5 Days off the Grid in Spectecular Sangla and Spiti

Dear Folks,
"The End of the Habitable World" is the title of a book about HP, that aptly describes our last 5 days. We are now back in "civilization" in the resort town of Manali in north HP at the top of the Kullu Valley and are finding it pleasant, but after hardly seeing any people, aside from monks, or any other vehicles, (gratefully as the "roads" could hardly accommodate one car let alone two at the same time in the same place) it's strange to be among so many people. We are staying in a pleasant hotel with beautiful gardens, the hills surrounding us are lush with clouds hanging over the peaks, we seem to be older than most people here by at least 20 years! Lots of young "hippies" from all parts of the world and pot growing freely all over, including behind our hotel room. We will be here for a few days exploring and will head down the Kullu valley staying in a few nice sounding towns and then will head north west to Dharmsala, to meet with the Dalai Lama, if he is in town!

Back to the adventures of the last week at the edge of the habitable world. First, a long day trip down the spectacular Sangla Valley, going south from our main "National Highway" 22 route through Spiti. While the Lonely Planet is often overly enthusiastic or downright wrong about things, this time they got it right on when they described it as "the most spectacularly beautiful valley in HP" While many of the river roads drop right down to the river, in this valley there was a generous broad lush river bed full of charming small towns with traditional stone and wood architecture. Highlights were the small towns of Kamru with its haunting wooden tower temple and winding streets, and another town that was the last inhabited town close to the Tibetan border. It was the most surreal place I've ever been with its twisted roads and wooden houses along a small creek with a tower temple and another painted bright colors and covered with indigenous imagery, deities and snakes.

On our journey along the Sutlej River valley John noticed many signs about new hydro power plants and there was much evidence of construction and destruction, the roads were ghastly. He couldn't understand while they were in such bad condition as it was the heavily travelled national highway. Upon further thought and questioning our driver, Surendrer, he finally understood that in less than 5 year the majority of the road we travelled on would be under hundreds of feet of water, thus why continue to improve it. He was very saddened that this mighty river with class 6 rapids (at least) would soon become a vast lake, progress sucks, but the people here need the power. We both felt saddened and privileged, probably some of the last Americans to witness it's awesome greatness.

The next day we started our adventure through the Spiti valley, the lush green landscape changed into something looking more like a moonscape, or Martian landscape, barren, grand, but beautiful still in its own stark way. The architecture changed from wood to traditional Tibetan buildings of stark stone painted white as the religion changed from Hindu to Buddhist. We visited some fantastically located monasteries set dramatically high up on rocky hills, taking hair raising roads clinging barely to the mountain. Fortunately for us, we were able to hire a fantastic, genteel, polite, moderate and cute (this last fact probably escaped John's notice) who made the trip so much more pleasant and SAFE for us. He even changed his music from Hindu to Buddhist and we placed the Buddha statue John bought on his dashboard. We did tire of the same 4 tapes he tended to play over and over, so bought a lot more Hindi pop for him.

Tabo, Key and Nako monasteries had amazing wall paintings, Naco was not a heritage location so nobody was there and we could photograph at will, but in the other locations you first had tea with a monk, were maybe lucky to arrive when they were chanting, and then were taken to the various rooms to see wall paintings hundreds of years old. We stayed in the charming small town of Nako on a small lake John had visions of swimming in, turns out it was a drainage pond, but still pretty. We are staying at altitudes of approximately 12 thousand feet where the air is very very thin, John has developed a slight case of altitude sickness and finds it hard to sleep at night, fortunately he has had some time to acclimate, so the problem is not severe. He walks a bit slower than usual and takes deep breaths of precious oxygen. John's walking stick which previously fended off monkeys now has become an appendage that allows him to barely keep up with me, though I've gotten surprisingly winded myself at times.

Our last stop on the route was a town called Lossar, which really defined the meaning of "one horse town" or the "back of nowhere" and stayed in a very rough hewn room with an outhouse. It was run by and ancient charming man who spoke perfect English. The "shower" consisted of a spigot that did not work, a small hole in the ground and a huge pot of water outside with a small vase to gather it with. Had we stayed more the one night and had to use these facilities in earnest, it would have been interesting, plus it was pretty cold there. It was a possibility as we found that the road over the pass to Manali was closed, but opened early the next morning. It was one of the highest "inhabitable" villages in the world, we could not imagine what it would be like in winter! It was on route to the highest pass in India, Kazum.

The last portion of this trip was over two extremely high passes and then down the Kullu valley to Manali. The first pass, the highest in India, and nearly in the world, was snow covered with a Buddhist temple at the stop that we paid our respects at, it was awesome and foreboding. We must mention again the "roads" that we travelled over if indicated in a map in the US, would be classes as for 4x4 only, but these were still classed as a highway in India. We were lucky indeed to have a great driver and a sturdy Tata Sumo and to hardly see any other vehicles. There were mostly blind curves and the most severe switch-backs that one can imagine but this has been typical of our travels so far. Even though we have gotten used to these conditions the constant bouncing, bumping and twisting, takes a physical and psychological toll on our beings. Driving even 20 klm can seem like a hundred miles and takes as long. What contained to save our sanity and soul was the breathtaking scenery and in John's case, breathtaking is appropriate. We got out of the car often to photograph the scenery. I often screamed at John, "we are not stopping here, or you are not going there, or not so close to the edge" but John assured me that because the traffic was so sparse that there was very little chance of being hit by another vehicle, and he promised not to fall over the edge. In time I grew used to it, but since it was his artistry that chose the stunning locations, even the surprise rainbow to stop at, rather than merely mimic his photos, I started making fun photos of John taking photos! For all of you who regret that I have not yet found out how to post photos on this blog, we plan to do a dual slide talk in the art dept in early September when John will be in Storrs. Also, John will be working at my house to learn and put together a powerpoint presentation of his own to share with friends and family east and west.

We both felt that after we got over the Rhotang pass, the 2nd highest, we would enjoy the return to beautiful pine covered mountains and a relaxing drive to Manali. HOWEVER, this was NOT to happen as planned! The Rhotang was covered in thick fog, making visibility impossible with a light rain at first. To our amusement at the top of the hill was a massive "winter park" where seemingly thousands of Indians desperate to experience "snow" could rent or buy fake fur coats, boots and ride down the hills in contraptions that looked like a cross between an Adirondack chair and a sled. It was cloudy, foggy, rainy and the snow was nearly black with filth but everyone seemed to be having a grand time. Traffic was not to be believed and complicated by the fact that it was a one lane road in many places, the roads according to John were like the bed of a river or worse and to slow the traffic even further, an oil tanker truck had almost flipped over and blocked most of the road. We sat with the engine off for over two hours and then crawled inch by inch down the mountain. There was no evidence of "traffic control" but we are finally finally here and look forward to the rest of the trip! John is now talking to someone about learning how to put our photos on so check back soon and our breathing is much better and we are getting a chance to relax.

Love,
Kathryn and John