Flower meadows / Breakfast in the open
May 1998 Bhapa Pass (New Delhi, Manali, Spiti, Kinnaur, Shimla, Agra & Jaipur)
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We arrived in New Delhi for our scheduled 15 days in the evening after a 6 hours flight and was met at the airport by Irvinder Singh, our Indian organiser. We boarded a bus which took us up to Connaught Circle where we had dinner before commencing on our long overnight journey to Manali in the Northern state of Himachal Pradesh. On the way up, we stopped over at the small town of Kulu, which is famous all over India for its kulu woollen shawls. By the time we got to Manali, it was late in the evening.
The next morning saw us fresh after a good night rest in a 'bed'. Most of the group took the opportunity to take photographs from the top of a hotel conveniently called Everest Hotel. This building overlooks the picturesque town and surrounding valley. Manali is an average sized summer retreat and a ski resort in winter. During this day, we bussed to Solang Valley for paragliding and a leisurely walkabout in the pine forests and mountain rivers of the Solang area.
Flower meadows / Breakfast in the open
Day 3 saw us heading towards Spiti Valley over the 3978m Rohtang Pass. Three of us strapped ourselves ontop of the moving bus for photography. The road meands slowly up the steep mountain roads which at times appear dangerous to new arrivals. All along the way, there were shouts of 'stop, stop, stop!' at certain vantage points for photography. This group of trekkers looks like a group of photographers. instead. We settled in the evening at a camp in the Spiti valley.
Spiti Valley is described as moon landscape because of the barren hills fringed by snow-capped mountains. We proceed to our next campsite at Kaza, a Tibetan style village, driving over the 4200m Kunzum Pass. Wherever there's a village, there's also lots of greenery and fields of barley, potatoes and fruit trees. From Kaza, we visited the Dabo and Kibber which have the typical Tibetan hilltop monastery and village at the bottom. Afterwards, we head to the small town of Ghungri, the starting point of our 5 days trek over the Bhapa Pass.
We started the day having problems getting our 16 packhorses to cross a small suspended bridge over the Pin river. After that it was a slow level walk of 6 hours to the village of Mudd. There were numerous stops for photographs and 'lepaking' amoung the flowers, which were still present, despite the end of the season. Our campsite was besides a small mountain stream fronted by fields of barley and backed by the ever present snow-capped mountains.
Mountain camp Mudd / Valley camp Lanak
Our next stop was Bara Bholandar at a height of 3960m, is near the base of the Bhapa Pass. It was probably only 3 hours away from Mudd but we took our time getting there. We stopped at numerous places to enjoy the scenery and even took an mid-noon dip in the icy waters of one of the many mountain streams and rivers.
Today was the toughest part of the trek with a hard climb over the 4890m Bhapa Pass. The way up involves going over fields of snow and a glacier and a few of us took the opportunity to do some ice sliding. Pass is 3960m high. The temperature at the top of Bhapa Pass was 3 degrees but we were warmth by our sense of achievement and the beauty of just being there. The descent to Fauti on the other side was obviously much shorter and easier.
Fauti is again surrounded by snow-covered mountains including the Kailash which is a site of an annual pilgramage for Hindus and Tibetans Buddhist. This is another beautiful campsite with a cold mountain spring just a few meters from the tents. There was also a good sized river flowing alongside and a couple of waterfalls to boot. After breakfast, it was a very pleasant walk along green alpine valleys and flower meadows to Lanak, which by contrast is surrounded by pine trees with lots of greenery. This was to be our 4th and final night on this marvelous trek.
High mountain air / On top of Bhapa
Today we walked through pine and oak forests alongside a beautiful gurgling streams and rivers. We also passed the apple orchards and more fields of barley and other produce. Very quickly we arrived at the town of Kafnu, located in the Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh. We were surrounded by curious children and treated to free apples. A couple of hours later, our bus arrived and we headed off to Sarahan to visit the Bhimakali temple and palace. On the way, we put up the night in a government rest house.
On this 11th day, we were at Bhimakali Temple which is a fusion of Hindu and Tibetan architecture. This is also a major tourist destination for local Indians. After lunch we headed off to Shimla 2130 m but arrived late in the evening. In the morning, we walked about this queen of Indian hill stations, with its many British styled buildings. By late morning we were on the famous Kalka steam train which goes through more than '100 mountain tunnels'. At the end of this 2 hours train ride, we boarded our bus for the long haul to New Delhi.
Very early in the morning, bussed to Agra for a short tour of the Taj Mahal, followed by another long trip to Jaipur in the desert state of Rajasthan. After a half day tour on day 14, including the famous wind palace with its intricate stone carved windows. By nightfall we were back in New Delhi, having completed the standard tour or golden triangle of India in just three days. We did a short tour of New Delhi on the 15th and final day of the trip before adjourning to the Government of India Cottaga Emporium, which is a multi storey complex housing most of the handicrafts and wares in India. We departed for home at night.
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