If you were longing for the road less traveled. I had just the perfect destination for you all- take a ride to the lesser-known Himachal- Lahaul, and Spiti.
Lahaul and Spiti are enclosed in the north-west by Ladakh and on the east by Tibet. I say ‘are’ because Lahaul and Spiti are two different places and quite different from in other.
Lahaul is the greener and very fertile. Lahaul is a high plateau surrounded by mountains and huge glaciers. Spiti valley is a cold desert composed of austere barren mountains and deep gorges formed by the fierce Spiti River. Consequently, Lahaul is much more developed and has a greater number of mountain villages. The lofty mountains of Lahaul and Spiti are beautiful in an awesome way. While both valleys receive little rainfall.
We had a trip to Lahaul and Spiti in April 2019. We were planning this trip since December 2018. And finally, the day came we were waiting for our two friends to come so accordingly we left at 5 in the morning. It was a memorable tour and we had a great experience. We decided to go there on bikes and took our essentials required. The ride was quite fun. We stopped for breakfast and after that, we continued riding. We reached there at 4 in the evening. Since we were tired so after checking-in to the hotel at Lahaul, had dinner and slept. Because there were a lot of places to explore the next morning.
On the second day, we had breakfast early and went to Triloknath temple, the historic Triloknath temple dedicated to Lord Shiva stands framed by spectacular hills and is known to be more than a thousand years old. After that, we took the tandi kishwar road and reached the Madgram Bridge and from there we reached Mrikula temple, constructed in typical Himachali style with timber bonded stone.
From Mrikula temple we rode further to Guru Ghantal monastery. 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 a wooden structure with pyramidal roofs, wood carving, preserving the idols of Padmasambhava & Brajeshwari Devi. On the full moon night in mid-June, a festival called "GHANTAL" is celebrated by Thakurs and Lamas together. From there we went to Spiti valley to spend the night there. The next morning we continued the journey to kunzum pass. It's a high mountain pass situated on the eastern Kunzum Range. The pass connects the Kullu and Lahaul Valley with the Spiti Valley. It can be reached from Kaza. From here, a trek of 9km is also there for the visitors to the Moon Lake of the Chandratal. The valley top offers a picturesque landscape with a stunning view of the Chandra Bhaga ranges that surround it on the north sides with snow-capped peaks. Chandratal Lake is 7 km from Kunzum pass. The next early morning we left for our way back. We enjoyed going there and gathered a lot of memories. A lot of people don't even know about such beautiful places and I would advise that people should visit such places.
Experience shared by: Shriya Kapoor