Himachal Pradesh 5 - Tabo, Kaza, Kee Monastery and Pin Valley

And I left Nako for going my way to TABO.. Kinnaur Region is spread till Samdho - the place where India and China border will come and after that SPITI Region starts.. 

As I came out of Nako, another monastery came in.. 

Beautiful day and awesome valley viewsss.. :)

Can you see my gloves get torn ,,, ???

And screwed up roads...

This warning sign means - after crossing the above water filled stretch, please check your brakes... :-/

Buddha temple are very common to see... actually entire SPITI region is having majority of Buddhists..

The valleys I was then to climb were pretty much steeper and also like bed of rocks..

Can you see the tracks in this picture... may be not so easy..

A patch of green in middle of Sand mountains gives solace .. its a village there.. :)

The color of mountains vary and also their shapes..

Satluj is still with me..

This is called by locals as CHOKTHAN and some say as GOMPA.. well it is an interesting thing... it is Buddhist symbol for peace and luck as I learned.. It contains everything that we humans need in our daily life and then covered like Food, Clothes, Ornaments, crops and others.. It is established by some reknown Lama and I have seen it in almost every village I crossed in my route..

This rope is actually a kind of lift that you use to cross the river.. yes I am not kidding.. :)

There is a metallic chair on the other end in which a person sits and from the other end, another persons pulls the rope and this way this Chair keep on coming to other side.. you can also pull the rope by your own sitting in the chair but locals told me that it may stuck in between and then you are just hanging in the middle of the river.. I dared not to do it.. :)

And I visited a popular village here called CHANGO..

Chango monastery gate..

Tabo is not just 41 kms.. well in mountains nothing is near .. it all depends on zig zag route, kind of road and no-land-sliding case.. :)

Now I was travelling at the base of mountain.. pretty close to river ..

and its soothing to see greenary in these mountains of soil and dust..

I couldnt figure out what this sign board is saying.. it was bullshit.. I coincidently found a man and he guided me the way to SAMDHO..

Nothing more to say about the way..

And finally I have crossed Kinnaur and I was in SPITI.. :)

And I reached Samdho finally.. Nothing else but Indian Army base all around..

Atleast Signboards were good now.. forget the road quality..

 And I have viewed another snow mountain.. I dont why but that looks soooo beautiful anytime.. :)

Ok, the bridge got devastated and I had no other way then crossing the waterfall..

And yes SPITI also has a good wild life.. atleast I have witnessed many deers and lucky not to witness any Snow leopards till today.. :)

Now the mountains got more flat than straight like kinnaur..

and Satluj was flowing far far away from me..

Homes in SPITI are having different architecture.. they have walls painted in WHITE ,, then roofs are covered with special grasses and the windows are decorated beautiful in blue or brown or red colors...

And I can see TABO now..

A GOMPA at its entrance.

It gave me entire detail about distances of my upcoming destinations..

And a beautifully decorated entrance gate.. I was excited to explore this small village and the popular 1000 years old monastery.. :)

GERMAN BAKERY???? HERE IN NOWHERE???? well - Juan has rightly said - Germans can be everywhere.. :) that reminds of teasing my best friend in Europe Diane - and she is a proud German.. :)

And finally I was at the gates of the monastery..

And the beautifully decorated GOMPA.,.

And I stepped in..

There were many GOMPAs inside and also the old building were covered by chemicals in concerned society to preserve this antique stuff..

The fancy home on the back is the hostel for MONKs..

And this is all surrounded by beautiful hills, Satluj river and small green farms..

This is an interesting entrance.. the Dog wont let anybody in this gate since it has given birth to puppies and she is guarding them.. I was interested to get bitten hence I was playing safe... :)

There was Buddhist verse mentioned on the high hill..

And after exploring the monastery, I decided to eat some local SPITIAN delicacies.. :)

Firstly I was served with VEG. THANTHUK.. super-yummy

And it was a good ambience within.. chinese lamps, photo of Dalai Lama and other local stuffs... :)

Then I had Veg. Shunalik served with Curd and a bit of sugar I requested... another yummy dish.. :)

Can you see the No Smoking sign.. well if you can read below it then let me know in what language is that in?? Some european :)

I met Bittu here.. a gentleman and also running a HOME STAY here... rooms were awesome and I was confused to pick the one.. finally I chose the one with sleeping on the floor to straighten my back... :)

This was the sitting arrangement for groups like friends, family and all.. was pretty nice :)

And here is Bittu showing me his SPITIAN style home.. :)

And there were caves in the mountains having ancient art decorations inside..

And there was HELIPAD aswell.. but bad to see the broken beer bottles...

And a panoramic view.. well not so good...

And the evening falls in.. and I was all set to walk back the town..

Till now I didnt realised that they have no electricity but then yes with more of darkness I also knew that the pole of electricity is fallen somewhere and there was no electricity in village or say entire this region from past 3 days and also the mobile network comes for couple of minutes in a day.. but I was lucky to have this internet shop which was running on generator and was good for me to update my blogs.. :)

It was true village experience... I was slowing swinging into the moods of it.. :)

And I thought of eating more.. hence Spanish Veg Cheese Momos.. :)

And Tomato Cheese Pasta in dinner.. :)

Then I waited till noon for the oldest head LAMA of Monastery who fell sick of cancer and was about to reach that day.. but it was then heard that he would reach by evening and I had to leave to Dhankhar ... hence I said goodbye to people I got to know and left for my way.. :)

Tabo is now close to my heart,, :) I updated my another blog and had Chocolate Momos ... had it first time.. :) it was like chocolate burst.. having 1 was like dessert but I had ten :)

This instrument at Bittu's place is used for room heating.. not just 1 room but all the rooms.. actually they have connected the pipe from this machine to all rooms..

Bittu's wife (in center) with her friends in traditional SPITI dress.. Pretty Women.. :)

I started my journey to Dhankhar..

In India we always have room to adjust.. If not in Bus then why not on the Bus.. :)

On the left is a bus-stand,, the buses are never on time here.. since the roads are so tedious and uncertainty always prevail..

Now Satluj was flowing few feets below me.. and it was getting much much broader..

Usual scene of villages here .. waterfalls (small one) drains over the road..

And finally I got a straight road ,, atleast 500 meters which I was waiting for long time.. :)

Kaza was not so far and Dhankhar was just 12km far..

Have you ever seen anything like this before?? A kind of lump of soils all around..

I was enjoying my ride and trying to escape from the shooting stones... which was often an experience..

And my bike's tyre got punctured AGAIN.. well I wasnt so far from the puncture station and seeing me, my bike entire village gathered and it was nice chit chat.. :)

What a cutie pie I am holding :)

Yes in my country we have villages which has population of just 30 people.. :)

And I proceeded further..

 Nice bridge of rope and wood just for pedestrians..

And mesmerising views allover.. :)

Dawn popped out and it changed the colors of everything around me..

Dhankhar was on hill and I took the deviation and as I rised bit up .. I saw the magic of clouds... :)

And this is Dhankhar.. Have never seen any village located like this before.. :)

New Monastery..

Woooffff!! I was just staring at beautifully established village.. :)

And a snow mountain range.. :)

And on my way I gave lift to LOPJUNG till his home.. and he gave me space to stay ... it is a must to stay in a local's space then only the feel of being a localite pops out.. and I felt it and have that feeling locked in my heart :)

His son - Tenzin Raabke..

And daughter.. Tenzin Norzom... cutie :)

I was offered 99% pure local alcohol called ARAKH.. Tenzin put its drops on his finger and lightened it to prove it.. :-/ .. Not easy to say NO :P .. Well I added some water and it was WOWWWW!!! BURNING but a gooood relax feeling later... Yes I am a mess.. :)

In morning herd of goats out on the terrace and I was just playing with them like a small kid.. I am a KID.. Yes! :)

Lopjung's father was cooking breakfast for the family.. Spitian style ROTI (THICK kind)

And I was served with Tea and Yogurt :)

And our man did his job and was still smiling after making sooooo many... :)

I came back to play with goats again .. :)

Norzom was complaining me and saying - DONT GO! PLEASE! Aww - she is a sweetheart! :)

Lopjung cut the bottle and made a funnel to pour in petrol in my thirsty motorbike.. :)

And then I chose to go to PIN Valley but didnt go far and returned back ... dont know why.. but got some notion of going to KEE monastery first.. :)

Glacier!

Deer!

And now I am about to reach KAZA..

Had awesome Bhutanese dish called - AEMADHECHE ;)

And next time I gonna eat Kewadheche :)

I moved towards KEE MONASTERY after getting stuffed... Wooofff!! It was like Scenery on the way... I wont say much about it.. Its worth its own description.. :)

And I almost reached my destination.. Entire monastery is on a hill :)

Finally at the door steps..

Kids were playing volley-ball without nets and seeing them made me realised that they were so organized that they dont need the one.. :)

Monks welcomed me and offered Herbal tea.. which was justtttttt ummmm... :)

 And gave me tour of their monastery..

And I returned back.. caught the glimpse of the monastery at KAZA>. beautiful..

I then got my fuel tank filled.. and also my fuel box... there was no petrol pump in the distance of 220 km from Reckong Peo to Kaza.. I wished to go to Kunjum Pass and Rohtang Pass but couldnt make it since the route is closed for cleaning and it will open by 20th June 2013.. Doesnt make sense to wait till then.. better I can catch the other side in 3 days.. Hence 1 plan is dumped and another get created..  I thought of exploring the PIN valley now..

But couldnt make it further since the river changed its route and the government responsibles were trying to fix it.. hence no 2 wheelers and 4 wheelers were hardly managed to cross it.. :)

My bike was getting more inside the stones and river soil and then I asked for help .. and then managed to take the turn..

Also, they were fixing the electricity poles.. from past 4 days there was no electricity in the entire region.. and they managed to do it.. This guy has climbed the pole with stairs just reaching half of it and rest his own skills.. Man - thats cruel and dangerous!

So, the plan now is - catch the manali by different route .. which is back to Reckong Peo, Rampur and then to Kullu and finally Manali.. but since it was getting late I thought of going back to Tabo and stay at Bittu's home..

With lots of tiredness I reached their home, it was warm welcome by the family.. heavy dinner with them and rushed to bed for sleep.. the electricity was still not there in the village and I was enjoying the candle light illuminating my room.. :)

Next will be journey back to Reckong Peo, Rampur and new route to Kullu, Manikaran, Malana and finally Manali :) :)

Keeeeeeeep readinggg!! :)