A Visit To Lahaul And Spiti View Entire This is amongst the longest and my most memorable trips in the Himalayas. Ever since I did the Kailash Mansrovar Yatra 1998, my tent mate Jayant Doshi and me were planning this trip. It eventually happened in July 2001. Spread over about 23 days our travel schedule was –
• Mumbai to Jammu/Katra by train.
• Jammu to Dalhousie by train/taxi. Saw Dalhousie,
Chamba Valley and Khajjar.
• Dalhousie to Mcleodganj by taxi. Saw Kangra Valley and around as well.
• Mcleodganj to Manali/Rohtang Pass.
• Next stop was Keylong in Lahaul Valley.
• From there to Kaza in Spiti Valley.
• To Kalpa and Sangla.
• Took a twenty three hour bus drive from Kalpa to Hardwar.
• Rishikesh to Govindghat the base camp for Valley of Flowers.
• From there to Badrinath.
• Last stop was Kedarnath returned to Rishikesh.
• Took Shatabdi Express from Hardwar to Delhi and train to Mumbai.
Between Jayant and me we spent about Rs 18,000/ per head. Jayant was from London and could not believe that we spent so less. It is not that we compromised in any way. We travelled by taxi and bus and stayed at budget hotels that were amazingly clean as well. We took a bus from Rohtang around 2ish and reached Keylong, the main town of Lahaul Valley, about 4.30ish. The bus was packed. We had to stand for a while before we sat down and admired the scenery enroute. The bus drops you at a point from where you have to walk down to the Keylong market. We found a clean and good hotel, Rs 150/ for a double room. What I like about Himachal Pradesh is availability of clean and decent hotel rooms at very reasonable prices. After relaxing for a while we decided to explore the town. We first covered the main market and then walked down to the Chandrabaga river. Here we met two local girls who, to our surprise spoke very good English. We walked into the Buddhist Philosophic Sanskrit School and found students studying diligently. In the main market there is a statue of freedom fighter Ras Behari Bose who took shelter in Keylong while fleeing from the British.
The next morning we trekked a few kms uphill to the famous Shashur Monastery. We got a wonderful view of the valley during the trek. It took nearly the whole morning. In the monastery we saw a number of Buddhist monks studying there. It was founded in the 17th century a.d. It belongs to red hat sect and is located among the blue pines. The paintings are representing the history of 84 Buddha's. We were back by lunch. After that we went to sleep. In the evening went for a walk to the market. We met a number of Lahauli women who were listening to a talk by a lady doctor as part of a medical camp. We were very impressed with their levels of education, ability to understand and communicate. There is not much to do in Keylong. There are some exciting treks that one can undertake from Keylong but these take three to seven days. We did not have the time. The next morning we got up at 4.30am because there is a 5.30am bus that would take us to Spiti Valley. There is no direct bus. We were dropped to a particular point where we spent about an hour at a tea stall before the Manali Spiti Valley bus came. It was chilly, we loved the weather. While we were waiting for the bus to come at Keylong I saw four Ladaki women belonging to four different generations. It was a treat to watch them.
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Trilokinath means the Shiva. A temple is situated in the village which is about 4 km short of Udaipur on the left bank of Chenab river. Devotees from far off places come to pay their respects at this unique temple. This Shiva temple was given a look of Buddhist shrine by Guru Padmasambhava by installing the 6 armed image of Avalokiteshvar. It is now sacred both to Hindus and Buddhists alike and attracts many pilgrims from both these communities. In August, a big festival named Pauri is held for three days when people including the sadhus and followers of various religious sects gather to receive the blessings of Lord Trilokinath. There is a Guru Ghantal Monastery that you can see. This is on the right bank of Chandra river about 4 km. above Tandi and is believed to be the oldest Gompa of Lahaul having wooden structure with pyramidal roofs, wood carving and preserving the idols of Padmasambhava & Brajeshwari Devi. On the full moon night in mid-June a festival called "GHANTAL" is celebrated by Lamas & Thakurs together. In hindsight we could have given Keylong a skip and spent the same time in Spiti Valley.
Acknowledgement: www.esamskriti.com
