Blogs from Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India, Asia

Himachal Pradesh June 2017 “The basis of peace of mind is to be content with what one has and thus to be in harmony with the world at large.... The root of light is Nothingness The source of all movement is Stillness The source of all sound is Silence” Ramesh Balsekar 'Advaita on Zen and Tao' “The primordial purity of the ground completely transcends words, concepts, and formulations” Jamgon Kongtrul 'Myriad Worlds' I have entered a veritable moonscape on my way to Losar. Both the vistas and the changing light bring me into glimpses of awareness.... of relativity... of the reality of now and the bliss of just being in a place in time that defies description. I have only myself to share this with, apart from the phenomenon of writing about it here. The landscapes ... read more

Himachal Pradesh June 2017 “Since death alone is certain and the time of death uncertain, what should I do?” Stephen Batchelor: Meditation on 'resolve', 'Buddhism Without Belief' “Because you are alive, everything is possible.” Thic Nhat Hanh Gladys the wonder bike (my Royal Enfield) hums and purrs as I glyde down a remarkably good sealed winding Himalayan road.... as if on a groomed ski-slope. On a clear crisp morning, this is one of the things that takes me to bliss. I momentarily think “it does not get better than this” in between remaining very focused on the road ahead, the possibility of approaching traffic around blind corners, and of potholes or other obstacles. At times too, I imagine myself coming to grief and falling into the deep abyss below... but this then becomes a 'death' meditation. ... read more

Rudyard Kipling described Spiti Valley in below words: “At last they entered a world - a valley of leagues where the high hills were fashioned of the mere rubble and refuse from off the knees of the mountains... Surely the Gods live here. Beaten down by the silence and the appalling sweep of dispersal of the cloud-shadows after rain. This place is no place for men." Spiti, also known as the “Middle Land”, is a trans- Himalayan terrain located in the north-eastern part of Himachal Pradesh in India. The name “Spiti” means “The Middle Land”, i.e. the land between Tibet and India. The Beginning: I always had that constant urge of packing off and exploring unknown virgin destinations on a bike. The urge kept on boiling since the time I bought my Thunder ... read more

Raw Himalchal: Follow the Mighty Rivers We both are travel- and adventure-freaks. Driving is Aakash's passion. When we bought the Maruti Swift (diesel), we were so happy with the vehicle's performance and power that we decided to undertake a road trip to Ladakh. But since Aakash had already been on a road trip to Ladakh, we altered the itinerary and fixed Spiti Valley as the primary destination of our road trip. We completed the trip successfully in 18 days , covering about 6300 km. Our route was: Pune - Ahmedabad - Udaipur - Delhi - Chandigarh - Shimla - Sarahan - Sangla - Tabo - Kaza - Kunzum Pass - Keylong - Sarchu - Leh - Kargil - Sri Nagar - Jammu - Pathankot - Jalandhar - Delhi - Udaipur - Pune. Out of the approx. ... read more

Takze nase sluby nakoniec neboli plane. Ako sme odisli z Kazy tak internet bol cista utopia a dokonca aj mobilny signal a pevna linka neboli k maanii. Predvcerom sme vysli zo Spiti a Kinnaur a dorazili do Kalpy. Tu uz sice internet je, ale az dnes je prvy raz funkcny. :-) Takze kde sme to vlastne boli posledne dni? Prva zastavka bola Tabo. Je to na konci udolia Spiti a je to malebna mala dedinka, uplne ina ako Kaza. Ma siroke ulice, neposobi tak typicky Indicky spinavo a je obklopena jablkovymi sadmi. Prijemna zmena. Stravili sme tam tri dni ktore sme poctivo preliezli po okolitych kopcoch. Hned prvy den sme vyliezli asi kilometer nad mesto kde sme vyplasili par miestnych kamzikov a nasledne v panike hladali cestu dole. Ako sme isli hore radsej nespominat. :-) Druhy ... read more