Kinnaur -01

Day 01

The trip to Himachal surfaced sometime in June or July and I wanted to visit some place which isn’t much traveled by tourists. Shimla and Manali were somewhere last in my list. :-) Kinnaur is the district I came across and soon I began making my plans. From July to almost October is a long time within which so many things happen so the excitement of travel was not as much as it was while planning. (This happens to me always!)

We boarded an early morning flight to Delhi then to Chandigarh on the 26th of September. Glanced through the beautiful streets, complex and houses of Chandigarh, neat but seemed very monotonous. We had a tough time at the bus stop catching a one to Shimla. People stood in queues but no one was at the counter for booking and other buses were unreserved types which kept filling as it arrived. Finally there was one bus and with very difficulty we dragged into it tackling the crowd. The bus journey was supposed to be for maximum of 4 hours but due to the traffic at Kalka (Major Dasara event in a temple) we reached Shimla at 10:00 PM with around 6 hours of tiring drive but Shimla seemed crowded and well lit even at that hour. We boarded an expensive taxi for 2km drive downhill to our hotel.

Shimla

Next morning at 7:30 AM our transportation for rest of the trip arrived, a Toyota innova. Our driver Jagir was a nice gentleman from a village between Shimla and Manali. He kept the drive to Sangla busy with his stories about the hills, apple orchids, landslides etc. We took a small deviation to Sarhan and visited the famous Bheema Kali temple. The temple has two towers, one of which is open for common people but the other is only open for the royal family. In every temple we visited here, we had to cover our head with a cap or some cloth as a mark of respect.

Bheema Kali Temple, Sarahan

The only issue we had during the trip was food. Everywhere the menu was common. Roti, sabji, rice and dal. There was nothing else available. The road to Sangla passes through a dam construction site and the hence are now in poor condition. It was a bumpy ride midst the mountains. Bu the valley where our camp was situated was amazing. When we drove in we had excellent reception from the proprietor himself- Mr humble Dileep. I had book Kinner Camps, a tent house for our stay in Sangla and Nako. The tents where pitched in the valley overlooking the mighty mountains. The music from the Bassapa River flowing very close kept singling all the while. We had a small camp fire along with another family who had driven a i10 from Delhi. Dinner was served with similar menu but a little better tasting food. Even in the dark, the snow capped mountain shined from the top.

Kinner Camps at Sangla Valley

Continued Here -  Kinnaur -02