Trip Report -An Adventurous Honeymoon trip to land of Lama, Mummy, Fossils & beyond..

I wanted to share my fascinating experience as soon as I came back and same was demanded by my friends. But nowadays, it’s getting difficult to do that. The main reason, what we have least – “TIME”. Let’s not go into that detail.
Firstly, I thank all Indiamikers specially kshil ( for his excellent trip report and other inputs),Mithun, Dhananjay( detail information for spiti treks and homestays), nayan, ramakant.cso, nkothiyal, sabyasachi bardoloi ( whose mummy thread was so informative) & Sagarneel ( for his constant reminder to book tickets et all otherwise I might end up doing honeymoon in ‘Puri’ )to name a few and for regular road updates from veteran BCMTians like Jamaica & Top Singh Bodh. During the trip I was about to meet kshil & mithun in Kalpa as they were travelling the same area in reverse route and were covering both lahaul & spiti and much more. I met Jamaica in Chandrataal. I tried to catch Top Singh ji in Rampur, but his phone sounded engage for a long time.

This report may lack information as all details are shared by kshil & mithun in their joint log. I shall try to express the sheer joy of achieving the aim I fixed for myself in a honeymoon trip, which could have been a leisurely trip to someplace else but we managed to keep ourselves positive against all odds. I targeted the mysterious Tibetan mummy , the fossils of langza & Chandrataal – for a dream honeymoon destination. I am glad Almighty let me fulfil my wish.


Yours truly with mysterious tibetan Mummy


Witnessing the treasure


Moon Lake - the dream destination

Great start, Paglaghora, I am looking forward to reading all of this!

Good start. Wait for next.....

Debashish

Dear Paglaghora,
Great shot of the Moon Lake, hope to enjoy your photographs in near future, will keep tab on your thread.

Regards,

S. Roy Biswas
http://ghummakar-biswas.blogspot.in/

Paglaghora ,

I dont know , how did I missed your thread for such a long time , might be because of I am intentionally away from this crazy world of travel for sometime now. But thankfully find it out in course of time and I must say these are some wonderful sets of photographs of that part of the world. I have already went through your album in FB and know what all surprises waiting for us.... Bring it on PG... Waiting for it.

Great starting PG, and the moon lake snap is awesome,

I'm in the queue too...... waiting

thanks mithun123 for bringing back this thread visible........otherwise it'll be great miss to me

@ Paglaghora

superb photography & nice starts please do continue

Now that, it’s again a month passed and it may seem I have gone to hibernate. But the day I posted the 1st post I went to two separate weekend trips and several visit to different relative’s place ( which is customary ).
I started planning for a dream place for honeymoon right after my marriage. As the marriage date falls in monsoon , I had limited choice of place to go. I asked for suggestion and they came up as “coastal maharastra” , “ misty north east” etc. As a keen lover of Himalayas, one suggestion of “Spiti” suddenly engrossed my mind. So I started collecting information and you know kshil’s log. It was full of information and was in detail. Several other threads also helped me to chalk out the plan too. Meanwhile I discussed about my journey with kshil and he kept on warning me each time I call up to be very careful on a journey like this and that too a honeymoon. But I know my better half for 10 long years and she is equally adventurous & cooperative. Just before the journey we came to know about cloudburst in uttarkashi, but we stick to our plan. There was many round of discussion whether we shall start from Shimla or go clockwise but finally Shimla came up as the starting point.
While the route and all others were not finalised, one thing I made sure after I came back from Delhi; to book the return tickets of Kolkata-Delhi flight. I booked in march and booked for two of us for 16k. For car, I was initially having conversation with Vinkle but after few rounds of negotiation with others I finally made the deal with Ram Chand of Shimla ( +91-9418027528 , email: dreamspiti88@gmail.com). Kshil decided to venture out Spiti again and trusted with his old friend so all in all it was win –win for all. Ram Chand has good reputation in this sector & he gave me Tavera ( white ,no H.P.01A 0927). I shall come to that part little later.

Day 1 –Aug 15: I travel with as little luggage as possible. But given the terrain we are venturing into & had a prior experience of Ladakh last year , our luggage finally consist of my 70 ltr rucksack, 1 suitcase and two small backpacks for both of us. Our 11.45 am Indigo flight was on time and the cruise was uneventful except for few extra security arrangements for I-day. We landed at 1D at Delhi IGI and waited 3 hours after taking home- packed lunch. We pre-booked HPTDC Shimla Volvo online and it starts from Atul Grove road behind Chanderlok building, Janpath. We took the airport taxi and reached the HPTDC marketing office before dusk. I kept on recording chirpy sound of parakeets and others who are abundant in Delhi, my favourite city. Sky was clear from morning in Kolkata and from the time we landed but then around 6pm ,cloud started to threaten. Manali Volvo starts at 6.30 and it had very few passengers during the drizzle. We went inside marketing office to watch TV and time to pass. The Shimla Volvo (golden –copper coloured HP 01 3530) came on time and after quickly enquired about their expected reaching time in Shimla. By that time, Ram Chand mailed the driver Shyam’s number and I called him to be present at the bus stand at 5am! The Volvo was comfy but they did not play any movie or song. Reason may be the bus did not fill up much. But it got almost full when it stopped at Himachal Bhawan. I think they were mostly from Himachal who work in Delhi and were going to hometown for a long weekend ahead. There were two cyan coloured Volvo from Himachal Road transport (HRTC ) and those looked empty. Our Volvo started its journey and within few minutes it was on highway. It stopped around 10.45pm for dinner at “Hotel Ki “ outside Gharaunda before Karnal on NH-44. As it was a night journey I stayed awake for some time after dinner and then when I woke up realised the bus negotiating hill curves. It was 4.45am and we were just outside Shimla. I rubbed my eyes and could not feel better to see the tiny light dots among huge black mass.


Monsoon clouds during flight


Manabika, in front of HPTDC volvo bus


Shimla at dawn.

the tiny light dots among huge black mass.............

Awesome picture.

And Manabika, nice snap.... I liked your name too.

Carry on ......

" keep it onn "

Good that now you have started. Will continue to watch this.

Regards,


S. Roy Biswas
http://ghummakar-biswas.blogspot.in/

As we reached Shimla, the bus did not go to the bus stand . To my surprise it just took a about turn from the victory tunnel and let us get down just in front of tourist information office which looked very small. It was 5 am , clear sky overhead but the light was yet to be there. In that darkness, everybody disembarked and suddenly touts and coolies arrived the scene just from nowhere. I called up Shyam and he responded quickly to wait at that point itself for 10-15 minutes. Though it was not cold enough but as we ascended to the shimla height with the same plain land dress we took out the windcheaters from our backpacks. 5.15 am sharp and I saw a white tavera coming towards us. By that time we were only two standing at the edge of a turn of hill road of Shimla. Shyam greeted us with smile,and I became satisfied by seeing the tavera condition. Shyam looked perplexed by seeing the luggage and asked me if I had left anything in the bus. From that moment we became friends not only because of our age but with his attitude and behaviour. I recommend everybody Stanzin whoever goes to Ladakh and Subhasji for Kumaun sector but Shyam proved himself to be more worthy than these guys. Shyam keeps a BSNL sim ( +91-9418072528 ) for outside Shimla and a airtel sim ( +91-9816187185 ) for cities like Shimla-Manali.

Day 2 –Aug 16: The itinerary I fixed was following and I pre booked almost all night stays to avoid any surprise this time. But surprises do happen, and that’s the most enjoyable part of a journey. These incidents help us to understand the uncertainty, understand the nature and above all builds character. No more gyan, this things are to be narrated in right place.
My itinerary was like this :

Day1 : Kolkata to delhi flight.HPTDC volvo bus at 8.30pm.night journey towards Shimla.
Day 2 : Reach Simla from Delhi by bus in morning.Drive to Narkanda.
Day 3 : Narkanda to Kalpa via rampur , jeori, karcham. Night stay at Kalpa.
Day 4: Kalpa to Tabo via powari, khab , Nako ( visit Nako lake) and Giu village. Night stay at Tabo.
Day 5: Tabo to Dhankar( monastry& Dhankar lake) and then go to Pin valley. Stay at Mud.
Day 6:Mud to Kaza. Visit kye, kibber, tashigang. Stay in Rangrik.
Day 7 : Stay at Rangrik, visit Komic, Langza, Demul & Lhalung , then back to rangrik.
Day 8 : Buffer day at Rangrik , night stay at Losar/Rangrik.
Day 9: Rangrik to Kunzum pass , visit Chandra taal – (stay at camp).
Day 10: Chandrataal to Manali.
Day 11: Day Manali, night bus to Delhi.
Day 12: Delhi to Kolkata flyback.(with a Rajdhani ticket in hand in case of any delay).

I did not book in Losar, nor did I in Gramphoo/Sissu. I left it for my luck and situation. After explaining the plan to Shyam , even he was not sure about Rangrik – Manali , I mean what would happen in next few days.I told him to stop the car near bus stand , so that we could freshen up after night journey. Shimla’s old bus stand near victory tunnel was not clean enough and crowdy.But yet we managed to freshen up a bit and told him to park the car near to a place from where we can reach mall easily. It was 6.30 by then and dense fog engulfed us within minutes. We waited inside Tavera for few minutes and then started climbing stairs and hiked from the back side of Kalibari. It was a tricky shortcut I knew and took us 6/7 minutes to be just below of Kalibari. Fog started to clear off suddenly after a turn , the same way it appeared. We walked towards mall and the first sun rays kissed us from left. We spent 40 minutes roaming there freely without any crowd. I never imagined for a better start than this. We came down the same way beside Kalibari and started at 8.35 towards Narkanda. We stopped at Dhalli for breakfast. Roadside restaurant “Dawat” was good enough for taste & budget. Shyam got checked the tyres and that time Ram Chandji arrived. He is wonderful person. He assured me of trouble free journey and a possible replacement of car in 6 hours anywhere enroute if there are any problem with the car. The tavera came from the garage after a full maintenance check and Shyam handed over the bill to Ram in front of me. So, all set for a long journey and we started again at 9.30.I then gave a call to Ramesh Lotey , with whom I was in touch from the beginning of planning.


Amidst mist













A different look of Shimla Mall





from window of "Dawat", Dhalli

Thanks for encouraging Theyyam. Hope I shall finish the log and post photos soon.

Thanks Debashish.

I apologise srb810, for this stupid wait for photos and log.Thanks for liking the Chandrataal photo.
I hope to end your wait here Mithun. It would have been unjustice to your wonderful log if I got the time to write then.I;m glad you liked the photos. But yout too took marvelloues shots buddy.

Could not thank you more for the appreciation DJ .

Yes , Pkanti . I'm trying to finish as soon as possible.
. She clicks excellent shots too.

Hope your wait will be over now.

I also thank specially Ronak (shahronakm) , who uttered the name "Spiti" during intial choice of place, as far as I remember .

love to see the crowdless Simla waiting for more.............the first & last snaps are mind blowing

Great going..............enjoying