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Published: July 22nd 2009
Our jeep arrived early in the morning to collect us for our trip - it was much bigger then we were expecting and our driver Sanju seemed a very nice man. Thankfully he proved to be very friendly, very religious and with a quiet personality. The drive from Shimla took us through heavily forested valleys and hills terraced with gardens of vegetables including cauliflower and beans. It was very pretty scenery and we passed many little villages, most which appeared to be quite poor. The ladies were no longer wearing sparkly, brightly colored saris but were now dressed in loose trousers, knee length split long sleeved tunics with sleeveless wool flannel jackets over the top. The jackets were grey or brown and the tunics in a range of muted colors. On their heads they wore brown flannel caps with upturned brims in a dark green. Sanju told us that the green represented the congress party. The men were wearing loose tunics, sleeveless jackets and the same green trimmed hats. The women were also wearing gold balls threaded onto thick black cords around their necks. Wedding gold I'm sure.
We sat back and enjoyed the scenery - it was spectacular in places
- and had a real feel of Switzerland, minus the snow capped mountains. The houses were made from stone with deeply curved slate roofs and all the terraces were lined with stones. We turned off the highway and headed up to the top of Hattu Peak, 3100 meters high. We realized very quickly that we would have to have full confidence in Sanju as a driver as he would be taking us around many such mountain roads and thankfully he appeared to be a capable driver. We reached the top of the mountain and watched a group of workmen building a new temple at the summit. Incredible workmanship - the whole building was very finely carved in amazing patterns and pictures. They were living in a tiny tent whilst they were building the new temple. The current temple was inside a tiny tin shed. Sanju prayed whilst there - the first of many times - during our trip. We then noticed the mountains in the distance - the snow capped peaks either side of the Kinnaur Valley through which we would be driving over the next few days. Jerry and I decided to walk down the mountain which was thoroughly
Bridegroom in wedding costume
Our first day - Saturday - we passed many weddings. Cars gaily decorated as well as bridegrooms!enjoyable. We sat and watched some old shepherds hand shearing their sheep.
We spent the rest of the day driving through apple orchards or along the slate grey waters of the Sutlej River. There is a massive hydro electricity scheme being constructed on this river which will eventually supply power to most of India. That gives you an idea of how much water actually passes down this river. All afternoon we passed through construction sites, dodging trucks and weaving around pipes and construction materials. Very dusty! We drove past dozens of tent villages where the workers spend what little free time they have. They work in dust and live in the dust. It was very sad to see their small children running around the camps or using stones as building blocks as toys were non existent. Tunnels are being built through the mountains to redirect the river and one of the tunnels is the longest in the world at 28 kilometers. It was a little frightening to know that they were using dynamite around what were very unstable roads anyway. The river passed through some very high gorges that afternoon - we felt quite vulnerable at some stages during the
trip. We had left the trees behind but regularly were passing little pockets of cultivated land spread across the sides of the mountains. Leaving the main highway we headed up towards our destination for the evening - the small village of Sarahan at 2165 meters. It took an hour winding through apple orchards to cover the 17 kilometers before we reached our bed for the evening. One part of the road was very dangerous as it was obviously a land slip area - we drove over what was only loose shale around the edge of a very high drop.
We spent the night staying in a guest house attached to the temple. The temple was again beautifully carved in wood and stood surrounded by apple orchards and just above the bazaar. The oldest part of the building was constructed of white washed dry stone and rubble alternating with horizontal wooden beams. The top part was heavily carved and all the doors were made from silver. We went into the temple after removing our shoes (plus belts if they were made from leather) and placing a saffron colored hat on our heads. The religion in this area is a combination of
Hindu and Buddhism. The whole time we were in the village people were visiting to pray and make offerings covered in red and gold fabrics.
Behind the temple area was an old palace which had been the summer residence of the Rajah. A big wooden building with wide verandas and colored glass windows. We couldn't find the caretaker to let us in though explored around it once we realized the guard dog was well secured! The village was very basic but most of the shops were very old and made from wood, mostly unpainted though some were painted in shades of blue or green. The traditional buildings were around three hundred years old. We ate in the temple dining room - challis - a sectioned metal plate which has rice, roti (flat bread) and four different types of vegetable curries or dahl. We loved the area as it surrounded by the high snow covered peaks we had seen in the distance earlier in the day. We didn't sleep very well however, though the bed was comfortable if a little hard, the whole night dogs barked constantly and at 4am religious music played very loudly from large speakers attached to the
top of the temple. At least it got us up early enough for a long walk around before we left in the jeep to go back down the mountain to the river road again.
The next day of driving was scary at times (though we had faith in Sanju as a driver) as it took us through some spectacular gorges, very high above the Sutlej River, over very dusty roads and again around construction sites for the Hydroelectric scheme dams - two of which we passed that day as well. We turned off up another valley - the Baspa River valley, and one hour later after weaving higher and higher above the river we arrived at our evening stop - the village of Sangla (2680meters) It was a very scary trip in places as we passed areas of obvious instability as the road was only made of shale. Sangla however was stunning, surrounded by glorious snow covered peaks and set amongst apple orchards. It was a very traditional village and had many more older houses than Sarahan. We spent the next 2 nights in a very pink guest house about 1 kilometer from the main town. We ate all our
meals at a small Tibetan restaurant and were warmly greeted with very happy smiles from two young teenage boys who worked there every time we arrived. Their friendliness won them both handsome tips when we left town! There were a group of women breaking up stones for roadworks - very hard work as they squat on the side of the dusty road and literally hammer larger rocks into smaller pieces. Sanju said that they received about 100 rupees for 12 hours of labor a day. They kept asking for cigarettes when we passed - they are about the only people we've seen smoke over here - it's certainly not a common habit - so Jerry went and bought them a packet of cigarettes. They were very expensive by Indian standards though he was probably sold the dearest brand in the shop!
On our second day in Sangla Sanju drove the 17 kilometers to the tiny village of Chitkul (3450m) at the end of the valley - the road went no further - though Tibet was behind the mountain range which surrounded the village. It was an absolutely stunning place though unfortunately it is going to be quickly spoilt by tourism.
Around the beautiful traditional houses new guest houses were being built as quickly as possible - all out of cement and totally out of place with all the other buildings. You certainly can't blame people for wanting to cash in on a very lucrative market but I wish they would realise the attraction to the village was the lovely old buildings and build their guest houses in the traditional style. At the moment though most parts of the village still look like a postcard. It would have been a great area to trek in as it was mostly level - right along the river valley - and really beautiful. I was however suffering from a head cold which was threatening to go onto my chest (the cooler nights in Shimla) and was getting very breathless quickly. Thankfully, probably because of the anti malarial tablets which are an antibiotic, I didn't get any worse. A did get a spider bite though in Sangla which left me with a very swollen itchy hand for a few days.
That afternoon we drove to another small village set above Sangla to visit the 7 story temple/fort on a hill above the village. There were
no roads in the village - the only way in was up a very long footpath and many sets of stairs. At the bottom we met 2 other groups of tourists traveling with Bandbox drivers - a group of 4 Belgian people and a group of three Germans. Over the next week we crossed paths often as we were all traveling in the same direction. After the long climb up we tied red belts around our waists and put on the caps provided to to tour the temple buildings. A very interesting building with a very laid back soldier on guard duty. The temple was where the rajahs were once crowned. It was made of layers of rubble and wood. We couldn't go inside as it was unstable. After the long walk down Sanju unlocked the car and we stood around talking to the other groups. A couple of young schoolboys came across and stood beside the car and it wasn't till 10 minutes later I realized my camera had been stolen. Sanju was particularly upset - I guess he felt a little responsible as he had unlocked the car - so Jerry and him went back up the hill
to try and find it. I was upset mainly because I knew we wouldn't be able to replace it for the next fortnight at least - there were no camera shops or ATM's in the region. We' were carrying around wads of Indian rupees under our clothes as we knew we wouldn't see a bank which would accept foreign cards for a fortnight. After a lot of questioning one of the village older men got my camera back from the group of young boys who had taken it. The village adults were very upset and embarrassed that it had happened. It was the last place we thought something like that would have happened.
The area was really beautiful, deeply sloped slate roofed houses made from stone, lots of apple orchards and the glorious snow capped mountains in the distance. One of the mountains nearby, Kinner Kailash, was a sacred site around which local people walked yearly - it took them a week to do. Next morning we were out walking through the lower village - no roads- only footpaths as it went straight down the side of the valley when we saw a sheep being slaughtered on the flat roof
of a house. There was a religious man there whilst they were slaughtering waving smoke and branches over the poor animal. It was a very interesting town to visit - next stop Kalpa which we were assured was even more beautiful. That seemed impossible but time would tell.
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