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Women Voyagers Trip to the Spiti Valley

I was eagerly looking forward to taking the Women Voyager’s group of solo travellers trip to The Spiti Valley, a valley with the humongous mountainous regions. Away from civilization and blissfully untouched by tourism, Spiti is a heaven on earth which one must visit in a lifetime! Spiti is an offbeat haven for the soul seekers and a paradise for the nature lovers! Also termed as “Cold Desert” where rains never pay a visit. The dominant feature of the Spiti valley is its Buddhist culture. The naked and rugged snow top mountains, sparsely populated villages at long distances, beautiful blue sky, and equally beautiful blue Spiti. The terrain is harsh, desolate and inhospitable but your final destination makes it all worth it. The best part about the trip is undoubtedly the warm, friendly, innocent and ever welcoming people, who give the valley its true divine soul.

Women Voyagers begins its Spiti Valley Exploration

Theog :D Exotica Crest Resort:
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Team Women Voyagers checked into D Crescent Exotica Hotel, Theog where it was raining heavily. We just couldn’t resist ourselves from splashing in the waters and play like kids. The monsoon coupled with cool chilly waves, revived our childhood memories, how we used to dance in the rains, without care. Theog has everything minus the mad rush of the tourists and the blaring horns. Our hotel gardens were overflowing with tiny green raw apples, and not so ripe apricots, though strict instructions were given not to pluck them. After leaving Theog, we came to know that Pandavas had spent some of their exile period in the marshy water bodies on the banks of the jungle which we passed by. Felt great to visit a place of such significance.

Sangla – Kinner Camps:

Nestled in the valley of Kinnaur Himalayas, Women Voyagers reached Kinner Camps in the evening after an 8 hrs drive. The camp Manager – Disha was truly an example of “Atithi Devo Bhavah”, she had ensured that the moment we reached the camps, piping hot tea was ready for us and assigned one of her best executives to us for a Village Walk.

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The village walk was about 2 kms with terrains and breathing in the fresh air was a great feeling. The entire village seemed as though One Big Family, each dependent on one another and living happily and with love in their mud-laden houses. We saw the Kinner Kailash Range from our camps and also saw the Shivling at the Kailash Mountains. It was a divine sight for us all and we all bowed down our heads in gratitude to the Almighty. Kinner camps had lots of adventuress activities to quench our adrenal thirst - like Rappelling, River Crossing, Rock Climbing, Relax at the hammock, etc. It is also a perfect place to meditate.

Chitkul

Chitkul, better known as “The Last Village of India” is also the last road that we as Indians can travel without any permits. Beyond this, the Tibet border starts and the Great Baspa River. This post is managed by ITBP Force and they are truly courteous. It was an exhilarating experience for me to put my feet in that ice-cold water and enjoy the cold waters in the Great Baspa River.

The Sangla Valley

The Sangla Valley is a delight for any traveller and nature lovers. The valley is extremely beautiful with snow-clad mountains on top and full of greenery around. You feel like hugging them, the clear blue sky in the background arched around the mountains.

Kalpa – Monk Camps

Kalpa is a small town in the Sutlej River above Reckong Peo. Apples are grown here extensively. We visited the 100-year-old Buddhist Monastery, 2960 mtrs. above sea level. Nature was welcoming and beautiful and it left us all speechless. We also visited the “Suicide Point”, with the only intention of viewing it. But this place is a must go. We had lots of fun shouting, clicking our pics and hearing our echoes back.

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Tabo – Tow Dhey

Tabo is a small town, situated on the bank of Spiti River. We went to the Tabo Monastery and were amazed to see the architecture and age-old heritage paintings. These paintings depicted the rich heritage of our country and how we used to live in yesteryears. But they were facing a major hazard due to water seepage and the colour was peeling off the paintings which were a sorry sight. There were also many unfinished paintings, sketches, and ancient cravings.

Night Star Gazing

I always loved to see the stars, but it’s difficult to do so when you stay in a city. We were happy to see the clear skies above in the night, most ideal for Star Gazing. Sri who was the right kind of a person, who could show us the stars with their names and the Milky Way and helped us identify them. For the first time, I saw Jupiter and Sagittarius (my sun sign) also. That night, like in my childhood days, I slept outside on the terrace and saw the stars along with Monicka (Meg).

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We had a big balcony attached to our bedroom in the hotel, and we slept in our balcony and enjoyed our night out with the stars and the cold waves.

We could hear the river silently flowing and it helped calm our minds and feel peaceful, relaxed and liberated once you are near a water body. It was simply an amazing experience!

Kaza – Nashung Camps –

As we kept on going further in our expedition, we realized that civilization was getting thinner and scarce. We now only could see either very old people, basking in the sun and some of them still working at that age or very young children, who were playing with not so fancy toys but were still very happy and flashing amazing innocent smiles.

We also visited the famous Key Monastery. We spoke to the monks, who explained every single statue to us. Perched on the mountain top in the 13th century, Key monastery is the largest in Spiti valley. Our next stop was the Comic monastery. Weather was pretty cold in spite of a very bright sun. The 16th-century monastery Dhankar Gompa is precariously perched on the edge of a hilltop. This was partially destroyed in an earthquake. Now there are efforts to rebuild the monastery. Visiting Kibber and Lanza villages and meeting the local population, especially children was quite interesting and enlightening. A very large Buddha statue in Lanza makes it a very impressive site.

Our Traveller Enthusiasts were very happy when they were allowed to trek in this region. Despite the cold winds and blazing sun, they braved it all to complete the trek and wanted more of it.

Another memorable experience was visiting the highest post office, in Hikkim. We bought postcards and posted it back home. It’s not that you post a card to your beloved family every other day, especially from the highest post office in the world.

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Chicham and Losar – Nomad’s Cottage

Chicham village has only 100 people in 30 houses or huts. The Chicham bridge, is the highest Bridge in Asia, and what an astounding spectacle it was. It’s at a height of 13995 mtrs above sea level and connects two famous villages – Kibber and Chicham. The bridge was very appealing and we clicked a few photos here.

Chandrataal

I have always imagined in my dreams seeing far off places with clean, clear skies and blue waters. It was as though the universe heard my pleas and brought Women Voyagers to Chandrataal, one of the bluest lakes and waters that we had ever seen. It is also called “Moon of the Lakes” as it's in a crescent shape. This site is probably only comparable to Pangong Pso in Ladakh.

It is probably good that Spiti valley is so inaccessible to a common tourist. Only a serious and passionate traveller must visit this out of the world place. There is this mystery in Spiti only, which attracted me to go there and experience this amazingly beautiful place. What made the trip so special was the Women Voyager’s group of solo travellers traveling with us. It was a really pleasant and fun-filled journey. Sri, one of the fellow travellers use to call me – “Himalayan Mom” as I would constantly forbid him to go out without my permission. Miss the fun and the laughter that we all shared. Those 7 days just flew past by and we never realised that the time has come for us to say our good byes.

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Today I realised “Life is not only about earning money, but it is also about helping others and living together” Spiti is one such example. They have meagre means for sustaining themselves and yet very happy and content in their lives.


  Read our blog on Women Solo Travel Here!