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There are some trips that take a long time to materialize, and this can happen especially when your bucket list is too long and diverse. My Spiti trip was one such trip, which invariably kept getting postponed time after time.

This whole idea of a trip to Spiti actually took form during one of my bus journeys few years back, from Chandigarh to Nallagarh. It so happened that during my bus journey, I and my co-passenger, a young girl, got into a conversation. During our conversation, our topic of discussion turned to travel, whereby we spoke about the places we have traveled and would love to travel to in the future. It was here at one point she blurted out and said “Jab bhi hum logo ko kuch samajhta nahi toh hum log Lahual-spiti nikal jate hai.”

(whenever we cannot make up our mind, as to where to travel we leave for Lahual- Spiti). Now this name got stuck in my mind and upon reaching Mumbai I started to research about this place and indeed it turned out to be an amazing place. However, during my research, I realized that I will need around 10 days to do Spiti circuit. Taking out 10 days from the office schedule was a herculean task for me and with the passage of time, Spiti plan of mine went to cold storage so much so that I almost forgot about it.( In fact I did long trip to Sikkim in between)

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Last month, my cousin brother went on Winter Spiti Valley trip and he kept sharing his travel photos on WhatsApp to me, “ Bas ab kya tha ….Purana pyar fir se jag utha, sholay fir se badak gaye and dil bola beta chal basta utha aur nikal ja spiti…. I was all charged up, that what may come, I am going for the Spiti trip. Someone has very rightly said where is a will there is a way. Now talking about way, there are two ways to reach Spiti Valley . One starts from Shimla and you go till Kaza and then again back to Shimla  while the other route starts from Shimla  and you come out of Manali route. Shimla to Shimla route is operation through out the year however the route from Shimla to Manali is operational for a very small period which is generally from the1st week of June to Oct. Incidentally my cousin Vishal had visited during winter and my visit will be in June as I intend to visit Chandrataal lake which is open only after June. Folks I will therefore take advantage of the fact that my cousin visited in winter by posting the winter looks of the place along with my travel pictures  ”  , Ek daam me double mazza Kyo biddu sahi hai na yeh idea Sahi hai na”

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Tickets are the first thing one has to arrange if you are planning to go on a trip, Flight tickets for Mumbai- Chandigarh were way too high, thanks to the suspension of Go First Airline, So I dropped the idea of going by airline and promptly booked the train ticket.

You may like this

https://www.lifeofaash.com/rajasthan-diaries-chittorgarh-journey-day-1/

The train on which I was going to travel was supposed to reach Chandigarh at 2:30 pm, Earlier I had planned that I would start my Spiti trip from Chandigarh – Shimla-Narkanda  route for my day one journey but I soon realized that it would be very difficult to reach Narkanda from Chandigarh by late evening. Hence I decided that I will get down at Ambala and start my journey from there because Ambala comes 1:30 hour before Chandigarh

So folks, tighten your seat belts and be my co-passenger on my journey to Spiti Valley.

Day 1

Our train was slowly shifting tracks and was on its way to Ambala station. The time was 1:40 which meant we were only 10 mins late, but suddenly the train slowed down and stopped. we waited and waited for almost 20 minutes and finally, we reached Ambala station at 2:15 pm. I hate delays but then sometimes you cannot do anything. We came out of the station and luckily my taxi was waiting in the parking lot. Soon we boarded the car without wasting any time and we’re all set to go to Narkanda

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You must be wondering why I preferred to have my first stopover at Narkanda and not Shimla, like most other travelers who go to Spiti. Well honestly speaking I personally was never a great fan of Shimla and when I know that there are better options which are more prettier, serene and quieter than the hustle bustle of crowded Shimla .viz Narkanda , kufri, Mashobra etc.. I decided to go for peaceful Narkanda, secondly, by staying at Narkanda on day one , we get an advantage of shortening our travel to Chitkul by nearly two hours the next day .

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The road trip from Ambala to Narkanda was very scenic. It was very hot at Ambala but once we were among the mountains the temperature began to be cool. The winding roads were making me feel nauseous and at one point I had to vomit. My suggestion to travelers here would be to take a motion sickness tablet if you are coming here. As expected the Shimla road was quite crowded and soon we crossed that section and reached Narkanda at 9:30 pm.

We checked into our hotel, had a quick dinner, and went to sleep.

Day – 2

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Getting up in a new town is always a very exciting experience, The hotel room was quite cool, thanks to the early morning chills that we were experiencing in Narkanda. The view from my room was very beautiful, overlooking the green mountains. Today again it’s going to be a long day of traveling so we were up early, and were ready by 7.30.am. However, as we had not informed one driver that we are early birds,So he was nowhere to be seen, Yeah toh baad me pata chala ki bhai bathroom me the jab maine usko call kar raha tha! As we are the kind of travelers who try not to waste time, hence we decided to make use of this waiting period, so we set out towards the local bazaar of Narkanda, did some window shopping, and took out some time to drop at a local tea shop and grab some breakfast too…

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By this time our driver too was ready and we were on our way to our first destination of the day Hatu Mata Temple. Our car drove through the Narkanda town and soon we were again among the mountains and the winding uphill road going towards Hatu mata temple, had lovely tall trees which are the hallmark of this region, rushing past out us as our car was speeding away.

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Just at the base from where the actual climb or elevation starts to go to Hatu Mata Temple, we saw an elderly couple walking up the with lots of effort , I told my driver to stop and we gave them the lift in out car.

In traveling, I find this to be the best way to connect with the locals and hear out their stories. Lift dene me apne risk aur apne faide hai…. Disclaimer , Gaadi aapki, marzi aapki, bas ab dimag bhi apna hi laga lena ki  ki lift deni hai ki nahi. Well, this couple had many interesting stories to tell and we enjoyed listening to each story and in no time we were at the gates of Hatu Mata Temple.

Hatu Mata Temple:

Hatu Mata temple is perched on the top of the mountains, incidentally the highest peak in Shimla region (3400 mtrs above sea level.

This beautiful hilltop temple is dedicated to Mandodari the wife of Ravana. Goddess Kali or Kali Mata is the presiding deity here. It is also believed that Pandavas spent some time here during the period of their Agyatavasa, final days of their hiding which had to be spent in anonymity.

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It is also believed to be the place where the Pandavas cooked their meals during the exile period. “Bheem chulha” the two hearthstones are still found near the temple.

The Hatu temple architecture is like a pagoda kind, probably inspired by the Chinese dragon styling. There were lots of wooden carvings inside the temple, what I really liked was the vibes and the ambiance of the place, with colorful red flags, fluttering in the breeze, the chimes of the temple bells, and beautiful temple among the mountains.

We took some photos of the temple and then moved on to the small hillock in front of the temple from where you can get a lovely bird eye temple, next to the hillock was the tourist home. which I was told is not for the general public, but the Govt officials,

and just next to that, there is a small boundary wall, from where you can have a look at the breathtaking scenery and mountain range.

The cool Breeze was making the place all the more amazing and just when we were leaving the temple premises we met a group of ladies, actually what caught our attention was the common attire of identical colors that they were wearing. I asked them where they were coming from. One of the group members explained to me that they live in the nearby village and they are from a group called mahila mandal and they do community work.

Today they have come on an excursion trip and are visiting this temple. As usual, we chatted with them, heard some local stories, and then realized that too much time has passed away and we can be late for our next destination.

Thank you for reading the blog 

Presenting PART 2 (Click Here to read next part)