Day 4 – Sangla – trip to Chitkul Village
I woke up to an early sunrise, freshened up and settled down on the chair outside my tent soaking in the fresh air and the beautiful surroundings. Now that it was daylight, I could see just how beautiful the Banjara Camps property was. Living the city life and the rat race doesn’t make you realize just how simple and beautiful life can be. There were apple trees all around and fresh sunflowers. Everything felt so unreal. Heard a little bark and saw Toby the puppy dog walking around. One whistle was enough to have the little fellow come and chill by my side. After a refreshing cup of chai and breakfast, we were all for the day’s agenda. Today we were going to visit Chitkul village, a driving distance of about 22 kms. But on these roads, even 22 kms took us close to 2 hours to reach. The route was anything but tarmac. Stones, mud and whatever you could think of, but the Scorpios and the Thar remained unruffled, making short work of whatever was thrown at them. The significance of Chitkul is that it is the last inhabited village near the Indo-Tibet border and you cannot go beyond this point without a permit. We reached the Chitkul village only to know that the regular road leading to the river side was undergoing some work, so we decided to take an alternate route that brought 4wd low into play. Once we reached the river-side, Hari, Sunny and Manish wasted no time in taking their machines right into the centre of the river bed and parking them on the rocks. It was relaxation time and while everybody enjoyed themselves, the nice guys from Banjara Camps set up a fantastic picnic lunch by the river side. After a sumptuous lunch comprising of Rajma chawal, kadhi, hot rotis and topping that up with local fresh apple juice, it was time to click a few group photos and return to base before sunset. The evening was filled with music, drinks, chatter along with some antakshari, the gang singing away into the night. We were to depart for Nako the next day and seeing the expected temperatures on the phone was already giving me the chills.
Day 5 – Sangla – Nako
Day 5 of the expedition dawned upon us today we were heading to the village of Nako, a distance of 133 kms from Sangla. Our convoy set off at 8 am sharp, which had become the norm now. The best part of the group was that everyone was punctual and that made the drive even more pleasant. We again drove along the Satluj river the non existent roads that we were now used to, heading towards Pooh. On the way we had a lunch break at Kalpa. The restaurant offered a beautiful view of the Kinnaur Kailash peak. We proceeded towards Nako post lunch and came across some interesting and witty sign boards by the Border Roads Organization. One of my favourites was ‘Don’t be Gama in the land of the Lama’ which prompted interesting discussions on the radio with Hari. And of course how can we forget the ‘You are travelling on the world’s most treacherous road’ sign. We all got down to get a touristy picture taken with the sign board. As we climbed higher the roads got better and soon we were on smooth tarmac and we finally reached our night halt at Kinner Camps. While most of the group were allotted tents, I along with the Lead and Float managed to get rooms overlooking the beautiful Nako lake. We were now at an altitude of 12,014 ft and its mind boggling how breathless a few steps taken on foot makes you at this height. The chilly evening had us gather around a bonfire and Shantaji, the owner of Kinner Camps had some wonderful stories to tell us about Nako village and it was wonderful to hear him. We later proceeded to the dining room where not only a fabulous dinner was waiting for us, but we also got introduced to Sangha, Shantaji’s Tibetan Mastiff dog. A gentle giant and a total fur ball, it didn’t take long for everyone to fall in love with him. Post dinner, everyone retired to their respective tents and rooms for a good night’s sleep.
