Spiti's quaint villages and pristine Chandratal Lake.

Hello everyone, continuing from my previous photolog of Pin Valley and monasteries of Spiti, now I am writing about further journey to the quaint villages of Spiti, pristine Chandratal lake and then concluding our journey to Manali which completes the circuit.

Spiti Valley Circuit 2019 -13^th to 23^rd September (9 Days)

Route:  Shimla - Chitkul - Nako - Tabo - Kaza - Kibber- Komic - Hikkim - Lanza - Kunzum pass - Chandratal – Manali

A complete walk around the Chandratal lake  - a surreal experience 

Day 6 (19 September) – Rangrik – Lanza – Komic – Hikkim.
We stayed at Rangrik village which is 8 km from Kaza. It was a quite village surrounded by mountains. The best part was morning walks, here you can walk miles in lap of nature.

Room with such a lovely view

Today was road less travelled as we went to nearby quaint villages and highest villages in world. As we left Kaza we ascended from 11,000 feet to 14,000 in an hour. Quite remarkable naa!!

We started with Lanza village (situated at 14,500 feet), famous for the colorful Lord Buddha statue which is more than 1000 years old and marine fossils because Spiti was submerged underwater millions of years back. You can get the fossils from local villagers.

Mighty golden coloured statue of Buddha overlooking the beautiful valley. 

Then we headed to Komic, Komic village is highest village in world connected with motorable road which is at 15,027 feet. Also there is the ancient Tanggyud monastery.

Komic Village is highest village in world connected with motorable road 

Our next stop was Hikkim. Hikkim village is - world's highest permanently structured post office at 14,567 feet. You can send postcards to your loved ones from here. I know world’s highest thing is cliché but it is memorable.

Send your loved one postcards from highest post office in the world

Experiencing these wonders of Spiti made me think that how life is difficult yet so satisfying in mountains.

Day 7 (20 September) – Kaza – Kunzum pass – Chandratal lake
Now we were in our last leg of our journey as we left from Rangrik (Spiti valley) to Chandratal lake (Lahul). We had breakfast at Losar and moved towards Kunzum laa pass, during the journey I could not see any village or human life for miles just surrounded by mountains. Village in this regions are in isolation which make me think how basic necessities are so important to us.

Maggie and Mountains - Best combination

We reached Kunzum laa pass (14,931feet), a motorable pass where you will be awestruck with huge glaciers in front of you. It was super windy out there. This is a sacred place so all the vehicles make sure to pass from here and pray for good luck. Due to heavy snowfall this pass receives, it is closed for almost 8 months of the year only June to October it is opened for travel.

Kunzum La Pass

After a good photo session our last destination was Chandratal lake, this was quite a bumpy ride on tricky rocky roads. We reached Chandratal camp site in afternoon which is 2.5 kms from the lake. We began towards lake and had to get down at a point from where we had to walk about 1.5 kms because further vehicles are not allowed as it is wildlife protected site.

A small hike to Chandratal Lake

Chandertal lake alias the moon lake is a crescent-shaped basin, surrounded by the gigantic Himalayan mountains on all the sides. The beautiful lake is at an elevation of 14100 ft. 

Pristine Chandratal Lake

 

Go where you feel most alive.

I have seen few high altitude alpine lakes in Himalayan region, but here I got the fortune to walk complete round of this lake and it was surreal. I mean the mountain views, sound of waves, the strong winds, moment of silence – it was Magical.

Serene Chandratal camp site - our tent stay

Day 8 (21 September) –Chandratal Lake – Chhatru – Manali
This was last day in the lap of Himalayas. We left the serene camp site of Chandratal and began towards Manali. We stopped at Chhatru for some refreshments. As the journey progressed we could again see the transformation from rocky mountains, barren landscapes to lush green mountains and civilization as we reached Manali via Rohtang pass.

Enroute Manali

As we settled in Manali, it was farewell time so we gathered at hotel spending last night together. We were awake whole night as we penned and shared our thoughts about each co-traveler which had lot of funny moments where we burst out of laughter.

Abhi Toh party shuru hoi hai....

We had a fantastic group where strangers became good friends. This was a cultural diverse group from different parts of county. It also broadens your perspective when you travel with like-minded people and experiences are shared.

• We danced on Tamil, Punjabi and Marathi songs.
• We learnt few slang words of other languages.
• We gave a Russian song  hindi film style chorus.
• Every day after dinner we played games like Mafia, cards, UNO and many more.
• Crazy dare game.
• Travel & ghost stories and lots more.
• 
  

Day 9 (22 September) –Manali – Delhi
I guess this day was kept as buffer day as we had no plans as such. We went for river rafting which was cherry on cake making a thrilling end to this journey. 

River rafting on the cold Beas river was thrilling experience.

Bidding adieu to mountains we left for Delhi with wonderful memories to cherish for lifetime.

As they say “We meet the people we’re supposed to when the time is just right." 

Photo Credits - Aditya, Tasneem, Kaustubh, Adhithya, Sriram ( BDA ), Gauri.