Day 9 (Sep 21): A lesson learned for life...
8am, I was ready, all the luggage was packed and loaded on the bike. Today's destination was Losar, but would first visit Komik and yes, Key again. I knew that I had to get fuel first as the jerry can was empty and the tank had very little fuel left in it. But the fuel station opens @9am. And this being the only fuel station in the entire Spiti valley I had no option but to wait. That one hour seemed like a millennium, it really was that long, may be a couple of years short. After a while, checked the time and it was 8:30, So I parked my bike near the fuel station and went a for a short walk. Came back @ 8:50 and found a long queue of cars, mini buses, bikes and what not, all waiting for the Fuel station guy. I was in complete disbelief, which looked like an abandoned fuel station just 20 mins back is now crowded with all kinds of vehicles. And finally, he came @ 9:15, the fuel station guy and we all felt a sigh of relief. As if the addicts getting their fix of heroin after having craved for it for days. Now how would you feel, when you're the first one to arrive at the fuel station and the last one to get the fuel, PISSED!!! Right? I was angry with myself and regretted going for that walk, should've stayed here. Finally, @ 9:40 got the tank and the jerry can filled and headed for Komik. It took about 90 mins to reach Komik even though the distance is just 25 kms or so. The route from kaza to Komik is so divine that it can turn atheists into true believers. On every curve, you experience a beautiful landscape. I had never been so close to the clouds, it almost felt like if I try a little wheelie here, I'd probably end up riding on them. You could see wild yaks grazing in the fields, the shape of some mountains resembling some giant humans who were mummified thousands of years ago. You're forced to take numerous stops en-route and every time you stop, you look 360 degrees around you, you look upside down and just admire the beauty you're surrounded by. You store those beautiful moments in your brain's hard-disk and whenever you're feeling down, just play them in you mind's home theater and you're pumped back to life.
It was 11:20am when I reached Komik, I was greeted with a warm tea and smiles by two lamaji. Some foreigners were also there. A team of doctors from Shimla also reached in their 4x4 Bolero. Apart from seeing the beautiful Spiti Valley, they were providing free medicines to some villages. Went to both monasteries and saw the famous stuffed snow leopard which is placed in the old monastery. Spent sometime there and then headed for Key. When leaving Komik, there was this huge road block of mighty wild Yaks, hundreds of them, scattered all over the place, they were just standing still. The Yaks we see in Manali are dwarfs when compared to these behemoths, that's how big they were. I had no intention to mess with them, so I just waited for them to get off the road, 5 mins passed, 10 mins passed, ENOUGH, I was out of patience. So, I started my motorcycle and headed towards them, the closer I went, the mightier they became, the more nervous I became. I had no idea how shy these animals could be, the moment they heard my bike's noise, they all ran like little mice as if a cat was chasing them. Once I got past them, I took a deep breath and laughed thinking that's how easy it was, should have done that 10 mins ago.
Few kms before Key heard loud thud-thud sound coming from the back of my bike, stopped the bike, looked back and found the jerry can which was earlier filled with fuel to the brim was touching the ground and was now half empty. Somehow the rope to which the can was tied got loose causing the can to rub with the road, that made couple of holes in it and DAMN I lost two and half liters of precious fuel. I had two bottles, one liter bottle for clean drinking water and a two liter bottle for washing purpose. I had to empty the two liter bottle so I can move the remaining fuel from the Jerry can to it. Still half liter left, poured that into my bike's tank.
Couple of turns before Key monastery, some kids were playing football. One of them stopped me and asked if I have the air pump. The football looked all battered with almost no air in it, as if it was hit by severe AMS and badly in need of oxygen. I was in a hurry, I wanted to spend some time in Key and had to reach Losar before dark, so I lied, "No, I Don't". When I reached Key, I had this feeling of guilt of not helping those kids back there. It was so strong, so hard for me to bear it that I didn't go inside the monastery, just sat outside on the monastery's stairs for 20-25 mins. I had all these weird thoughts knocking my head that I started to get anxious. I decided to go back and help those kids. On my way back, I stopped to meet them and apologized for lying to them. When the football was inflated, we all decided to play a game. Time to test my football skills... Five minutes in the game and I realized that even the tiniest of them could beat me without shedding a single sweat. Decided not to get myself embarrassed anymore, so I quit. One of the kids asked my today's destination and offered rather insisted me to stay at his house, a small village(don't remember the name) before Losar. Another kid intervened "No, No, he would stay at my house". I started pondering how humble and benevolent these kids are... I thanked them in my heart for teaching me a lesson to always be humble and always help someone in need. Bid adieu to them and headed towards Losar.
As planned, reached Losar before dark, found room in a hotel, don't remember the name, but its the first hotel on the left side of the road next to a dhaba, both owned by same person. I was hungry, had not eaten anything since morning, so ordered maggie and tea. While devouring maggie, this cute little girl turned up at my table and asked for candies or chocolate, she was hotel owner's youngest daughter. I bought some chocolates in Nako, luckily I still had one left with me, so gave it to her. As soon as I handed the chocolate to her, her elder sister came running and demanded another one for herself, which I obviously didn't have, started a brawl between the two. Before I could intervene, their mother came storming in and her loud roar was enough to silent them both. She snatched the chocolate from the elder daughter and then gave me this angry stare before leaving. Honestly speaking, that sent shivers down my spine, took a long deep breath in relief when she left. But hold on, the embarrassment was not over yet, now, the younger daughter came to me and yelled "AAP GANDA HO"(you're a bad man). Before it gets any worse, I quickly bottomed up the tea and went outside for a village stroll. While roaming the village met this tour guide and driver who was hired by a Bengali family for their Spiti tour. We had a little discussion about spiti, the places he covered, he asked questions about my journey so far. He informed me about the route that I would cover tomorrow from Losar to few kms before rohtang that its the toughest stretch in the entire Spiti valley. He told me that he has over 20 years of experience driving on these unforgiving roads and everytime he covers that stretch he feels as nervous and vulnerable as he felt for the very first time. He told me about the never ending water crossings with huge and sharp rocks hidden in them, that can easily rip the tyres to shreds. The pagal nallas(crazy water runnels) capable of throwing a ten ton truck off the hill. He thanked the mountain gods for protecting him all these years and told me if it wasn't for his living and feeding his family, he would never risk his life driving on those roads. He wished me good luck for my journey ahead and I thanked him for sharing his knowledge and experience with me and informing me of the challenge that lies ahead. It was 9pm, came back to my room and collapsed on the bed.
Vistas en-route to Komik
Langza
@Komik
New Komik Monastery
Old Komik Monastery
Stuffed snow leopard @ old monastery
The mighty wild Yaks @Komik
Spiti football team
Approaching Losar
Losar
The cute and naughty sisters at Losar... That dhaba owner's daughters...
8am, I was ready, all the luggage was packed and loaded on the bike. Today's destination was Losar, but would first visit Komik and yes, Key again. I knew that I had to get fuel first as the jerry can was empty and the tank had very little fuel left in it. But the fuel station opens @9am. And this being the only fuel station in the entire Spiti valley I had no option but to wait. That one hour seemed like a millennium, it really was that long, may be a couple of years short. After a while, checked the time and it was 8:30, So I parked my bike near the fuel station and went a for a short walk. Came back @ 8:50 and found a long queue of cars, mini buses, bikes and what not, all waiting for the Fuel station guy. I was in complete disbelief, which looked like an abandoned fuel station just 20 mins back is now crowded with all kinds of vehicles. And finally, he came @ 9:15, the fuel station guy and we all felt a sigh of relief. As if the addicts getting their fix of heroin after having craved for it for days. Now how would you feel, when you're the first one to arrive at the fuel station and the last one to get the fuel, PISSED!!! Right? I was angry with myself and regretted going for that walk, should've stayed here. Finally, @ 9:40 got the tank and the jerry can filled and headed for Komik. It took about 90 mins to reach Komik even though the distance is just 25 kms or so. The route from kaza to Komik is so divine that it can turn atheists into true believers. On every curve, you experience a beautiful landscape. I had never been so close to the clouds, it almost felt like if I try a little wheelie here, I'd probably end up riding on them. You could see wild yaks grazing in the fields, the shape of some mountains resembling some giant humans who were mummified thousands of years ago. You're forced to take numerous stops en-route and every time you stop, you look 360 degrees around you, you look upside down and just admire the beauty you're surrounded by. You store those beautiful moments in your brain's hard-disk and whenever you're feeling down, just play them in you mind's home theater and you're pumped back to life.
It was 11:20am when I reached Komik, I was greeted with a warm tea and smiles by two lamaji. Some foreigners were also there. A team of doctors from Shimla also reached in their 4x4 Bolero. Apart from seeing the beautiful Spiti Valley, they were providing free medicines to some villages. Went to both monasteries and saw the famous stuffed snow leopard which is placed in the old monastery. Spent sometime there and then headed for Key. When leaving Komik, there was this huge road block of mighty wild Yaks, hundreds of them, scattered all over the place, they were just standing still. The Yaks we see in Manali are dwarfs when compared to these behemoths, that's how big they were. I had no intention to mess with them, so I just waited for them to get off the road, 5 mins passed, 10 mins passed, ENOUGH, I was out of patience. So, I started my motorcycle and headed towards them, the closer I went, the mightier they became, the more nervous I became. I had no idea how shy these animals could be, the moment they heard my bike's noise, they all ran like little mice as if a cat was chasing them. Once I got past them, I took a deep breath and laughed thinking that's how easy it was, should have done that 10 mins ago.
Few kms before Key heard loud thud-thud sound coming from the back of my bike, stopped the bike, looked back and found the jerry can which was earlier filled with fuel to the brim was touching the ground and was now half empty. Somehow the rope to which the can was tied got loose causing the can to rub with the road, that made couple of holes in it and DAMN I lost two and half liters of precious fuel. I had two bottles, one liter bottle for clean drinking water and a two liter bottle for washing purpose. I had to empty the two liter bottle so I can move the remaining fuel from the Jerry can to it. Still half liter left, poured that into my bike's tank.
Couple of turns before Key monastery, some kids were playing football. One of them stopped me and asked if I have the air pump. The football looked all battered with almost no air in it, as if it was hit by severe AMS and badly in need of oxygen. I was in a hurry, I wanted to spend some time in Key and had to reach Losar before dark, so I lied, "No, I Don't". When I reached Key, I had this feeling of guilt of not helping those kids back there. It was so strong, so hard for me to bear it that I didn't go inside the monastery, just sat outside on the monastery's stairs for 20-25 mins. I had all these weird thoughts knocking my head that I started to get anxious. I decided to go back and help those kids. On my way back, I stopped to meet them and apologized for lying to them. When the football was inflated, we all decided to play a game. Time to test my football skills... Five minutes in the game and I realized that even the tiniest of them could beat me without shedding a single sweat. Decided not to get myself embarrassed anymore, so I quit. One of the kids asked my today's destination and offered rather insisted me to stay at his house, a small village(don't remember the name) before Losar. Another kid intervened "No, No, he would stay at my house". I started pondering how humble and benevolent these kids are... I thanked them in my heart for teaching me a lesson to always be humble and always help someone in need. Bid adieu to them and headed towards Losar.
As planned, reached Losar before dark, found room in a hotel, don't remember the name, but its the first hotel on the left side of the road next to a dhaba, both owned by same person. I was hungry, had not eaten anything since morning, so ordered maggie and tea. While devouring maggie, this cute little girl turned up at my table and asked for candies or chocolate, she was hotel owner's youngest daughter. I bought some chocolates in Nako, luckily I still had one left with me, so gave it to her. As soon as I handed the chocolate to her, her elder sister came running and demanded another one for herself, which I obviously didn't have, started a brawl between the two. Before I could intervene, their mother came storming in and her loud roar was enough to silent them both. She snatched the chocolate from the elder daughter and then gave me this angry stare before leaving. Honestly speaking, that sent shivers down my spine, took a long deep breath in relief when she left. But hold on, the embarrassment was not over yet, now, the younger daughter came to me and yelled "AAP GANDA HO"(you're a bad man). Before it gets any worse, I quickly bottomed up the tea and went outside for a village stroll. While roaming the village met this tour guide and driver who was hired by a Bengali family for their Spiti tour. We had a little discussion about spiti, the places he covered, he asked questions about my journey so far. He informed me about the route that I would cover tomorrow from Losar to few kms before rohtang that its the toughest stretch in the entire Spiti valley. He told me that he has over 20 years of experience driving on these unforgiving roads and everytime he covers that stretch he feels as nervous and vulnerable as he felt for the very first time. He told me about the never ending water crossings with huge and sharp rocks hidden in them, that can easily rip the tyres to shreds. The pagal nallas(crazy water runnels) capable of throwing a ten ton truck off the hill. He thanked the mountain gods for protecting him all these years and told me if it wasn't for his living and feeding his family, he would never risk his life driving on those roads. He wished me good luck for my journey ahead and I thanked him for sharing his knowledge and experience with me and informing me of the challenge that lies ahead. It was 9pm, came back to my room and collapsed on the bed.
Vistas en-route to Komik
Langza
@Komik
New Komik Monastery
Old Komik Monastery
Stuffed snow leopard @ old monastery
The mighty wild Yaks @Komik
Spiti football team
Approaching Losar
Losar
The cute and naughty sisters at Losar... That dhaba owner's daughters...
