[Hoopoe]

I am wondering why you are going via Shimla. It would've been better to go via ropar. Did you think of going via kaza and avoiding Rohtang altogether? Think about it, If you do plan to go via Kaza, stay at Banjara's retreat at Kaza. It is fantastic.

[Indizen08]

Enjoying your travelog. Will you be able to post further regular updates?

[jaysmokesleaves]

Wow buddy. Im enjoying this live telecast of your trip.
You guys seem to be carrying quite some luggage for a 2 man trip. I had half as much luggage when 2 of us did it last year. But is always good to be well prepared in the hills.
Do make sure you carry atleast extra 20 liters fuel. The last pump is at Kaza(if i remember correctly) and very often is out of stock. No pump after that till Manali, if you guys are doing the Gramphoo circuit.
Tank up wherever you can.
Goodluck with Malling.

[ac 427]

Originally Posted by jaysmokesleaves

Wow buddy. Im enjoying this live telecast of your trip.
You guys seem to be carrying quite some luggage for a 2 man trip. I had half as much luggage when 2 of us did it last year. But is always good to be well prepared in the hills.
Do make sure you carry atleast extra 20 liters fuel. The last pump is at Kaza(if i remember correctly) and very often is out of stock. No pump after that till Manali, if you guys are doing the Gramphoo circuit.
Tank up wherever you can.
Goodluck with Malling.

hey jay,
The thing is we are very unorganized and that is the reason it looks like a lot. Yeah we were planning to tank up @ kaza, the thing about the scorpio is its got a mammoth 60 litre tank so it should take us all the way. thanks for the reply, watch this space lots more pics and updates coming up.

Originally Posted by Indizen08

Enjoying your travelog. Will you be able to post further regular updates?

Hey Indizen,
The only thing that is stopping us from uploading pics is lack of electricity. We will try to update pics every evening.

Originally Posted by Hoopoe

I am wondering why you are going via Shimla. It would've been better to go via ropar. Did you think of going via kaza and avoiding Rohtang altogether? Think about it, If you do plan to go via Kaza, stay at Banjara's retreat at Kaza. It is fantastic.

Hey hoopoe,
the plan was to go to narkanda - rekong peo - kaza - sumdo - rohtang - and then manali, we want to visit each and every place. Tomm we are planning to camp @ chitkul.

cheers,
ac

[ac 427]

Day 4
Solan - Simla - Narkanda - Rampur - Sarahan.

The day of indescribible Beauty.

We started our day early, were on the roads by 6.30 A.m, and going by the past experience we knew that we will not be able to cover many kilometeres.

the roads from solan to shimla were an absolute dream to drive on. it entices even non-drives to give a shot at the wheel!! two lane, well surfaced roads with nice bends and curves all along, made it just perfect!

We were passing by the town of Shimla, and the beauty of that town just literally blew us away. a tad overcrowded, but very unique. just before shimla, we had stopped at the tourist info centre at 8.30am. even at that time, the people were forthcoming and provided us with accurate info about weather and road conditions ahead.

Further ahead from shimla, we made a breakfast stop at Kufri, HOtel Kufri Holiday Inn. the breakfast was top notch, but what was NOT TO BE MISSED was the view of the snow capped mountain ranges in the distance, whilst having breakfast.

further ahead from Kufri, we proceeded to Narkanda, Rampur, and took a right for Sarahan. if we would have been on these roads just two days prior, we would have definitely not been able to proceed ahead due to the several, large landslides, the remnants of which can still be seen on the roads.

it was only due to the quick response of the HP govt in clearing up the debris, that we are enjoying this trip unhindered so far.

i must mention, the view of the sutlej is absolutely divine as we drove along the banks all the way from narkanda till we took a right turn for sarahan.

having exhausted our water supplies quickly, we took a chance and filled the fresh water flowing down a waterfall...so far, we are still completely ok!! no diarrohea, stomach upsets or any symptoms..id say we got fresh spring water!


Sarahan, is about 25kms off the main road from jeori. this destination is a 'shakti Peeth'; the famous bheemkali temple is a must to visit, not very grand though, the most famous hotel here is the hotel shrikhand, from where one can view the Shiv ling on the shrikhand mountain. The hotel is good but a bit on the pricy side, we managed to get a similar view from a
much more economical hotel a bit lower, Hotel jeevan jyoti sarahan.


Sarahan is also the base for the 19th indo-tibet battalian, whose training basecamp is scattered all over this tiny hill station. Sarahan was infact off limits to civilans until 1962.

yeah by the way pics attached.

tomorrow we have planned Reckong peo - kalpa - Chitkul and plan to camp at chitkul.

cheers,
ac

[Indizen08]

Nice pic of the Bhimkali Temple.

[ac 427]

pics of the Bheemkali temple.

cheers
ac

[ac 427]

Originally Posted by Indizen08

Nice pic of the Bhimkali Temple.

hey indizen,

you have to see it to believe it. the temple is just simply PURE. today we plan to go camping @ chitkul or kalpa ...lets hope for the best.

cheers,
ac

[buvan]

WOW when will i get to do the same?????????

[lordofgondor]

Wow man, that sure is a great trip & nice narration. Reminds me of the travels we (me, wife and my baby, the Esteem) did through Kinnaur last year. Unfortunately we found the road blocked at Sumdo and had to turn back that time around. We visited Narkanda, Kalpa, Sangla, Sarahan, Jalori Jot & Rohtang Jot during that time.

BTW, I see you didn't visit Sangla Valley and wonder why?

Some pics from my trip...

[Hoopoe]

Originally Posted by lordofgondor

BTW, I see you didn't visit Sangla Valley and wonder why?

Now that Lordofgondor mentions it, please do try to visit Sangla. You can stay at the lovely Banjara Camps and I assure you it will not be regretted.

[Sea Cruiser]

Wow Man, this travelouge of yours is awesome with excellent pics. I am more impressed because this has really helped me in planning my Mumbai -Delhi Trip on 28,29 Sep in my Sx4. One quick Q&A : Need your advice on whether it is possible to do Mumbai- Ahemdabad and Ahemdabad-Delhi (this is the long part, about which I am not sure.)

[ac 427]

Originally Posted by Sea Cruiser

Wow Man, this travelouge of yours is awesome with excellent pics. I am more impressed because this has really helped me in planning my Mumbai -Delhi Trip on 28,29 Sep in my Sx4. One quick Q&A : Need your advice on whether it is possible to do Mumbai- Ahemdabad and Ahemdabad-Delhi (this is the long part, about which I am not sure.)

i would recommend do Mumbai - Udaipur in a day (quite possible, you can stretch those long legs of your sx 4 on the mumbai - ahemdabad expressway) and then the next day do Udaipur - Delhi.

cheers,
ac

[ac 427]

Day 5 - From Sarahan to Kalpa.

Hello all,

Apologies for the break in the travelogue, as we had no network where we were.

Anyways the travelogue continues:
We bid adieu to lush green beautiful Sarahan Valley @ 8.30, after taking the blessing of the bheemkali goddess.

THe drive from Sarahan to kalpa was supposed to be a easy drive, with a stop @ reckong peo only.

En-route we came accross the hydro electric project being led by Jaypee industries @ Karchamm. We continued and did not stop @ karchamm. THe roads were a mix of good tarmac, bad tarmac and no tarmac. But still the driving conditions were not very bad. They were easy driving Conditions.

You take a left from Powari to reach reckong peo and continue upwards to reach Kalpa.

The draw of Kalpa is its scenic beauty and suicidal roads. Trust me guys once at kalpa you have ZERO margin of error. But the drive is exhilariating to say the least. We were on the look out for a place to put up our own tents but even after every one commenting in Sarahan valley that we would be able to camp @ kalpa there is NO place here, except for a place called as CHAKHA Plateau. CHakha plateau is around 2.5 hours hike from Kalpa (on foot), there are water reserviours there, but we missed it as it takes a whole day to do that trek and we had to move on to Nako the next day.

Anyways the place where we stayed was the FIND OF THE CENTURY. It was at the edge of Kalpa, just below a army base camp. It was called Chine resort. Even though we could not put up our tent, we got to STAY in THEIR tents. ANd boy were they comfortable . . .

The whole Chine Valley camp property is adorned with flowers as you can see in the pictures. ANd has a direct view of the 'Kinner Kailash'. THe local folkore mentions that the color of the Kinner Kilash which has a 72 feet high shivling changes 3 times a day, and Snow has never been recorded to have settled on the shiv ling. Between the month of May and July there are trips all the way up to Kinner Kailash.

THe service & hospitality was way beyond expectations, probably as we were the 1st customers of the camp. So if any of you go there and check the register, you will find our names there as NO. 1 (A columbus moment for us)

By they the cook over there is a pretty talkative gentleman with stories to share. He narrated us stories ranging form GOds to medicinal values of plants in the regions and also about a peculiars Suicide point. Mind you this is not a HUMAN suicide point, the story goes something like this : Young village boys take street dogs on to a ledge over there and push them down, this has given the lege the name 'Suicide point'.

As a suggestion try the local 'apple wine' which has NO chemicals what so ever.

Kalpa as a destination CANNO BE MISSED if you are planning to come to HImachal. THis place has a soothing effect on you and for me personally it has made me a bit MORe religious than i was before this trip.

Day 6 will be a drive from Kalpa to Nako.

pics will be uploaded shortly

[Hoopoe]

Good to see you back on the radar. Waiting for photos. BTW, one of the British viceroys (I think Lord Irwin) was fond of Kalpa.