Enchanting Himachal - Introduction

Enchanting Himachal - Introduction

View of Kinner Kailash range from Kalpa

Himachal Pradesh always holds a special place for me and visiting any of the destinations there invigorates me from within. Like every year, I decided to spend a part of the summer holidays with my family in Himachal Pradesh. However, as it is a known destination, booking of hotels etc. was to be ensured well in time and accordingly I had started planning & booking well in advance and for my June, 2011 sojourn I had already completed my bookings by mid-April. This part of the Himalayan state is also referred to the Dev Bhoomi akin to Uttarakhand and is replete with many temples & monasteries.

This is a detailed map of Himachal Pradesh available in its official Tourism site -

may use the link to download -

http://himachaltourism.gov.in/HimachalIT/image.axd?picture=2008%2f9%2fHimachal_tourism_Map.jpg

Geographically Himachal is nestled in the North West region of the Himalayas and is bounded by the Tibetan Plateau towards its eastern face. The State of Himachal has for display, a topographic diversity & array of features, which contains dense forests & vegetation, Apple & fruit orchards and extend to desolate terrains referred to as ‘Cold desert’. I chose to explore the desolate aspect of the State and had planned to visit the Kinnaur & Spiti region of Himachal Pradesh.

Stark landscape of Spiti

Accordingly, I planned my itinerary starting from 11^th of June, 2011 and culminating on 22^nd of June, 2011. The itinerary that I followed is detailed as follows –

From	To	Distance(Kms.)
Delhi	Shimla	370
Shimla	Naldehra	28
Shimla	Narkanda via Kufri	62
Narkanda	Sangla via Rampur/Karcham	178
Sangla	Chitkul	26
Chitkul	Sangla	26
Sangla	Nako via Powari/Puh	115
Nako	Kaza via Changoh & Sumdoh & Giu	108
Kaza	Kye	11
Kye	Kibber	15
Kibber	Kaza	26
Kaza	Langza & back	52
Kaza	Kalpa	208
Kalpa	Sarhan	110
Sarhan	Chail	178
Chail	Delhi	343

I based my tour on this map - may download the same from -

http://www.masterlyinactivity.com/spiti/zoom.html

The culture & people change as the topography of the place changes and it is unity in diversity in its truest sense. The people of the State, living in some very desolate and harsh environment, living out a real difficult life, especially during the severe winters. I have documented the topography to some extent and shall be narrating my journey on destination/day basis in my ensuing travel blogs. As some of the readers had requested for quality maps for the destination, I have enclosed two maps alongwith their respective links to help them get the maps for their future use.

Passing by Pinjore

We started our journey early in the morning, we were scheduled to start at 6.00 A.M sharp, but the driver hired for the drive arrived late, thinking that normally people fix a time and then start after an hour or so late. Accordingly, we were delayed by about half an hour and started at 6.30 A.M. The road conditions were excellent upto Panipat and thereafter, due to large scale work being undertaken by the NHAI, for construction of elevated highway bridges over the small villages & townships en-route, the diversions caused many a traffic jams at short intervals, thereby causing quite an inconvenience for the commuters.

Passing by Kalka

After, having negotiated these cumbersome & bothersome diversions, we reached Karnal at around 10.45 A.M and stopped for B’fast at the Haveli. But the place was over-crowded and we had to wait for quite some time before we could gain entry there. The hot environs outside, coupled with the brash behavior of the guard posted outside the restaurant, almost made me turn around and head for some other Restaurant. Even the food served inside was at best ordinary and nothing outstanding about it, think with passage of time it will lose its popularity, if it continues to dish out such bland fare & brashness. Having had our B’fast, we continued on our way and after crossing Ambala came upon a stretch of road that was as smooth a silk. However, our joy was short lived as we hit upon another major jam at Pinjore, which is a bottleneck. But a bye-pass is under construction and should ease this problem in the near future. The next bottle-neck is Kalka and there is no solution in sight to this junction. Thereafter, we reached Himachal, entering the state through Parwanoo, where a entry fee of Rs.40/- is to be paid.

With my childhood friend Sh. Sunil Goel in Dharampur

As we gradually gained height, the stuffy heat started dissipating and we stopped by at Dharampur for our lunch. This destination was specifically chosen by me so that I could catch up with my childhood friend Sh. Sunil Goel, with whom I had studied from Nursery onwards, till the time I left Kasauli for Delhi. Having had our lunch and also met my friend, who was in office, despite the day being a second Saturday & a holiday, due to scheduled visit of some senior Government functionary to the Central Research Institute, where he is working. He specifically made it a point to leave early from Kasauli, so as to meet us at Dharampur after receiving my call. After getting past crowded Solan, the district headquarters that goes by the same name, we finally reached outskirts of Shimla in the evening.

Shimla in view

P.S - The photographs used in the ensuing blog are mostly shot by my 13 years old son - Joyendra Roy Biswas

May watch the video of Jouney -