Have feet, will travel…

My two weeks in Spiti has been amazing and there’s so much to write about and so many photos so i will have a few installments. Here’s Part One:

I signed up with ECOSPHERE to do this Volunteer/Trekking program for 15 days in Spiti, India. The original plan to build a solar bath for Key Monastery changed as the volunteer numbers dropped drastically from 10 members to only 3. So the organizers explained to us that with such a small group we can still build a greenhouse. I was still game for this idea as I wanted to do something like this for a long time. Being a traveller isn’t always about just seeing new sights but also about really experiencing something and what better way than by giving back to the community in a small way.

It’s all began at 3am on 29th August from Manali in a jeep. We got word that we had to leave this early to avoid some road works so we obliged as who would know the roads better than the drivers. Our convoy had 2 jeeps, so there was kind of some discussion on who sits where but finally it got figured out and the 3 of us volunteers were put in one jeep and off we went. We had met the day before and gone for dinner so there was Anuradha and Amit from India and myself.

I thought the mountain roads from Shimla to Manali were bad, I was totally wrong. I couldn’t have imagined what was coming my way from Manali to Spiti. The roads were extremely horrendous. Rohtang Pass stretch was slush mud and our jeeps kept getting stuck in mud and at times even had to be pushed out manually with the help from our other jeep plus total strangers. Many other vehicles were also having the same problem so it was a communal effort to help one another. Our drivers had to move rocks out of the way to navigate a course through the mud. This was only the beginning, it only got worse. 3 hrs into our journey and I was getting quite freaked out, roads were bad, it was dark and my mind was racing about the next 8 hours ahead. Luck was definitely not on our side; after getting out of one tight situation involving a truck and our jeep we realized oil was leaking out from our jeep. It was official, our jeep was not going anywhere for a while. We ended up waiting for 5 hours at the side of the road for the mechanic to make his way to where we were through the same horrendous roads. The situation was calm though, no one was angry, even though our jeep had blocked traffic. Everyone just took the whole situation lightly and came out of their vehicles to help or access the situation. Am loving India and how the people take things easy and don’t get hot and bothered over stuff.

Luckily our broken vehicle had chosen a nice place to breakdown at. It was beautiful, we were there for sunrise and we got to enjoy some lovely scenic views while waiting. I had a snooze and woke up to news that there was a roadside place to get chai. So we went off to get some hot chai and masala maggi. It was quite cold as we were near a mountain pass… so the hot chai was warmly welcomed.

Five hours later the mechanic arrives and believe it or not it was a 5 minute job to change the oil filter. I couldn’t believe it! But the good news was we were good to go, so we resumed the journey. Through more winding mud roads, plenty of waterfall and gravel stone roads we reached Kaza (Central Spiti) at 9pm. It’s really was like an off-roading experience in a jeep and many times I was scared looking down at the plunging cliffs down below and knowing the roads were so narrow and uneven. That meant an 18 hour bumpy journey of lots of adventure. Just imagine the roads when it takes 12 hours to go only 200km. The views though were absolutely stunning. Spiti’s geological landscape is vast and amazingly beautiful, snow-capped mountains, so many different rock formations, rivers and waterfalls. I couldn’t help but stare out the window in total awe and took lots of pictures. This really took my mind off thinking about the crazy mountain roads and the possible dangers that lurked. Funny thing is I didn’t even get my normal motion sickness, possibly because the vehicle is moving at a slow speed or my mind was totally occupied on the beautiful scenery.

Credit has to go to our drivers, even though the conditions were rough and they were covered in mud there was no sign of frustration. They stayed super alert even after driving for 18 hours and being awake so early in the morning. They drove very safely and took all precautions by going slow around blind spots and giving way to others on the narrow mountain roads. Even on our last hour in the dark our driver could see a lizard in our path and slowed down to avoid crushing it. Kudos to their professionalism and patience in driving these crazy roads. They did what they had to, to get us to our destination safe and sound and that was their focus. When we reached Kaza, we were met by Ishita from Ecosphere and she had kept the nearby restaurant open as they knew we were delayed and hadn’t eaten dinner. I was so tired from the long journey, so ate and went straight to bed.

26th August 2011

I was sad to say bye to my river. I’ve gotten very attached to listening to its soothing sounds of flowing water day and night and watching its gushing water from my balcony numerous times a day. But more adventure awaits me so moving on is a must.

I got on an ordinary bus today from Kullu to Manali for USD1, which took 1 ½ hours. My bag inevitably took up a seat and I was feeling quite bad when the bus started to fill up and here was my bag taking up space. People hopped on and off all the time so in the beginning there was plenty of space but soon the bus started getting packed. Another exhilarating bumpy ride and we crossed another waterfall road today. The views though, were magnificent! More mountains and waterfalls and lots of glimpses of the flowing Beas river. I tried taking photos but it was extremely hard and the photos did not do any justice to what my eyes were seeing.

Reached Manali and the main town or better known as “New Manali” was so uninviting, so I decided to follow my guide book and hopped an auto rickshaw to Old Manali. The 2.5km ride mostly uphill was insane, weaving in and out of traffic in bad steep roads but I placed my trust in the expert driver and true enough he got me to the doorstep and was soon met by someone from the guesthouse to walk me in. Checked in to a lovely place that had a stunning garden and plenty of hydrangeas. Haven’t seen bushes of hydrangeas this big since being in Berkeley. And wow what a vast difference Old Manali is with beautiful pine trees filled mountains views and the Beas River. But unfortunately, Manali is a big hippie travellers place. It’s the first time since arriving in India that I’ve seen so many foreign tourists. The other towns I’ve been in were predominated visited by the local Indian crowd. Here the streets are lined with hippie clothes and jewellery shops and loads of internet cafes all catering to the foreign crowds and lots of drugs. The guys are also much more forthcoming here as they are so used to chatting up tourists. I’ve been offered chai like 3 times in a span of my 30 mins stroll down the street. Am getting so much attention from guys that I’m not use to normally getting but I make an easy target too as I am alone and possibly too “nice”. But all’s good, its part of the learning journey of travelling solo and learning when and how to draw boundaries.

Sorry no pictures this time as the internet connection today is extremely poor, system having problems. I had another post but will keep till next time. As just this post cut and paste took me 30 mins. i have to go sleep as tomorrow is a 2:30am wake up call : p

Am leaving for my 2 weeks Volunteer/trekking program tomorrow so won’t have internet for most of the time as its in the rural area of Spiti. Most phones also don’t work there so not much connection via the internet. Don’t worry if you don’t hear from me for 2 weeks. : )

I must say I was a little nervous taking the bus knowing that just less than a week ago there was a major landslide in Manali that killed some people and caused major road blockages. And I was headed ... [Continue reading this entry]