Spiti Valley Bike Ride: A Journey on the Silk Route

Spiti valley had been an important part of the ancient silk route when travellers walked on difficult mountain trails starting deep into China, crossing over Tibet and then entering India. The thoughts of caravans of people moving on these paths with limited resources and constantly fearing a risk of death from nature as well as local warfare used to give me goosebumps. It must have been a tough decision for anyone during ancient times to leave the comforts of their home and take the difficult journey across the Himalayas.

The exciting thing about a visit to these silk-route roads across mountains is that in places they are still in the same conditions even after centuries have passed. One can still feel like an ancient traveller battling nature while crossing these dirt roads, facing biting cold on steep mountain slopes where man and machines get tested to the hilt, even though centuries have passed since these trails were first found by man.

I visited Ladakh in 2012 and was left mesmerised by the beauty as well as the challenges it posed to me as well as my bike, Saarthi. Spiti valley, which is an extension of Ladakh in terrain and culture was my next target; however, due to one reason or another, a trip to Spiti valley kept getting postponed.

Finally, it was in 2019 when I decided to visit Spiti in September end when the main travelling season was coming to an end as within a week or two, passes like Kumjum pass and Rohtang pass would be closed along with the access to Chandrataal Lake. Any delay would have pushed the trip to the summer of next year (2020), which I did not want.

Noida to Narkanda (Day 1)

So, on September 25, 2019, after dropping my son to his school, I started on my solo-bike-ride to Spiti valley.

It was about 9 AM and the normal weekday office traffic was slowing down my journey. As a result, I decided to skip the road across Delhi and took the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) to avoid the entire traffic of the national capital region (NCR). The expressway is built at a significant distance from the main city; therefore, allows one to drive across the agricultural fields. Harvesting time was near and I could see paddy and sugarcane in most of the fields.

I aimed to ride through the Spiti circuit where one enters the Spiti valley by riding along the Sutlej River in the south and then exits the Spiti valley via Rohtang pass in the north.

(See on Google Maps: click here)

After EPE, I took the Grand Trunk (GT) Road on my way to Himachal Pradesh. I took my first break at Gharaunda toll plaza, just before Karnal after travelling for about 150 km from home. I rested on a cot in a small tea shop, which fortunately had the packets of pasteurised milk (Amul), which I like a lot. I quenched my thirst by having three of them (Desho mein desh Haryana, jahan doodh dahi ka khana meaning people in Haryana relish milk and curd a lot).

After taking a rest for about half an hour at the shop, I got ready to ride again. In the meantime, the shop owner told me that he works in the shop 24*7 and his main business is selling snacks and goods to people stuck on the toll. It was the year 2019 and Fastag was still not mandatory. Therefore, long lines on the toll plazas on busy roads like GT road were a common sight.

I crossed towns like Karnal, Pipli (near Kurukshetra), Ambala, and Derabassi to reach Panchkula on the outskirts of Chandigarh in the afternoon. It was now that I had my first view of hills, which filled me with an excitement that the heat of plains would soon be a thing of the past and for the next few days, the ride would be full of adventurous fun in the cold mountains.

I had booked a hotel on the road between Shimla and Narkanda. Therefore, from Panchkula, I decided to take the road via Shimla. Crossing Shimla took some time and it had started getting dark when I crossed Shimla.

Soon, thereafter, I came across a guy with a loaded bike stranded on the side of the road. I offered help; however, he said that he is riding a rental bike, which keeps on stopping after every few kilometres slowing down his progress. Nevertheless, he said that he will manage on his own. He also told that two of his friends, on separate bikes, have moved ahead to look for a hotel. They were also headed to Spiti valley and while discussing our plans, he convinced me to add Pin valley to the itinerary. Pin valley has featured in many Bollywood films like Paap featuring John Abraham and Udita Goswami.

He asked me to let his friends know about his location in case I come across them ahead, which I did as his friends were waiting for him a couple of kilometres ahead.

They had still not found any hotel within their budget. Then, I told them about the hotel that I had booked, which was within a reasonable budget and they said they might meet me at the hotel.

It was dark when I reached the hotel that I had booked via Oyo. However, the hotel owner refused to honour the booking and instead asked for almost double the money. After a few calls to customer care, they assured me of a booking in an alternate hotel and the new hotel owner confirmed that he would honour the booking. However, when I added the location of this hotel in Google Maps, then I realized that Oyo has booked a hotel in Shimla, which is almost 30 km back on the route from where I had come.

I cancelled that booking and made a new one. This time at a hotel further ahead, near Narkanda. However, the same story repeated and this hotel also refused to honour the booking via Oyo and instead asked for a much higher price.

It was already dark and I prefer to avoid riding after sunset. And, I was hungry as well. As, by now, I was tired of booking hotels using Oyo; therefore, I searched for hotels nearby on Google Maps and called one that had good reviews. The hotel, Hotel Snowflake, near the Narkanda bus stand, confirmed the availability of the room and I checked in at about 8:30 PM.

Taking a hot bath after travelling about 450 km in the day in about 12 hours, was a very relaxing experience. Dinner consisted of simple daal and roti and I soon hit the bed.

Narkanda to Chitkul (Day 2)

It was a beautiful misty morning. The balcony of the room overlooking the valley presented a very beautiful view. The amazing morning was a sign of the beautiful days to come.

It was still cold when I started the ride for the day in the morning.

The first thing that I did in the morning was to fill the tank to the full so that I would not need to worry about fuel during the day. At the petrol pump, I met a biker couple who had decided to enjoy their holidays on a bike trip to the Himalayas. They were planning a different route, so, we quickly said goodbye to each other and I was on my way to meet Sutlej River as today, almost the entire ride was to be along the banks of Sutlej River.

The main difference between the hills in Himachal Pradesh (HP) and Ladakh is that in HP, the slopes of mountains are covered densely with trees. The ride here is almost like driving through forests whereas, in Ladakh, the mountain slopes are barren as the year-long snow does not allow dense vegetation to grow.

I tried to follow the path shown by Google Maps, which many times, in order to show the shortest route, takes you through small country roads through the villages instead of major highways. Today, again, was another such day where soon, I found myself on a narrow, single-lane village road, which provided beautiful views.

I was enjoying the view by parking my bike on the side; however, soon, I had to move it to the very edge of the road, scarily close to the valley when a big state-transport bus came on this road. I was surprised to see such a large vehicle on these narrow roads because, fortunately, I was riding a bike and could manage to clear just enough room for the bus to pass. If I was driving a car, then the bus could not cross and I would have to drive in the reverse for almost a kilometre before we could reach a spot wide enough for the bus to cross.

Anyway, these are the benefits of riding a bike especially, its ability to take the rider to places where a car may not.

Thereafter, I cross a few villages, which had such narrow lanes that I was continuously in awe of the bus driver that I had just seen. He must have superhuman driving skills to drive a big bus through those very narrow, twisting, and sloping roads across these tiny hamlets. I am not sure whether I would ever be as skilled a driver as these bus drivers.

Nevertheless, soon after crossing a couple of villages, I reached the viewpoint of the Sutlej River on the highway.

This is the first point where one sees the majestic Sutlej River emerging from Kinnaur valley.

Now, the road was to take me from the top of the hills to the bottom of the valley as for the rest of the day, I had to drive along the banks of the Sutlej River, where the road follows the ancient silk route when traders from multiple countries covered hundreds of kilometers on foot or horses; however, I was lucky to have Saarthi, which could take me across much quicker.

However, before I could reach the river in the valley, I drove through some of the most beautiful roads with lush green nature accompanying me with beautiful views.

Soon, I could reach the Sutlej River and the ride along the river banks started. This is the silk route, which is now a well-laid out tarmac road.

It was a beautiful experience to ride along the river with a cool breeze blowing in my face.

The river kept meandering through the valley and the road had to frequently change from one side of the river to another. Bridges, both road bridges as well as footbridges as seen in the pic above were frequent.

After travelling about 50 km along the Sutlej River in the valley, I started the ascent to Sarahan, which is famous for its Bhimakali Temple.

In the past, Bhimakali Temple was a site for human sacrifice. However, now any kind of sacrifice is banned at the temple.

It was past noon when I finished offering prayers at the Bhimakali Temple and I was feeling hungry. Whenever I visit any religious place, then I prefer to have food in the temple kitchen. However, unfortunately, at Bhimakali Temple, the food was still not ready. Therefore, I had a Himachali Thali for lunch at a small restaurant at Sarahan. I prefer to have local food whenever I visit any place as many times, I get to eat unique food preparations/vegetables, which otherwise are not usually available.

The food was delicious and in the meantime, I could charge my cell phones as well. Riding the bike while using Google Maps uses up battery fast and such breaks are a good time to charge the phone back. I had already downloaded the offline map of Himachal Pradesh on the phone. So, patchy internet coverage would not pose any challenge.

After having a sumptuous lunch, I traced my path back to the Sutlej River and started my journey to the Chitkul village, which is the last village on that road towards Tibet. Many adventurous trekkers hike their way from Chitkul village in HP across the mountains to Gangotri in Uttarakhand. I salute their courage to trek these treacherous regions on foot.

On the contrary, my journey was on a machine, which was effortlessly taking me on my journey.

I came across numerous small waterfalls on the side of the road, which formed a great place to take short breaks along the journey.

Soon, I reached the famous cliffhanger section of this route, where a road had to be built by cutting the rock face of the hill. Some of these stretches are labelled very dangerous places to drive; however, fortunately, with well-laid out roads, one can cross them without any challenges.

Going ahead, I came across some massive dams and hydroelectric power projects built on the Sutlej River. Most of the infrastructure of the power plants is built deep inside by cutting the mountains, hollow. Such sights represented the enormous efforts of mankind in its attempts to take nature. However, very frequently nature lets mankind know that when it shows its fury, then no force can stop it. No wonder such sites have had accidents when the river swelled and engulfed the entire dam site.

However, currently, the river was calm and the dam was working properly and I could enjoy my drive in peace.

As I was riding deeper into the valley along the Sutlej River, the views were becoming more beautiful.

Soon, I crossed the Sutlej River near Karcham Wangtoo dam and entered Baspa Valley to go to Chitkul village. Now, the road climbed higher whereas the Baspa River flowed in the valley below.

I could see small villages with a few houses spread across the face of the entire mountain slope. It is really daunting to think how difficult the life of people here is when taking even the basic supplies to their homes at the top of the mountain can be a humungous task.

Nevertheless, the river bed provides a beautiful land for agriculture where colourful crops make interesting patterns.

The ride of two hours from Karcham to Chitkul in the evening was tough. It was a narrow mountain road, which at many locations could allow only one car to cross. However, I could reach Chitkul just before it was about to get dark.

On Google Maps, I had found a hotel, which was at the very end, about half an hour away from the village and towards the Indo-Tibet Border Police (ITBP) check post. I tried to call the hotel owner during the day; however, I could not connect with him.

When I arrived at Chitkul, I could see many homestays; however, I crossed the whole village and then headed for that hotel only to realize that it was an under-construction building without any hotel facilities. With no one around, I started to drive back to the village; however, just then, someone apparently from the hotel approached me. He offered that I could stay at the place, but there is no power supply. I had doubts whether I could even get food at that place.

I drove back to the village and started scanning the homestays in the lanes while driving. None of the places looked impressive to me. Then, I saw some tents put up next to the river in the valley below. Immediately, I decided to give it a chance and stay in a tent for the night.

I reach one tent stay only to realize that the caretaker there is not interested in having me at the place because there are no other bookings and he would have to cook food only for me. He excused himself saying that he has to leave right now and another caretaker would come after some hours and I can check with him whether he would open a tent for me. That is the challenge of travelling to a tourist place nearing the end of the season.

Nevertheless, there was another tent stay nearby who were happy to offer me one of their four tents and have no qualms with me being the only guest for the night. I ate simple daal and rice for dinner, which the caretakers had cooked for them.

After all this ordeal, I could finally find a bed and with a travel of about 200 km for over 12 hours; I was happy to relax.

At the night, I realized that such tent accommodations; however, tough they seem from the outside, can never block out the cold. Soon, it turned biting cold inside the tent and I had to use both heavy quilts.

However, the best experience was listening to the continuous water of river water flowing nearby. It was soothing and soon I could go to sleep.

Chitkul to Nako (Day 3)

I woke up early in the morning and spent some time exploring the area nearby. I spent a lot of time sitting on the river bank.

It was an amazing experience with the high mountains in the background with the fog descending from the hilltops. It was as if the clouds are coming down from heaven.

In this early morning pic, you can see Saarthi covered up. I stayed in the left-most tent.

The building behind the tents turned out to be the Govt. school.

I was mesmerized to see the playground of the school. This volleyball court surrounded by mountains all around has to be the most beautiful place where anyone can play.

The caretakers of the tent stay told me that the school opens only for 6 months every year and every winter this entire place is under 8 to 10 feet of snow.

At Chitkul, I got a mixed feeling that the sights of such beautiful blue sky at such places have become a luxury that people in NCR do not have.

The caretaker happily agreed to accompany me to the ITBP check post nearby, which is the last point accessible to tourists. Only trekkers to Yamunotri and Gangotri go ahead after obtaining special permissions.

We spent some time at the post talking to the soldiers. One of them turned out to be from Haryana, my home state. He was happy to know that I work in stock markets. He himself had started trading commodities after learning about one of his friends who made a lot of money betting on steel price movements.

I was happy to see that even people in such faraway places are tracking markets; however, simultaneously, I was apprehensive about his initiative to trade commodities in order to replicate the apparent success of his friend. I cautioned him about the risks of trading with the hope that he would do due diligence before making his bets.

Soon, we came back to the camp and had breakfast. I was ready to start the journey of a new day.

The road to Chitkul is a dead end and one has to return to Karcham. In the morning, the route was very beautiful with bright sunlight illuminating the mountains.

Even though most of the mountains near the valley were green with the forests; however, the hilltops were covered with snow.

The road kept on meandering through the lap of Mother Nature.

At times, I came across beautiful streams flowing down the mountains, which were so captivating that one simply cannot ignore them and move ahead. I took many such small breaks to enjoy the beauty that our country has to offer.

At times, the road changed to a narrow strip carved out of the steep mountain slope with a deep valley below waiting for a single mistake by the drivers.

On my way, I filled petrol at Sangla village and came out of the Baspa valley to proceed along the Satluj River deep inside the Kinnaur valley.

My next destination was Kalpa, which is famous for its apple orchards as well as a beautiful view of the Kinnaur Kailash peak.

The drive from Reckong Peo to Kalpa was very beautiful. It was amazing to see such beautifully laid-out tarmac roads in remote places.

There were many apple trees with mouthwatering ripe apples right along the road.

It was very difficult to control oneself from plucking the apples. At one such place, I waited for some time so that anyone owning the apple tree may come and I could buy the apples straight from the trees. However, despite waiting, I could find anyone to sell me the apples and I had to move empty-handed. Nevertheless, it was an amazing sight to the apple trees right beside the road.

It was unfortunate that I could not see the peak of Kinnaur Kailash because the view was obstructed by the clouds.

I had my lunch at Kalpa and also bought some medicines to prevent acute mountain sickness (AMS).

Soon thereafter, I came back to Sutlej River and retraced my way to the only petrol pump on this way before Kaza. Having a tank full of petrol here would ensure that I would reach Kaza without any trouble.

Now, the next destination was Khab, a place about 70 km from Reckong Peo. At Khab, Spiti River and Sutlej River meet. The Sutlej River enters India from Tibet a few kilometers before Khab and tourists are not allowed to visit on the path along Sutlej to Tibet from Khab. Nevertheless, from Khab, one enters the Spiti valley.

However, the road from Reckong Peo/Kalpa to Khab had its own set of challenges. This region is prone to landslides and is supposed to be one the most dangerous roads in the world.

On this stretch, I came across a few locations, which had witnessed recent landslides and the authorities were clearing up the debris to make the road drivable.

There were bridges on which only one vehicle from one side was allowed at one time. It seems that the dangerous nature of the region poses many challenges to making strong bridges here. I have refrained from putting up images of these bridges on the Sutlej River in this stretch due to security reasons.

Nevertheless, after taking about 2.5 hours to cover 75 km from Kalpa, I reached Khab and saw the meeting point of two mighty rivers, Sutlej and Spiti, both of which have carved out deep gorges through their sheer force over centuries.

Ride until now was adventurous. However, after Khab, when I entered Spiti valley, the thrill level in the ride increased.

Soon, the road started climbing up with the Spiti River flowing into the deep valley below indicating that the river has cut a deep gorge. Soon, I reached Kazigs, multiple hairpin loops created to help travellers climb up the steep slope because the terrain near the banks of Spiti River is not safe for making a road.

Kazigs are like the Gata Loops on the Manali Leh highway.

Once a traveller enters Spiti valley, she cannot help but notice that the terrain here is completely like Ladakh. Barren, high peaks bearing the marks of heavy snow.

The gorges of Spiti River are very deep and dangerous. One look indicates that it is not possible to make a road along the river bank.

As a result, the road was continuously climbing up the mountains. Even after the significant altitude gain at Kazigs, numerous loops now took the road even higher and near the top of the mountains.

After crossing countless such hairpin bends, I arrived at the Nako village. It had started to get dark and I was tired after the entire day of riding. Even though, the distance I rode today was only about 150 km. However, it had been very tiring due to the nature of the terrain and the fact that I was gaining altitude with every turn of the road. Nako village is at an altitude of 3,625 m.

I wanted to get a hotel at the earliest. The village seemed to have only homestays. I saw one homestay, right at the start of the village, Tirth Chokten Home Stay, which was overlooking the valley. Even though, I went inside the village to see more options; however, none of the other options was as beautiful as the first homestay that I had seen.

I came all the way back out of the village and decided to stay there. The reason was this view from the balcony.

I spent the entire remaining evening just sitting on the balcony looking at the hills around, the valley below, the roads meandering on the slopes, vehicles pushing with all their might to move up the slope and when the night came, the lights from the Yangthang village in the valley and the headlights of cars & trucks still running presented a mesmerizing sight. All this while a cool breeze was blowing in my face. This was heaven.

The host offered to make momos for me during dinner. I know that making momos is a very cumbersome process and it takes a lot of effort to cook vegetables or meat to prepare fillings for momos. I experienced it during my ride to Ladakh in 2012 when many tent owners backed off at Pang when I asked them to make momos for dinner. Moreover, I like momos a lot and I can eat a lot of them. Therefore, if the host wants to serve me momos by his own wish, I would be more than happy.

However, when the momos finally arrived, then I was surprised that these contained boiled potatoes as a filling, which I had never had in the past. They were ok but not what I had expected. Anyway, they proved to be a good fill for the dinner.

As I was staying in a concrete house instead of the tent like yesterday night, it was much more comfortable. After taking a hot water bath and spending some more time looking at the valley below, I retired for the day and the sleep came early.

Nako to Kaza (Day 4)

I woke up at 6 AM to a beautiful view of clouds in the valley, which were almost at the level of our balcony.

After spending some time appreciating the beautiful place I was sitting and thanking God for this experience, I decided to visit the manmade lake in the village, which is the highest manmade lake in the world.

The lake gets its water from the glaciers melting on the mountain tops nearby.

It was very peaceful to spend time at the lake and then roam in the village lanes. Signs of Buddhism were aplenty in the village.

After spending a good time at Nako Lake and the village, I said goodbye to the host and started on my journey for the day. The first destination for today was Gue village which has a mummified body of a Tibetan monk in a temple.

As I started the ride, the road started climbing higher. After crossing many mountains and multiple hairpin bends, I realized that Saarthi (my bike) and I were travelling at the level of the clouds.

After riding with the clouds, the road started descending via multiple hairpin loops.

Midway through the descent, I reached a plateau called Moonland Spiti, which provided an all-around view of the nearby hills and the river below. It was beautiful, with a strong breeze adding to the experience. However, due to the low oxygen in the air, I was breathing heavily.

Soon enough, the road descended further and the lower altitude helped me a lot.

Now the ride along with the Spiti River started. It was feeling a relaxed ride; however, the signs of sloping debris on the roadside mountains always reminded me that a landslide is possible here at any time.

My journey on the well-laid-out tarmac road ended at Sumdo when a group of soldiers pointed out that from here the tarmac road goes to the border post at Kaurik whereas for going to Kaza, I had to take the dirt road.

After a few kilometers from Sumdo, I took a turn from the main road towards Gue village, which is about 10 kms toward the border. The road to Gue was a narrow road along a stream.

The Gue village has a temple with beautiful bright colours and also hosts an apparently 500 years old mummy of a Tibetan monk. The mummy is housed in a small white room on the side of the main temple building.

I have not had breakfast today and the Maggi noodles in the cool morning breeze at the Gue temple felt like God sent.

After spending some time at the temple, I retraced my way to the main Kaza road and headed towards the Tabo monastery, which is more than 1,000 years old.

Now, the road was at the banks of the Spiti River unlike yesterday’s ride when the roads had to be built along mountain tops at the level of clouds because of the steep gorges. Now, the road was along the Spiti River as the valley had started to open up.

Tabo monastery is one of the oldest in the world. It is said to be established in the year 996, making it more than 1,000 years old.

Even though currently, a new monastery building has been made at Tabo, still, some sections of the old monastery are open to tourists. One has to carry a torch to go inside the old monastery building. This is because; it hardly has any windows; however, it has many beautiful artefacts on its walls. The absence of windows may be to protect the artefacts as well as the monks from the natural elements including cold.

Once inside the old monastery building, I kept on thinking about its glorious past when it was a fully active institution and numerous monks and travellers stayed here to rest during harsh weather and then continued their journey on foot/horses in this treacherous region.

The new Tabo monastery has a beautiful gompa as well as a beautiful building where I found many monks including children reciting their learning. Their recitals were like chanting of mantras and created a very captivating environment.

Monks were sitting on both sides of the straight path to the main deity. As if in a temple, I started walking straight to the deity from the door; however, a monk directed me to the correct path to take, which was from around the monks and alongside the walls. I happily followed the correct directions.

At the Tabo monastery, I also realized that I had been spinning the prayer wheels in the wrong direction all this while.

It was a very educative trip to the Tabo monastery.

Tabo monastery also provides accommodation to tourists. However, it was still around noon and I wanted to move ahead in the valley. Therefore, I skipped staying at the Tabo monastery for the moment.

I started on my journey deeper into Spiti valley. The road ahead was a mix of narrow road dangerously perched on the slope along the river and a nice tarmac on the valley floor with some colourful trees.

It was in this stretch when I was heading to Kaza riding along the Spiti River that I noticed a board indicating a bridge to the Pin Valley across the river. I remembered the biker whom I had met near Shimla on the first day who had advised me to visit Pin valley.

Even though it was not on my original schedule; however, it was still around noon and I had plenty of time in the day; therefore, I decided to visit Pin valley as well.

The entry to Pin valley is via a grand gate, which has some beautiful works of art and colour; however, the harsh weather of Spiti valley had taken a good toll on it.

I rested for some time by lying down on the bench on the right side of the gate and eating dry fruits that I always carry with me on such trips. The cool temperature of the valley along with the beautiful sight of the river flowing nearby makes such breaks very refreshing.

After riding for some distance along the Spiti River, I reached the gate stating my entry into Pin Valley National Park, which is near the confluence of Spiti River and Pin River.

From there, the road takes a turn into the Pin valley along the banks of Pin River.

Pin valley continues along the Pin River and then extends along some of its tributaries. In the valley of one such tributary is Mud village, which at a distance of 30 km, forms the end of the valley and tourists return via the same route to come out of the Pin valley. Though trekkers travel ahead across mountain passes, which are currently non-motorable and cross into other valleys like Kinnaur.

I aimed to visit the Mud village and then come back on my route to Kaza.

I faced some of the strongest winds in the Pin valley. It was becoming difficult to control the bike on the road even though the bike was fully loaded with my luggage. The roads were completely dirt tracks.

The vistas were beautiful with the river spreading across the valley floor in multiple streams requiring long bridges for making a human crossing possible.

There were a few villages along the river dotted with a few houses and interestingly marked agricultural fields.

After riding for about two hours, I reached the Mud village. It was afternoon and I was feeling hungry. Unfortunately, it was almost the end of the tourist season and most of the restaurants had already closed.

After moving up and down the seemingly single village road, I could find a restaurant, which was effectively a home serving food from their personal kitchen. I had thupka for lunch and it was tasty.

At lunch, I met a few people who were researchers from a botanical institute and were in the Pin valley to study its flowers and other vegetation, which has medicinal properties. They were waiting for their guide, a local from Mud village who would take them to nearby hills so that they may take some samples. Much to their delight, the cook in this restaurant had many such spices and products, which this team was supposed to collect from the field. They happily took some samples from the kitchen.

After a nice chat with the botanical team and some rest, I started my journey out of the Pin valley.

Pin valley is supposed to be very beautiful with many flowers and beautiful vegetation on its mountain slopes. However, when I visited it, most of the vegetation on the hills was gone. It seems that I was there in the wrong season. Therefore, my ride in the Pin valley turned out to be just a few more kilometers on the dirt track along the river, which I was anyway travelling on from morning along Spiti River.

Therefore, when I assessed whether going inside the Pin valley and spending about 4 hours was a good decision, then I realized that if I had not gone to the Pin valley, even then I would not have missed anything great.

I shared the same feedback with two bikers from Tamil Nadu who met me at the bridge on the Spiti River, which forms the entry point for Pin valley. They had Pin valley on their itinerary ever since they started their journey from Tamil Nadu and were surprised to hear my feedback.

One of the bikers wanted to skip Pin valley and go straight to Kaza whereas the other biker wanted to see Pin valley once so that an item on the list would be ticked off. After some discussion, they finally decided to go to Pin valley and I headed for Kaza.

After reaching Kaza, the first thing I did was to fill petrol in Saarthi, my bike, because I was told that in the morning getting petrol becomes a challenge. This is due to two reasons. First, the petrol pump opens late at 9 or 10 AM, so you cannot start your journey before that and second, in the morning, invariably there is a long queue of vehicles waiting to get fuel, which further delays the start of the day.

I had had a great experience staying next to the Baspa River at Chitkul village; therefore, at Kaza also, I wanted to stay near the banks of the Spiti River.

Using Google Maps, I searched for hotels marked near Spiti River; however, I could not find any hotel near the river. Almost all the hotels were at a distance from the river and it was only the houses of the locals that were near the river; however, I could not find any homestay there.

Therefore, I came back to the main road and checked in a hotel. The rooms facing the river and with a beautiful view of the mountain across were priced at a premium; however, the extra charges were worth it.

The hotel had a few two-person tents pitched up near the gate. When I enquired, then I was told that during the peak season, Kaza usually runs out of hotel rooms, then they accommodate travellers in these tents. Until then, the hotel staff uses these tents as their accommodation.

I took a hot water bath, which, after today’s ordeals of driving on dirt roads felt very relaxing and refreshing. I took some rest before ordering dinner. I had a vegetarian thali for dinner, which was remarkable for the quantity of food served. I definitely overate to finish the tasty food.

Kaza – Kibber – Hikkim – Komic – Kaza (Day 5)

I had dedicated this day to visiting places nearby Kaza as a day of light travel as well as for acclimatization before I visit Chandrataal Lake the next day. I had planned for a night’s stay at Chandrataal Lake at an altitude of 4,250 m, which is higher than Rohtang Pass (3,978 m). So, a night stay at Chandrataal is like sleeping on the snow-covered mountain peaks that we while visiting Rohtang.

Therefore, proper acclimatization is a must before spending time at Chandrataal Lake and today was my plan to achieve it.

I planned to first visit the famous Key Monastery, which is the largest in Spiti Valley and then go to villages like Kibber, which once held the record of the highest village in the world, and Hikkim, which has the world’s highest post office and Komic, which is the current highest village in the world.

Today, I left most of the luggage in the hotel and carried a small backpack with the puncture kit and water bottle with me.

The road from Kaza to Key monastery is about 15 km long and is a mix of paved roads and dirt tracks.

I reached Key at about 10 AM. It was a busy place and many tourists and locals had come to the monastery that day. It seemed that there was some festival going on and the place was bustling with devotees.

I spent about half an hour at the monastery while I offered prayers, and explored different areas like the study rooms where monks were reciting religious texts, meditation rooms, prayer rooms etc. The monks were kindly offering a special tea, the mint-flavoured Kawa, to everyone visiting the kitchen. It was very delicious. It was a symbol of their hospitality as well as seemed God-sent looking at the cold weather.

Some sections of the monastery were reserved only for the monks. However, for a novice like me, the allowed sections were more than enough to understand the life of the monks there. Moreover, if one wants, then she can meditate in the special meditating rooms for monks. However, I do not meditate in my normal life; therefore, decided to skip it.

Next, I headed for Kibber (4,270 m), which until a few years before used to be the highest village in the world until another nearby village, Komic (4,587 m), took away its place.

One of my reasons for visiting these places was that if I could handle the AMS here, then I would not face any troubles at Kunzum Pass, Chandrataal as well as Rohtang Pass because they are at an altitude lower than Komic Village.

Kibber is also a wildlife sanctuary, which seems appropriate because Spiti valley is known for snow leopard sightings.

Kibber village is about 7 km from Key monastery and it took me about 20 minutes. The route had numerous hairpin bends, which are fun to drive on. I could also see another beautiful welcome gate, which seems a tradition of the Spiti district.

Kibber is a village with a small number of houses and almost all the homes are made with a similar design and colours.

There was a restaurant at the start of the village. I wanted to have breakfast there; however, a group of bikers was already occupying the place.

I realized that it was not a very large restaurant and it would take a lot of time to serve me food. So, skipped the idea of breakfast and started on my journey to Hikkim and Komic villages, which were in different mountains. So, I had to retrace my journey almost back to Kaza before I started the ascent to Hikkim.

On my way back from Kibber to Key monastery, I saw a few locals walking toward the monastery. I happily gave a lift to the local to the monastery. He intimated that today, one of the leading monks of the valley was visiting the monastery, which was the reason for the crowd.

The road to Hikkim was a complete dirt track and it was getting elevation fast. Soon, Saarthi and I were standing at a considerable height.

We had a glorious view of the Spiti River and the valley below. The hairpin bends of the dirt track marked the courage of the man in the constant battle with nature.

Soon, Saarthi and I crossed over to the other side of the mountain and a new vista opened up. It was like a plateau interspersed with small peaks. I could see the Hikkim village in the distance, which had only a few homes spread on a beautiful landscape.

One cannot take a bike to the village as one has to trek some distance down from the road to reach it. There was a tea-cum-souvenir shop on the road above the village, which was selling local postcards. You can guess that postcards were the most sold item at the shop. Though, one can buy postcards from the post office as well.

I parked the bike and walked down to the post office, which also serves as the home of the postmaster.

The postmaster helped us with the stamps and I posted a postcard to my home addressed to my wife.

The postmaster informed us that it would reach the destination address in about 2 weeks; however, unfortunately, we never received it even after almost four years.

Komic, the current highest village in the world is only a couple of kilometers away from Hikkim. The village celebrates its position of being the highest in the world with absolute grandeur. Everything in the village is labelled with the “Highest in the world” be it a homestay or a restaurant.

Nevertheless, it is at a high altitude and people visiting from the plains like me need to have proper acclimatization to feel comfortable at Komic. However, I never expected to see people playing volleyball at Komic. I was amazed at seeing their fitness levels.

There was a large turnout of people in the Komic village that day and it looked like there was a fair or celebration going on.

I was told that it was the birthday of Guruji (the local head-monk) and the village was celebrating it with a community feast. I was invited to have lunch with them and I happily agreed. The lunch consisted of rice, mutton, vegetables, daal etc. I liked the steamed bun the most, which when mashed with other items becomes very delicious to eat.

While I was waiting for lunch, it started to snow. Eventually, we all ate snow-mixed rice, snow-mixed daal, snow-mixed bun, and snow-mixed vegetables. The day was continuously becoming more interesting.

Initially, I was happy to witness the snowfall. However, it did not take me long to realize that the snow is going to cause a lot of difficulties. It converted the dirt track into the mud. And Saarthi, my bike, did not have proper off-roading tyres. I was using the stock street tyres, which are not designed for off-road driving and not at all for riding in the muddy, and slippery stretches.

Anyhow, when one is stuck in such a situation, then there is no option but to accept it and adapt.

The place on my itinerary for the day was Langza, which has a very famous Buddha statue. When the snowfall stopped, then I started my journey to Langza. On the way, a local who was also headed to Langza asked for a lift and I agreed. This turned out to be a mistake.

The road from Komic to Langza is a dirt track covered with loose soil. The snowfall made the top of the sand wet while the lower layer was dry. As a result, the wet soil started sticking to the bike tyres making the treads useless. The bike started skidding and with a pillion rider, it became difficult to control the bike properly.

I realized that I would not be able to drive with the pillion and asked for forgiveness from the person and asked him to walk his way to Langza. At the same time, I decided to skip going to Langza altogether and decided to head back to Kaza.

The moment I turned back and started to drive towards Kaza, I faced another problem. The front wheel of the bike stalled. It was absolutely jammed and would not move an inch. I parked the bike to check. The top wet layer of the sand, which was getting stuck to the tyres had made its way between the front tyre and the mudguard. And so much wet sand got packed in this space that it completely immobilized the front tyre. Any attempt by the bike to move would lead the rear tyre to dig a hole in the road but the front tyre would not move.

I had mixed emotions. I was happy that the Saarthi, a Bajaj Dominar 400, is powerful enough to tackle any terrain unlike my Yamaha FZ16, which felt helpless on my way up to Tangalang-la in 2012 when I had to push the bike for the last 1 km to the pass. Dominar is power-packed and would not leave me in the lurch.

However, there was no way, I could move away from this spot without manually clearing out the dense wet sand packed between the front tyre and the mudguard.

At that time, someone honked a horn at me and I realized that I was standing in the middle of the road and a car wanted to pass by. Dragging Saarthi proved to be more difficult than I had thought. It is a heavy bike of about 200 kg and dragging it at a place, which is one of the highest in the world in rarified air with low oxygen was proving to be a challenge.

Anyway, it took me some time but soon enough, Saarthi and I were standing on the side of the road and cleared the way for the car.

The car went by after asking about how long the dirt track would last and how is the road from there to Kaza. The car also did not have off-road tyres and the street tyres were continuously skidding and not getting traction.

I picked up some sticks from the side of the road and after some effort could clear out enough clay/wet sand from underneath the mudguard that the wheel started moving.

Finally, after spending half an hour at this spot and turning breathless from all the efforts, I started riding towards Kaza. Subsequently, the front tyre did not get jammed; however, the fact that my bike had street tyres which were unsuitable for this terrain and were constantly skidding made the ride difficult.

The result; 4 falls in the next 3 kilometers.

It took me almost 2.5 hours to cover the remaining 18 km to Kaza. It was a ride where I was constantly reminding myself to drive slow, slower, and slower on the road. Whenever I used to get a dry and hard patch of road, then I continuously reminded myself: “Do not fall for the false confidence that now the worst is behind us. It is Spiti and the next fall may be just around the next corner”!

The picture below taken on the way to Kaza may show me smiling. However, I was under a lot of stress and was frustrated while in the middle of one of the most difficult rides that I have ever had until now.

Nevertheless, today, Spiti valley had the first snowfall of the season. The mountain tops started to get covered with snow, which made the place more beautiful.

We could reach the hotel safely without any more falls. However, both, Saarthi and I were completely drenched and mud-stained. A hot-water bath never felt more relaxing.

The view out of the hotel room’s window was absolutely amazing. The mountain across the Spiti River had also received snowfall and its peak was now covered with snow.

I kept my promise of filling up petrol in the evening lest I get stuck in the long queue of vehicles in the morning at the petrol pump.

The terrain in my journey over the next two days was supposed to be more difficult than today. I had to cross Kunzum Pass, take the narrow dirt road to Chandrataal Lake and then drive on the Batal-Gramphu road, which is literally driving on riverbeds and stones and usually proves to be back-breaking with numerous water crossings. Batal-Gramphu road is described by many travellers as the worst road that they have travelled in their lifetime.

I wanted to know whether it was snowing on the way from Kaza to Chandrataal. And the news was that Kunzum Pass on the way had had snowfall today. So, it might be that the whole story of today’s ride might get repeated tomorrow as well.

Nevertheless, Saarthi and I were ready to fight for another day. I was very hungry after all the ordeals of today and happily ordered the vegetarian thali for dinner today as well at the hotel.

Kaza – Kunzum Pass – Chandrataal (Day 6)

Today, even though I woke up at 6 AM, I did not start my journey early in the morning. I waited for the local markets to open. I had to finish a couple of tasks before starting the day.

I purchased dry fruits, which I always carry with me on bike trips. I took out some money from the ATM. Unlucky me; in the first attempt, the ATM did not disburse money despite entering the debit card pin.

As Kaza does not have any other cellular coverage than BSNL, there was no way for me to get any transaction SMS on my Airtel mobile phone linked to my bank account. I got to know about the double deduction of money from my account after I reached Manali the next day and then the quest to recover my money started. Luckily, I could get the money back into my account after a few weeks.

Another important task for the day was to get a thorough wash for Saarthi. The bike had become very dirty after the ride in the slush the previous day. It seemed that there was the only bike washing shop in the whole Kaza open at that point in time, which was on the outskirts. The charges were very high, almost triple of what I usually pay in other cities. The guy told me that he has higher costs as he has to get all the water from a water tanker and is not allowed to use the water of the Spiti River flowing nearby.

Anyway, after getting Saarthi washed properly and finishing my tasks, I checked out of the hotel at about 10 AM and started riding for Kumjum pass. My destination for the day was Chandrataal.

The distance between Kaza and Chandrataal is about 90 km; however, out of it only the road for 20 km was paved. The rest of it was a complete dirt track.

The road was meandering through the snow-peaked mountains. The ride was very thrilling; however, I was also feeling very cold.

Soon, the ascent for Kunzum pass started.

The road was now dangerously perched to the side of the mountain and was taking hairpin bands to gain height.

The harsh nature of this region where roads stay closed for most of the winter and nature destroys any manmade structures, makes it difficult to maintain roads and bridges. On the way, I saw rudimentary bridges made of wooden planks.

I reached Kunzum pass in the afternoon; however, it was snowing and the wind was biting cold. Some cables were lying on the pass indicating work in progress for better connectivity of Spiti valley.

At Kunzum pass, there are a few Gompas dedicated to Kunzum Mata, the deity. People believe that anyone visiting Kumjum pass must pray to the deity and take a customary round around the Gompas. There is a board requesting travellers for offering prayers to the deity to ensure their safe crossing of the Kunzum pass.

The Gompas are a little to the side of the main road and when I reached the pass, a local passenger bus had taken the detour especially to take a round around the Gompa, the Kunzum Mata.

I also offered my prayers at the Gompa and started my journey down the Kunzum pass to Chandrataal Lake. On the descent, before reaching the settlement of Batal, a narrow dirt track goes towards Chandrataal.

The welcome gate on the road for Chandrataal clearly stated that this region has the presence of snow leopards and one needed to be careful.

The road from this starting point to the tented settlements near Chandrataal is about 12 km long. However, it is a very narrow single-lane dirt track where at one go only one car can pass. Crossing oncoming vehicles becomes a challenge because the valley below has the Chenab River flowing, which increases the dangers of driving here.

The road to Chandrataal had two water crossings. One was very easy; however, the second one, which was at the end of the journey when the tent homes were clearly in the sight, was very tough.

While crossing this water crossing, both my shoes got wet. As I did not have any way of drying them, they stayed wet until I reached my home two days later.

Nevertheless, I reached the tent stay near Chandrataal Lake. It took me about 4.5 hours to cover the 90 km distance from Kaza to this place.

The tourist season was about to end; so there were not a lot of tourists here. Most of the tents were empty. It did not take me a lot of time to finalize a tent to stay. It cost me ₹2,000 for the night including dinner and breakfast.

Chandrataal Lake is considered very sacred; therefore, to maintain its cleanliness, tents are not allowed to near the lake. These tent stays are a couple of kilometers before the lake. However, the location of these tents was amazing, a small flat patch surrounded by mountains from all sides.

After relaxing for some time in the tent, I started on my way to Chandrataal Lake. I could ride my bike for about 3 km when I reached the parking spot. No vehicles are permitted beyond this point and one has to walk for about a kilometer to reach the lake.

Finally, after 6 days of starting my journey, I was at Chandrataal Lake, which was the last destination of Spiti valley.

The Lake is beautiful without any doubt. One can see prayer flags tied up by devotees indicating its sacredness. In addition, a fast wind blows here continuously, which makes all the tiredness of reaching here, vanish in a minute.

The location of the lake with blue water surrounded by beautiful mountains from all sides is a sight to behold.

The snow peak mountains near Chandrataal Lake were a sight to behold and I spent quite some time at the lake even after all the tourists have left.

It was a day well spent. The drive was smooth and safe without any of the challenges that I had faced the previous day. Even though it snowed on the way, still there was no slush on the way to Chandrataal.

From my previous day’s experience, I had started to fear riding on slushy roads with normal street tyres so much that today, whenever, I came across any biker riding from Kunzum pass to Kaza, my first question to them would be if there is slush on the road ahead.

Luckily, it was a day of safe travelling except for the last water crossing just before Chandrataal; however, expecting that there would not be a single glitch on such a trip is a bit too much.

It was already dark when I reached the tent stay and after some time, the dinner was ready. It was basic food with rice, daal, roti and one vegetable.

While we were having dinner, a group of travellers arrived at the tent stay. They realized that it was dangerous for them to drive to this place at night. Their car got stuck just near the tent stay as they could not see the path. Luckily they could pull it out together.

Chandrataal – Rohtang Pass – Manali – Sundar Nagar (Day 7)

The night was freezing cold. The temperature had dropped below zero at night. In the morning, there was a thin layer of ice on everything lying in the open like the cover on my bike.

It was so cold at night that I had to use two heavy quilts and a blanket to keep myself warm while sleeping. In the morning, I had to wear one balaclava, one cap and a hoodie to protect myself from cold.

However, the beautiful blue sky of the morning at this place was a sight to behold and more than compensated for all the hardships of night.

I had my breakfast and left the place at about 8 AM. My shoes and socks had gotten wet the previous day while riding through the water crossing near the tent stays. They were still wet.

Moreover, I had to cross the same water crossing the first thing in today’s journey. In addition, there were going to be numerous more water crossings on the way from here to Rohtang pass.

I wore two pairs of socks and on top of them, a polythene bag on each foot and then I wore the shoes; hoping that they would protect my feet.

Luckily, I could cross the first water crossing without any issues today. In the morning the snow on the glaciers melts slowly; therefore, the water level in such water crossings is at its lowest in the morning. As the day progresses, the pace of melting of snow in the glaciers and subsequently, the water level in the crossings increases and is at its peak in the evenings, exactly the time when I had crossed it the previous day.

The road out of Chandrataal Lake is a narrow dirt track where only one car can move at a time. If any vehicle comes from the other side, then one has to wait for crossing at designated areas, which have a little broader road. In the morning, hardly anyone comes to Chandrataal as most of the tourists reach this place either from Kaza or Manali in the afternoon.

As a result, I could drive peacefully while enjoying the sights of the Chenab River in the valley below and the snow-covered peaks above.

Soon, I came out of the cul-de-sac, the road to Chandrataal and reached the main road connecting Kunzum pass to Gramphu at Batal settlement.

The road on the stretch from Batal to Gramphu is one of the toughest that I had ever seen. Actually, it is just stones lying on the valley floor. In the dry season where Chenab River flows when the water rises and in other seasons, vehicles make driving tracks.

On one occasion, it became difficult for me to identify any path among the stones spread over the river bed. Then, I had to proceed by hunch until another vehicle became visible on the horizon that guided me in the right direction.

At times, the road became very narrow and slippery while riding close to the Chenab River.

Soon, the weather deteriorated and it became very cold. I could see the snowfall happening at the peaks nearby.

Riding on this road is dangerous. Accidents keep on happening here and at times, people get stuck without help for hours. This is because there is hardly any human settlement for many kilometers and driving from either side whether Gramphu or Kaza takes a lot of time to reach here.

A grim reminder of the dangers lying here was the Shubhamoy Paul memorial made on this road in the memories of a biker who died at this spot in 2016 while participating in a rally “Raid de Himalaya”.

After riding carefully over the stones, through the slush, and across the streams, I finally managed to reach Gramphu and was elated to see the paved-tarmac road.

Today, I had to ride through countless water crossings. Maybe 50 or more. My shoes were full of water by this time. I was eagerly waiting to cross Rohtang pass and reach Manali so that I could rest and dry my feet a bit.

The ride from Gramphu to Rohtang pass was easy as the road was well paved.

The views were amazing.

It took about an hour to finally reach Rohtang pass.

When I reached Rohtang pass, it was snowing and was very cold. There were no tourists. In fact, I was the only one with only an occasional vehicle coming from either side.

Later on, I realized that today was Tuesday, a day when Rohtang Pass is closed for tourists every week. It was a little eerie to be at the deserted pass, all alone with the bone-chilling wind blowing fast and the falling snow determined to make your stay there and the journey ahead more and more difficult.

When I drove a little ahead and saw the condition in the Beas valley towards Manali, I was shocked that it had dense fog.

It was a similar situation when I crossed Rohtang pass the last time in 2012, on my way back from Ladakh. There was dense fog and rain in the valley towards Manali and I had to drive almost 50 km with near zero visibility. However, that ride was in the dark from 7 PM at Rohtang pass to 10 PM when I reached Manali unlike today when I was at Rohtang pass at noon.

I started riding down the pass in dense fog. Soon, it started raining cats and dogs and all my clothes became wet. At multiple locations, the road has turned into slush and I had to be extra careful while driving to avoid skidding and a fall.

At some places, there were landslides and at one place, a few big boulders had blocked the road. The authorities were already there and working with the bulldozers to push the bulldozers aside to clear the road. While waiting, I interacted with a group of bikers who were returning from their trip to Sach pass. The first thing I noticed was their tyres, which were dual-sport meaning that they had the proper treads that could provide a good grip in off-road conditions. I could guess that their ride would have been more comfortable than mine on dirt tracks and I promised to myself that I would change the tyres to dual sport whenever I plan a trip to the hills next time, a promise that I duly kept.

Soon, we could descend below the fog-line and lush green slopes of the Beas Valley in which Manali lies, opened up.

I took a break at Marhi for lunch. The first thing I did was to remove my shoes and socks and put them aside for drying in the sun.

The sightseeing part of the trip was already over and now the journey back to home in Noida was remaining. I had almost half of the day remaining with me when I left Marhi.

I filled up the tank at Manali and enjoyed the ride in the light drizzle until Kullu. However, the moment I reached Kullu, the road condition became very bad. The road widening work was going on in full swing. The movement of heavy construction vehicles had broken the existing road completely with deep potholes, which were all filled with water due to rains.

Riding was very slow with multiple stops and diversions. At numerous locations only one lane was functional and people were getting drenched standing on the road while waiting for their side of traffic to open up.

Nevertheless, by the time it started getting dark, I could reach Sundar Nagar. I was in very bad shape with fully drenched clothes stained with mud and slush. I was lucky that the first hotel I enquired at accepted to give me a room.

A hot water bath with a change of clothes was the biggest relief I got. Access to the internet after many days of staying offline was another relieving factor. It was here that I got to know that during my ATM transaction at Kaza, the money got deducted from the account without the machine disbursing it to me. Nevertheless, I got the money back after raising the issue with the bank.

I was too tired to go anywhere for dinner. I ordered dinner in the room and slept soon.

Sundar Nagar to Noida (Day 8)

I woke up at 7 in the morning and was pleasantly surprised at the view outside the window. The hotel was located near a canal, which provided an excellent view.

I was not feeling hungry; therefore, I quickly packed up and check out of the hotel without having breakfast.

The ride from here until the end of the hills in Himachal Pradesh felt boring as the road here had too much traffic when compared to the drive in the Spiti Valley that I was doing until the previous day.

I crossed into the plains at Kiratpur Sahib in Punjab and stopped for breakfast on a dhaba alongside the highway. Such highway-dhabas serve excellent paratha with butter, which I was also waiting for for many days. The paratha lived up to the expectations.

The ride in the plains of Punjab and Haryana on straight highways started feeling too much comfortable for me. I was actually getting bored while riding on the GT road. It was simply sitting on the saddle and counting kilometers.

Cities came and went and I crossed Karnal to reach Gharaunda toll plaza where I had milk on my way to Narkanda on the first day of the trip. I went to the same tea shop and rested there after drinking a couple of milk packets. The owner was busy making sales to every car or bus that slowed down at the toll plaza. The mundane routines of everyday life were again making their presence felt to me.

I took the same route first, the GT road and then the Eastern Peripheral Expressway to drive to my home in Noida. I could reach home in time before it got dark.

Even though I had come back from Spiti Valley, my mind and heart were still stuck there in the beautiful hills, the serpentine rivers, the fast blowing cold wind, the beautiful blue sky, the soothing peaceful chanting of monks, and the laid-back life of small villages.

My earlier impression of Spiti Valley that it might be just a poor cousin of Manali-Leh highway and Ladakh stands broken. A ride to Spiti Valley is equally adventurous, thrilling and fulfilling as a Ladakh ride. On the contrary, driving on the route from Kunzum pass to Rohtang pass is harder than any section of Ladakh that I travelled to in 2012.

Spiti Valley seemed a relic of the past and it felt like now, I have come to the modern civilization. It was as if I had come back after travelling in the past.

Even before the day could end, I was already making plans for my next bike trip to Rajasthan, which I did after two months in December 2019. I would write about that trip in which I spent about 2 weeks covering almost the entire Rajasthan in a separate travelogue later.

Hope you enjoyed this write-up in which I tried to relive my journey and attempted to share it with the feelings that I experienced at every place I visited.

Take care.

Dr Vijay Malik