Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Day 2, 13th June 2009: Sarahan – Sangla – Kalpa

"The map is not the territory"

Only after getting up and going out of my room did I realize how beautiful this place was. It was already dark when we came. It was sunny and we were on the top of a hill, with the beautiful Bhimakali temple at the centre of this setting. Went to the temple and could not help but be surprised at the great architecture of the place. Had breakfast in the canteen and started for Sangla.
The road was in good shape and had these huge rock cut outcrops that scare you sometime.

Road to Kinnaur

And unlike the Kullu valley, which is flat, this valley of the river Sutlej is very deep and we came across nauseatingly deep gorges on our way. About 10 kms of the road is in bad shape because of the Baspa 2 project, from Wangtu till Karchham. Went to Powari first to fill up and then came back and started for Sangla. The view was mesmerizing.

Sangla Valley

We made up our mind that we would stay the night at Sangla rather than going to Kalpa, so beautiful was the place. After booking a room at the HPKV’s MAREC (Mountain Agriculture Research and Extension Center) at Sangla we continued to Chitkul, the last Village of India here, before the china border.

MAREC

The views were some of the best of this trip with running streams of water, lush green alpine surroundings and snow covered mountains.

Chitkul village

Spent about and hour and half at chitkul, went to the local deity’s temple and roamed around a bit. Saw the famous ‘Hindustan ka Akhri Dhaba’ which was sadly closed and came back.


The small downpour made weather much more beautiful, retired for the night at the newly built guest house. We were the only ones staying.

Our Rest house at MAREC

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