Himachal Pradesh 4 - Reckong Peo, Kalpa & Nako

I started for Reckong Peo and the roads were really not so cool and I saw this sign board saying"BRO INCONVINIENCE REGRETTED" ,,What??? Sign boards are also mentioning BRO.. that was pretty cooool.. but I was ignorant ... BRO stands for BORDER ROADS :P :P ,, It is the one which is taking care of building roads connecting India to its borders with other countries.. :)

And then Juan honked me from the back and he has a big big story to tell.. This guy has already covered Punjab, J&K and after Himachal Pradesh he is planning to go to Uttranchal and then NEPAL, east Indian states and via Bangladesh he will take his bike via train to Iran and then he will drive all the way to Portugal via Turkey.... UNBELIEVABLE!!!! But thats what he said..

His Bike is 125cc most common bike of India - Hero Honda "Super Splendor" .... He took this bike to most tedious routes and I was just staring him, his bike and thinking - Anything is possible, if you have the will to make it happen :) My smile of the day award went to him.. after then we drove together to Reckong Peo and Kalpa and after that our routes were different.

The plight of Satluj was getting faster and ferocious as we were going further..

Juan was not at all bothered with pathetic roads but he was cruising his Super Splendor like anything and I was just trying to catch him up.. :)

And we crossed this waterfall.. It was super cool.. Half tyres of my bike were drowned and my socks got wet but I was soooo thrilled.. :)

 Finally we reached at the point where we need to climb up the hill to reach Reckong Peo and Kalpa is 20 more kilometers above it.

And that snow on the mountains are always the inspiration to drive, drive and drive more.. :)

 And a close up of glacier and few turned to waterfalls..

Small villages on the route and resting on the edges..

Finally we managed to drive till Kalpa and decided to take lunch together.. We were sharing our experiences and Juan told me that how Portuguese are different from other europeans and atleast not as particular and sophisticated like germans.. WELLLL I toooo have a german friend and she is not that bad :) :) :)

As per him, Portugal is like India of Europe.. :)

 And there we had roof top lunch and there were people building the extensions of hotel and taking feel of Sun and cold air together. :)

 Then it was time to goodbye and I will remember this man who shares the same passion like me.. an engineer who worked for 4 years and realised that he is missing something and got stuck in a pattern of life and chose to break those strings, spread his winds and driving into the valleys from past 2 months and also chose the rails for few days to explore my country where is said - "No is considered as Bad answer" but there is always an angel who was there to rescue him when he got into absolute mess.. :)

Now, I thought of going to Poo but the locals told me that due to landslide I couldnt be able to make it today hence I chose to spend my night my Reckong Peo and decided to go to Poo and Nako next day..

 Valleys are pride of Himachal and the people here adore it more than anything.. still prefer Nature more over industrialization..

I tried to check the route even though locals stopped me but they were right..

 Land slide was heavy and a truck driver told me that even the road got vanished..

 Woke up early morning... updated my blog, took breakfast and then left for Poo and Nako..

There is this hotel called - Little Chef here.. I highly recommend this.. atleast for their goooood food.. I had chilly paneer and chilly Mushroom here.. ofcorse with my Black Coffee (never add sugar in it - you are killing the taste then :P ) .. it was yummmyyy.. :)

I started my trip with stuffed stomach towards Poo and the roads were really reallly rocky.. i halted 3 times on my way when JCBs and Komatsu Cranes were cleaning the route... but that was also the beauty of this trip.. it couldnt have been exciting and adventurous without these stuffs.. its nature! :) well we actually tempered the nature by making roads so we must expect in return such things.. I accept unless one of the shooting stone doesnt hit me! :)

Pretty narrow roads and on the other side steep valley., a small skit and I would have been drowning in Satluj.. Oops! Although i dont know swimming but even if I would have know - its of no use! :P

Iron bridges connecting hills and scenic waterfall views are worth to stop and taking clicks..

Bumpy roads with waterfalls - a best blend to drive over.. :)

And you can get some shade aswell! :)

Finally I found goooood roads.. but that too ended in couple of kms..

When you drive over this Iron bridge which has wooden slabs on the base.. trust me it sounds so loud.. and ofcorse only 1 vehicle at one time.. it can scare the S*** out of you..

And then came the Security check post.. where foreigners need to show permit to enter into the region ahead.. since after this you are heading towards Indo-china border..  No permits for Indians - well that shouldnt be a surprise :)

Map of Kinnaur region and bit of Spiti aswell.,

Thereafter I entered into region where they grow Almonds.. :)

And on my way I saw workers digging near the river and collecting soil.. a bit dangerous stuff to do..

And an enterance of some village.. almost all villages are having Buddhist believers and hence this kind of gate signifies that aswell as a presence of a monastery..

Another caution of sliding stones.. well this wasnt new for me then..

And a funny sign board - Sorry for OOh Ahh Ouch Inconvinience regretted.. that can make you smile after driving on really bumpy humpy roads.. :) :)

And a hindu temple..

The road was getting much more tougher and so was my excitement.. :)

 And then another landslide.. wooofff!!!

Thanks to JCBs :)

 And a picture time.. :)

The homes were pretty interesting as they had walls of rocks, steel and bit of wood and no clue of cement I could see..

And it was nice to see one side of valley in shade and another in sun :)

Can somebody please fix the roadssss - my enfield has really done a good job and not disappointed me anywhere! mmuuah :)

Rocks on the verge of fall and I shouldnt spend much time standing below any hill..

And warm welcome by Indian Army.. Free Tea, snacks and also medical treatment.. :)

An ass watches 2 asses.. :)

And the view of valley was getting much much better.. now I can see snow on a hill far far away..

Destination wasnt much far and I had enough time before sunset to reach there..

 Army barracks..

And awesome view of Satluj which was accompanying me from so many days.. :)

Interesting army barracks.. :) like Igloo's home..

and i reached a village called Dubling..

The world changed after that.. roads turned better and the mountain scrape was different ...

But Satluj never changed.. she was flowing the way like I have seen it before and soaking the water of all the waterfalls... :)

Nako was 30 km away..

and my roads were now much closer to river.,

It was really scenic.. :)

This thing of stone above the stone i remember that I have seen in Kjerag Bolten in Norway and my memories of past came in flash.. :) 

Now the rocky mountains turned into something else... it was very less of rock and little greenary on them..

I also have taken 10 litres of Petrol with me since it has been told to me that I wont get any petrol pump in this stretch of 250km in my way.. sometimes i act smart - not always :)

I reached an interim milestone KAH ...

Now the mountains with long stretched base started coming... it was wowww to see them..

And wherever there were villages you can make that out by seeing the GREEN patches.. :) It loooksss too beautiful from distant..

I was now riding pretty above the hill and Satluj was like a tiny small river..

 And this thing on my way stopped me.. this kind of flags tied to long rope is the omen of Buddhism and considered good.. in almost all Buddhist homes and hotels its a common view.. pretty colorful.,

Picture time againnnn! :) I am tanned.. I have french beard and I have dust all over me..

It was beginning of evening and I wasnt far from my destination..

And this patch of GREEN is of village LEO.. :)

Close up - homes are visible.. :)

 Another security check.. but nothing major..

And couple of kilometers more to Nako..

Can you see 2 deers?? :) :)

May be this time??? :)

Endelig (finally) I reached Nako.. :)

It is like a different world all around.. Small terrestrial farms welcome you at the entrance of the village and make your heart happy..

It has a monastery aswell..

And above so many meters from the ground - there is this natural lake called - NAKO LAKE

And I chose to have my room next to it.. :)

Spaghetti in Supper with my black coffee.. :)

And Pasta Penne in Dinner.. :) Candle light dinner.. :)

with flash :)

With beautiful morning I said goodbye to the guys at reception and chose to move to Samdho (border of India and China) :) and then to Tabo, Dankhar, Pin Valley and Kaza.. :) :)

Looking forwarddddd!!!

Keeep readinggggg! :)