Jun 26, 2008 09:38 PM
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“Sir this is not an end. This ROAD goes to valley - you must see if you are fun and adventure loving” This line was told to me by Nicolede, (A foreign tourist from Israel) with whom I met by chance near a petrol in Shimla a few days back when I was on my mobike tour along with my friends. I was really amazed to see his awareness about Indian tourist places.
I must say thanks to him for suggesting me for a ride inside a cloud. Travelling being my passion I am really curious about new places and Shimla – I don’t remember how many times I have been to. So this time because of him, I moved ahead. It is National Highway 22 after Shimla.
We started at around 0500hr with our full fuel tanks as after this we were expecting less fueling stations and eatery joints and crossed number of beauty full places like Kufri , Fagu and Matiana in route and reached Narkanda a place approx 80 KM from Shimla, Indeed it is a small town but worth for a brief halt and relaxing muscles, had our lunch and we moved further ahead and by 1800hr we were in Rampur a business town of Himachal which supplies needs to Upper valley and to Kinnaur.
We decided to stop there for a night so we pitched our two-men set tents after selecting a beautiful place near Satluj. I was surprised to know from a onlooker that we were resting on India’s or may be World’s longest tunnel dug inside the ground for hydro project in Jhakri. Yes I am talking about India’s largest hydro electric project of 1500 MW. We were so amazed that next day we visited this power project after taking permission from authorities. It is really a add on to my knowledge to see this engineering miracle approximately two hundred feet below the river. After this we continued our journey to Chitkul, a place in Sangla valley better known as Flower valley of Himachal Pradesh, and witnessed God’s eternal scenic beauty. Here, we did trekking and enjoyed ethnic moods of Valley. Day three we moved on and visited Karcham, Poo and saw the place called Sangam where River Parichu met with River Spiti (Both from China) and forms Satluj River. And by evening we were in Nako after crossing a distance of 100 KM. It is a Budh Monastery surrounded by stunning mountains. This was our third night stay out in open, cold spectacular world of almighty . Our next destination was Manali therefore we started early morning at around 0400hr and reached Manali by 2100hr in night. In between we saw snow clad mountains of Lahoul & Spiti Valley, Shipkila and Rohtang passes Budh monasteries and not to forget last village of India named as Chandigarh in route. Manali , Kullu and Shimla are the places for which you will find a lot of reference books , internet sight or tourist agents but for the places we had come across you will find very less material is available. So friends when ever planning to visit these areas do not hesitate to approach me, I am always there as your true MS circle friend. Bye .
