Spiti’s raw beauty would steal one’s soul

W hen I decided to travel to Spiti, I couldn’t hide my excitement as it would be my first Himalayan experience. There are a lot of beautiful villages in Spiti Valley. In the one week I got to spend there, I visited the happening hippie town Kaza, Key Monastery (the oldest training place for Lamas), Kibber village and Chicham Bridge, considered to be Asia’s Highest suspension bridge. Tabo Monastery, which is called the Ajantha and Ellora Caves of Himalayas, has been an important site for Buddhist pilgrimage since the 10th century.

Unlike Leh-Ladakh, Spiti is still not known to many people and therefore, there is so much raw beauty and so many places untouched.

My time in Langcha is something that I can never forget. I met Tanzing and Nawang — two kids with whom we stayed in a house. We went out shopping (a small shop to buy chips and they called it shopping). They were my guide to the Buddha statue; we ate together and tried to learn taking photos of the Milky Way.Tanzing, by the end of the day, slept on my lap to ensure I don’t leave her; it was a beautiful heartbreaking moment. The bond that happened in that short time was so strong that I can’t wait to go back and play with them, dance, sing and run around the vast fields that are beautifully enclosed by mountains on all sides.

Home to 300-odd people, Demul Village is a must-visit — the village is completely solar powered and only has dry toilets. This role model village ensures that every resource available at their disposal including human waste is properly reused for sustainable living.  The locals stole my heart. They are always smiling, trying to talk in English and are so polite all the time. They love to meet new people and try to have conversations to the extent that you are invited anytime to their houses for a hot cup of butter chai. Snow or shine, they are ready to embrace Mother Nature and respect her in every way possible.

Apart from the butter chai and the sea buckthorn chai, I also tried their Tibetan pizza, a Himalayan twist to our regular pizzas, which was different yet tasty.  Spiti teaches you to respect nature and life in every manner.

The uncertainties of weather, the soft-spoken locals and their warm smile, the limited resources that the locals live with, the traditional monasteries, the lifestyle that still exists unaffected with all the advancements around them, is a life that you would dream to live.

While the entire trip was filled with small hikes, treks, etc., one unforgettable incident was etched in my memory. The road back to Manali was damaged on the last day due to heavy rainfall the previous night. There was no way that anyone could return in the same vehicle that we travelled in as the construction to connect the roads was sure to take a whole day. We all had to pack our bags and cross the slippery road; which was essentially walking and crossing huge stones with heavy flowing water on us. We held hands with fellow travellers and jumped from one boulder to another, throwing our heavy bags to multiple people. It was quite scary and at the same time, an adventurous experience for me.