should stay in Hampi only. The possibilities are: staying as a back-packer in some of the local guest houses in Hampi (with very minimal facilities) or the only one available Hotel - Hotel Mayura Bhuvaneshwari. This hotel is run by Karnataka Tourism. The website doesnt allow online booking. You can call them and send DD to book this hotel. In peak season going without a booking is not suggested.
2. You can stay in Hospet and use it as a hub to go to Hampi, Pattadakal, Badami and other places. Hampi is around 17Kms from Hospet and you should take care of your transport.

Local Transport:
Autos (3-wheelers/Indian Tuk-tuks) are the best option. Hospet Railway station to Hampi may cost around Rs.120/- Hospet station to any of the hotels in Hospet costs around Rs.20 to 30. Hampi day tour from Hospet (to and fro and within Hampi ) costs around Rs.800/-. The hotel guys can also arrange a car for 1-day hampi tour and they charge around Rs.1200/-
I observed that the auto guys here are very reasonable and they dont cheat normally.

Eat:
1. In Hospet there are many local restaurants to find easily. But its mostly South-Indian food.
2. Some restaurants can serve so-called North-Indian food or American breakfast etc. But dont expect anything close to their original taste.
3. In Hampi, dont miss the lunch buffet in 'Mayura Bhuvaneshwari' hotel. They serve an excellent South-Indian buffer for 60 bucks.

And now coming to the beautiful places in Hampi. No amount of words or pictures are sufficient to describe the places in Hampi. You have to see them in real and feel it. But make sure that you dont miss the below places:
1. Virupaksha temple.
2. Two Huge ganesh statues.
3. Beautiful mono-lithic 'Narasimha' statue.
4. Krishna temple.
5. Lotus Mahal & Elephant Stables.
6. Vittala temple ( the famous musical pillars and the chariot).

Its 2 years since the government has taken measures to stop people from bashing these musical pillars. I heard that these are tapped only during VIP visits. Its really sad that government has neglected all this while and now this wonder cannot be experienced by people. They should have taken care of it from the beginning and should have a prescribed time (once in a day) where only the authorized persons tap. Hope atleast they take care of the things from now and even common people realize the importance of these national treasures. Hope Aamir Khan's 'Incredible India' campaign helps regarding this. And as they say, really in Hampi every stone has a story to tell and you will fall in love with stones definitely. Below are some pics:

Chail - Head Over Hills

After my 2.5 years stint in Mumbai, i returned to my base location Gurgaon in June, 2008. And immediately i started realizing that there are many places to travel and explore near Delhi. Actually i guess there are places near Mumbai also, but its just i was so busy there or i couldnt realize the joy of travelling. After doing some surfing online and with suggestions from friends, i came to know that Chail is a beautiful hill station near Shimla. So i decided to go to Chail. Chail is a great place to pass the time walking through pine and deodar trees. And its a great place for newly married couples (or any couples :) ) who need privacy and therefore its a good honeymoon destination. Don't ask me how a bachelor knows this !! You can find about Chail's history and how it became Summer Capital of Patiala and about its flamboyant Maharaja through 'google'. Let me give details about planning the itinerary and stay etc. Best time to visit Chail is between March and August.

How to reach Chail ?

1. It depends if you are clubbing this with Shimla or not in your trip. If you are clubbing with Shimla and if you want to visit this place after Shimla, then you should take a bus or a cab from Shimla. The road is full of beautiful scenery and panoramic views of the hills. Cab may cost around Rs. 800-1000/- . I guess these are union rates.
2. If you are coming from Delhi, via Kalka-Shimla road, you need to take a detour at 'Kandaghat'.
3. If you are coming in a Kalka-Shimla toy train, get down at 'Kandaghat' station and take a cab. From Kandaghat, chail is 23 kms only. A cab from Kandaghat to Chail may cost around Rs.500/-

Where to Stay ?

1. Chail is a very small place and not commercialized (luckily) like Shimla. So its better to book the hotel before you leave. I stayed in the 'Chail Palace Hotel' managed by the HPTDC. I saw few other hotels in the town also, but i seriously suggest 'Chail Palace hotel'. Chail palace hotel is around 2 KMs from the town market. So if you are coming by bus, you need to either walk or take a cab after alighting the bus. This may cost you some 75 bucks. Actually this was a palace before and now turned into hotel. There are different types of rooms for different budgets. Go to the below link to find more details. I am glad that HP tourism site is good and it works very well. I dont know if other state tourism sites are this good. You can book the hotel online using your credit card also.

http://hptdc.gov.in/

Some of the options like 'log huts' and 'himneel cottages' are away from the palace and you may need to walk to the palace for dinner. Its a good 0.5 km walk and remember this if you are not fond of walking. I guess you may not enjoy Chail at all if you hate walking.
Below are the pictures of the Chail palace and loghut. I stayed inside the palace and in loghut also. I suggest loghut if you want to have an experience like 'staying in the forest'.




Places Of Interest:

1. Chail is nothing but 3 hills. One is the hill on which the palace hotel is constructed. Another one is the hill having the so-called 'world's highest cricket ground' and Sidh baba ki Mandir and the third one is the 'Kali Ka Tibba'.
2. Sidh baba ki mandir and cricket ground walk can be done together as they are near-by. This may take 2-3 hours. The cricket ground is locked most of the time. It's a small playground for the school students. There is nothing inside but if you want and can, just jump the gate. My first jump was awkward and Krishna taught me the correct way for the second jump to come back. The cricket ground is around 4 Kms walk from the town market. So add 2 more Kms from the palace. And if you pass the test/task of this hill , then only adventure for 'Kali Ka Tibba'.
3. Kali Ka Tibba is around 7Kms from the town market. Ask anyone in the market to know the way. There's a beautiful Kali temple at the peak and you can get beautiful views from here. Unfortunately when i went it was raining and hazy and i couldn't see. But the Pundit in the temple says that you can see Kasauli, Barog also from here. See the temple in the below pictures.
4. I heard there is a sanctuary near this temple or on this way only. Check if you have time and wish to see that.





Miscellaneous:
1. Carry an umbrella and a torch for sure. You can buy these in the market also. Carry the torch always while going for these walks in the evening.
2. If you are taking the cab from Kandaghat, you can stop for a while at a place called 'Sadhupul' midway. There is a small bridge built here on a stream. You can have break-fast or lunch here. And i found some pictures online where chairs and tables were kept in the water and you can have food soaking your feet in the water. Sounds filmy !!. Good marketing idea by the hotel. I couldn't do that as water was with full force in the noon. I think this is possible only in the mornings.
3. Overall you can do 'Chail' in 2 - 2.5 days easily. You can do it in just 1.5 days also if you are not going for 'Kali Ka Tibba'.
4. The place is very peaceful and lonely. Sometimes you may not see a person for 5-10 minutes in these walks. I found the place to be very very safe.