Tezpur (and its district Sonitpur) is a place known for its association to the myth of Banasura. In its modern avatar, Tezpur is what I would call a functional administrative town. Located on the northern banks of Brahmaputra, it is a nice, intimate town that has preserved some of the ancient sites while allowing a … [Read more…]
Planning a trip amidst COVID-19 COVID-19 and its aftermath posed one of the biggest problems in planning a trip this year. Like many of my colleagues and fellow servicemen, I had accumulated a lot of leaves that I had to consume within this calendar year lest they get lapsed. Earlier I had contemplated a couple … [Read more…]
My roommates in the dorm at Komic were Sunil from Ahmedabad and Pamposh from Punjab. The former was on a spiritual journey—literally and metaphorically. He was on his first backpacking trip. The latter was a seasoned mountaineer. They were headed back to Kaza on a rented Enfield. I hiked back to Hikkim and took the … [Read more…]
I bid goodbye to the Bengali group and headed down the fields to Chicham bypass road to catch the 8:30 am bus to Kaza. The road through Kibber was being re-laid and there was no way that a bus could go through. I needed to get back to Kaza. I needed cash. I barely had … [Read more…]
Jonas—after his ten-day stint at Tabo—finally decided to leave for Kaza. I was also headed that way. Yesterdy, we took the 9:30 am bus to Kaza. He had kept his big bag at Lhasa homestay in Kaza. Although his bag was intact, his speaker was missing. He suspected a worker who had already left for … [Read more…]
Today I went to Dhankar. The bus to Kaza arrived slightly later than 9:30 am. I packed a break-omlette from Norbu. Sai had packed his bags for good. The bus took an hour to drop us off at Dhankar Gate. It’s actually right after a village called Shichiling. Dhankar is about nine kilometres uphill by … [Read more…]
Giu monastery is known for the remains of a lama who has been mummified because of unknown reasons. It is about eight kilometres of the National Haighway, just ahead of Hurling while travelling towards Kinnaur. Sai had gone to visit the old monastery, the caves and hike the ridges with a group of guys from … [Read more…]
Yesterday I slept with a massive headache. It was due to exhaustion and the relentless journey. Barring one of the days where I had explored Kalpa and Rohgi on foot, I have travelled long distances on the bus. I slept for over ten hours. Only a cup of tea from the monastery’s restaurant was able … [Read more…]
I woke up at 4:30 am so that I could pack all my stuff and leave at 5:00 am. In hills, hotel caretakers usually do not get up that early. I remembered my missed bus to Harsil during an earlier trip and ensured that I had enough time to awaken the caretaker if the need … [Read more…]
The bus to Chitkul departs from Peo at 9:30 am. I was at the bus stand chatting up with Shravan when I met a fellow backpacker—Kunal Bindra. He was headed towards Chitkul. Unlike me, he was travelling through the Spiti–Kinnaur circuit in the other direction and was nearing the end of the trip. Kunal works … [Read more…]
