Ok, so I was in Spiti, at last! Kaza is the largest city in the valley, it’s not particularly that exciting, but it does make a good jumping off point. On the bus a younger (Spitian?) guy I was chatting with had told me about a festival a few hours away, and that a head Lama was attending, and he said I should definitely come, ok sure! The next morning I was on the 7:30 am bus to Tabo, two hours away. And the roads were mostly smooth! Like riding on a cloud compared to yesterday. Although still lots of narrow spots and blind curves to navigate. These drivers are pros though. In Tabo I found a ‘homestay’ and had a quick rest. I put homestay in quotes because with more development to the region, a lot of newer hotels call themselves homestays, but it’s not a homestay whatsoever, it’s just a normal smaller hotel, hmmphf. It should be noted that it’s difficult to do day trips in Spiti with only one bus running to each location per day, so it’s better to stay a night somewhere and then catch the bus the next morning. But once a day buses sound pretty great compared to Leh’s once a week buses!
kids in their costumes
The festival was held at the school, and I followed the crowd of people also headed in the same direction. They were offering free tea and snacks to everyone coming in, so I took some tea. At the courtyard all of the spots in the shade were taken, so I took a spot in the sun. Being the only foreigner, I was getting a lot of looks! Then one of the guys who was running things came over and welcomed me to the festival and asked if I wanted to come up to the balcony area, I wasn’t sure, but he wasn’t really asking, he was insisting, so I was dragged upstairs and given a front row seat a few spots down from the Lama dude. The benefits of being the only white guy! I was sat next to a guy from Delhi doing development projects in the village. As things were starting some women came around with the white Tibetan scarves and lowered them around our necks as a welcome invitation. It felt a little awkward, but thanks!
The setting of the school
The festival itself was more of a school assembly I suppose, some talks from teachers and administrators (some even in English!) and lots of song and dance performances from the students. They did have some older women doing traditional dance routines as well. All in all it was pretty entertaining, lots of cute kids. It lasted a bit longer than I would have liked, but we were continually being plied with tea, juice, cookies, nuts, so I certainly couldn’t complain. At the end the Lama stood up and gave a speech, I had no idea what he said, but the crowd listened enthusiastically! Then it was game time for the students and I made my exit.
There wasn’t exactly a whole lot to do in Tabo after that, but with no buses until the next morning I’d have to keep myself busy wandering around, which I’m used to. The next morning I was back on the HRTC bus to a place called Dhankar. Well not really, just the side of the highway where a road leads up to Dhankar. I could have probably hitched a ride up the five miles, but I packed light specifically for this purpose, so I took the walking trail up, which was nice, passing some little houses and farmland with the monastery a small dot in the background.
the walk up to Dhankar
I booked a hotel in town, right by the famous monastery, perched on the steep hills overlooking everything. It cost $17. After dropping off my stuff I was off to the lake, about an hour walk above the village. In Ladakh I had felt kinda sluggish and low energy, but now that I had some miles underfoot an being at a lower elevation (still a pretty high elevation!) I was feeling good, springy, I could basically run up this trail. The lake really wasn’t anything special, but you also got superb views over the whole valley, so it was worth it.
Back in town when the sun started get low it was time to bust out the big ole camera, it was a particularly scenic town, with the sun disappearing behind the mountains directly behind the monastery, making for some splendid photos. This is the stuff you miss out on if you’re just quick day-trips, the really nice light. Back at the hotel, the guys who ran the place were from Delhi, so even though I prefer to stay at locally run places, the upside was that they could make good Indian curries – and I didn’t have to eat Tibetan food yet again! I love the Tibetan areas, but man the food could use a bit a variety - and some spice.
The next morning it was back to hiking down to the road to catch the bus. You really get to be an expert in the HRTC bus schedule in Spiti Valley! As I was waiting by the road a young guy came out the house nearby and said his brother was coming and would give me a ride to Kaza, so sure, great! A few minutes later he pulled up in a little beater and I was with him on the way to Kaza. I tried to pay, but nope.
In Kaza I met some Indian med students near the taxi office, and we agreed to do a shared taxi tour up to the villages higher up and finish with the famous Key Monastery. Nice. We stopped off at some good viewpoints, checked out an apparently famous bridge and then explored the Key monastery. I didn’t go back with them though, I wanted to stick around to get a nice sunset photo overlooking the monastery, which was totally worth it! Risky though, because I had to hitchhike back to Kaza and it was getting dark! Fortunately some middle aged guys road-tripping from Delhi had some room in their SUV and gave me a lift. Whew.
The next morning (surprise surprise) it was back on the HRTC bus! This was the one back to Manali but I was only going a few hours to the top of the Kunzum La Pass, where there is a hiking trail to one of the most well known lake in the region, Chandra Tal. The hiking route was much preferable to the bumpy 4x4 road you’d have to take to get there. After a few hours of hiking I arrived and ran into the med students again, who had taken a 4x4 taxi to get there. Originally I had planned on camping at the lake, but it turns out the tent camps are almost 2 miles from the lake, wtf, so I shared their taxi back the little village/encampments on the highway. We said our goodbyes as they were able to hitch a ride to Manali.
I was hoping to get a ride to a village called Chhatru, only 32km (20 mi) away, where I could then hike back to Manali on the Hampta Pass Trek. I’d had just about enough of these roads! But it was a bit awkward for me, not speaking Hindi, to approach groups who stopped and ask if they had room for a ride. It was getting to be late afternoon and cars were getting fewer and further between, and usually full anyways. I was mostly resigned to the fact that I’d have to sleep in the crappy roadside village and wait for the bus the next day - not the end of the world, but certainly not ideal! After a few more No’s I was talking to someone having tea, and he was a driver, he said his car might have room and he’d ask the family. And they said ok!
So I hopped in the SUV, it was man his wife and their teenage son, taking a vacation from Mumbai. They were super friendly, spoke perfect English (all the educated people from the big cities do) and were interested to hear how I like traveling in India. It was also a good thing they had me, because at one point we got stuck in the sand going uphill and everyone had to get out and push as the driver slowly gave it some gas. It took many tries, placing different rocks under the tires, but we eventually got it and 3 hours later (to go 20 miles!!) I was dropped off as dusk settled in, at the Chhatru roadside encampments. Excellent! The Dad also gave me his number to stop by if I’m ever in Mumbai :) I found a (dingy) place to sleep, had some rice and beans, and got to sleep nice and early.
Now I’d be able to start my trek first thing in the morning back towards Manali, wheee!