Categories: misc

300 and not out

Post number 300 is a meta. Delighted of course, I am. I would not want to bore you with too many narcissist information and stats, so keeping this short. Thank you for having been dropping by and saying good things all the time 🙂

Update: As if to coincide with the occasion, India Travel Blog can now be accessed via All Top Site India.


Kinnaur

Travelling in Himachal in June – 2007
Shimla >> Manali >> Rohtang >> Chandratal >> Ki/Kibber/Tabo >> Kalpa >> Shimla
+ Previous: The hurried women of Nako
+ Next: Kalpa Village
+ Go to beginning of the story or index page

The journey beyond Nako was hardly exciting. It was a descending road all the way and landscape changed considerably after driving for a few hours. Mountains got smaller and a few trees started appearing here and there. Sun became bearable as we progressed. Once we left Spiti behind and drove into Kinnaur region, mountains became greener and apple orchards could be seen on the slopes. Prosperous villages with large houses that flourished by farms of exotic fruits and vegetables could be seen on the top of the hills. Sutlej grew wider as we descended but never lost steam. A few things worthy of mention.

* Roaring Spiti meets an equally wild Sutlej coming down from river. Together, they become a force that deserve fear and respect. Our road followed Sutlej for many many hours from here on and she doesn’t loose her energy one bit all through the journey.
Confluence of Spiti and Sutlej

* It is too fearsome and fast for boats. At places far from bridges, people crossed the river in manually operated cable cars. What do they call them?

Sutlej River

* Mountain walls were no longer loose sediments but were solid and rocky. Fear of landslides here would be lot less than Spiti but not completely alleviated.

* The road cut from near vertical rock cliffs at places. A narrow groove in the rock, a couple of hundred meters above the river forms the road just wide enough for two small vehicles to pass.

Spiti Valley

* Sun mellowed down as we descended and reached tree line. It was pleasant weather in Rekong Peo and Kalpa village. But we no longer had clear deep blue skies that were characteristic of Spiti. It was cloudy or hazy most of the time.

* The road to Sangla and Chitkul were blocked by a landslide. Another disappointment after missing out Dhankar Monastery. Just the way people told me that Dhankar is one of the most beautiful places in Spiti, I had to hear ravings on Sangla and Chitkul that were supposed to be prettiest region in Kinnaur. Murphy’s law was working.

* There is a large hydro-electric project under construction beyond Rekong Peo. They have drilled large tunnels all over the mountains, probably to pass water. In one such place where a dam was already commissioned, water gushed out from a tunnel in full force into Sutlej.

Sutlej at Kinnaur

* Unlike deserted and forbidding Spiti, Kinnaur’s weather is much pleasant and favourable to horticulture. In effect, population density is also much higher. You never have to worry about getting lost anywhere.

* Landscape becomes prettier again and the slopes are filled with dense deodar forests once the road leaves Sutlej valley and climbs up towards Shimla.

Continued at Kalpa Village


Categories: misc

Earth Day Post

Much as I love to travel, a part of me is always feeling guilty about the footprints left by us travellers. Let’s admit it, travel is hardly anything environment friendly. The least we can do is to try to minimize our footprints, or if possible, go Carbon Neutral.

It would be nice to scribble some tips and then forget it, but it is much better to say what I am trying to do myself. Here are a few things I have been consciously trying to do, things that have happened by themselves and things that I hope to do someday.

* Not to drive. I have cut down on driving trips drastically. Three years back, nearly every trip I made was in my car. Now the passion of driving has weathered down; and I am also consciously cutting down on my driving. Even within the town, I don’t take the car out unless I have absolutely no choice. I even use a bicycle now for short rides around home, which were done with a car earlier. And if I remember correctly, I haven’t made a driving trip since last August.

* Not to Fly. Flying is one of the least fuel efficient ways to travel. From the usual habit of flying everywhere(when I travel to North), I have started taking trains. It it not entirely successful, the basic reason being that train journeys require lot of planning in advance. And my return journeys are usually open, which makes things more difficult. When I travelled to Rajasthan this February, I managed to take the train to Delhi. But when I was ready to return, I could not find seats in any trains, forcing me to fly back. But abstaining from flying is not entirely by choice. Since I have not been working 9 to 5 these days, I try to keep spending to minimum.

* Simple things – like behaving properly in environmentally sensitive regions is something I have been doing for a very long time now. Things like dispose garbage properly, take care of your consumption, avoid being noisy in the jungles or burning wood, etc. I once stopped consumption of tea(once part of my daily diet) and switched over to coffee(which is also destructive, but to a lesser degree), when I was disturbed by seeing sprawling tea estates in erstwhile thick jungles of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

* Some thing that I strongly hope to do in the next few years is to go Carbon Neutral. The strategy is simple – buy land and start growing trees there and do little else. A few people have been doing this already, and this is a project I am very keen to do once I have some extra money in hand. And then, as and when there is surplus money, expand the periphery of the forest. I am not sure when I can begin on it, but hopefully in less than 3-4 years from now. Ah, I can just imaging my private forest and going there birding every morning, makes me smile.. 🙂

* Another thing I hope to do, but don’t know when and how I can start – to volunteer in our National Parks and surrounding villages in projects aiding conservation. I nearly teamed up with folks at Eaglenest last year but had to drop out due to some constraints.