Into The Wild

Day 8 : Trip 1065 km

Kazaa - Tabo - Nako ; 13.09.08

The next day saw us leaving the hotel at exactly noon. Breakfast was royal and we bade warm goodbyes to the hotel guys. The receptionist who had been looking after our great stay at Hotel Spiti at Kazaa wished us good luck on our journey ahead. People still had to fill up their petrol tanks, get tyre pressure checked, Kenny had to get his carrier fixed at a welder and some good time went into looking for Vikram who had disappeared looking for a PCO. Finally, we moved on , caught the main road towards Nako and started making good pace. The roads offered little resistance albeit some breathtaking views to slow us down. Anshu was still in search of his "Shilajit" and we soon came to Lingti Village, a place where the hotel receptionist at Kazaa said we'd be able to get our hands on some shilajit. Poor Anshu kept honking at the rendezvous, but people ripped ahead of him. Dejected, he too moved on, casting some final glimpses to the slated place. On the way we took a turn to the Dhankar Monastery, which was on the cards. It was some 8 km from the main road, but quite at a height. We came across some serious hairpins that would give the Gata loops a run for its money. Some stops later for some photography sessions and still some more hairpin bends later, we finally entered the Dhankar Monastery territory. The old monastery was still some distance away, while there was a new one under construction. Some of us decided the old monastery was worth a visit and set off on our bikes. But only my bike and Gyan's karizma could make it to the point where the road ended and the steps to the old monastery started. The inclines were murderous, and the rocks made the climb terrifying for the heavily laden bullets, the roads being extremely narrow and the drop down the ravine sheer piss-in-the-pant stuff!!Wisdom prevailed in the scared place and Vikram gave up after a few meters, so did Kenny. Gyan and I also returned , amid some very very very cautious climb down the road. Never was I so scared at any stretch throughout the trip.

Jill and Kenny mingled well with the young monks in the monastery and had some nice shots taken with their bikes. Bidding goodbye to the monks, we proceeded to catch the main road towards Tabo , our slated stop for lunch. The ride was uneventful thereon and we made it to Tabo by 1530 hrs. My trip meter had clocked an exact 1000 km the time I entered Tabo. Tabo is a cool place to hang out in, essentially a densely populated place with around 800 people. there were also some foreigners who seem to have settled down there. There are also spaces properly marked as "bus stop", "hospital" et all.

Lunch at one Tenzin restaurant near the Tabo Monastery consisted of some momos , chowmein and thukpa. Initially we had all packed our lunch and gulped down at the place where we had parked our bikes. But Anshu protested saying where there is a place to sit , people SHOULD sit and eat. Now Anshu is not a guy who complains, but when he does everyone takes him seriously!! So we hastily broke into 2 groups; while one watched over the bikes, the other went to the restaurant and had their lunch. Vikram, poor fellow, skipped his lunch there since he could not abandon a long line at the pay phone, and the fellows decided to get his lunch packed. I didn't go inside the Monastery but people did and they conveyed to me that it was a lovely monastery, made mostly of clay and that it took five minutes inside to get their eyes accustomed to the dim lighting. The garden area of the monastery also had some wonderful apple trees that brimmed full with ripe apples, that looked just so inviting and juicy.

A few minutes of rest later, we all moved on. All these days, our motive had been to wake up early and reach the next place early before sunset. But somehow, that never materialised and today was no exception. We decided to reach Nako as fast as we could make it, possibly just making it before dark. Some time and some kilometers into the ride from Tabo, we suddenly entered some apple orchards at a place called Hurling, and there were apples all around us!!! Green apples, red apples, small apples, big apples, tender apples, juicy apples all around us and not a soul to be seen. It was too good to be true!!!! Gyan was turning to be the moral guy and looked around for someone to take permission from for a few apples. He did find someone, and started shouting at him if he could pluck some apples off the trees. Little did he realise, he was trying to communicate with a scarecrow!! We all had ourselves in splits when we realised he was talking to a dummy!!! Kenny and Jill took the initiative of jumping the fence and looting some apples. Jill was particularly after some fantastic looking green apples. We all stuffed some apples each and started our bikes lest someone caught us in the act!! But we were content nonetheless at having the absolute pleasure of munching on some virgin HP apples!! Truly Himachal is apple country, and a great country at that!!

Moving on towards Nako, we tried to make fast pace. The road was surprisingly good, looked brand new, albeit a steep climb that never seemed to end. There was no traffic at all save a solitary state transport bus bearing the Rampur depot tag. Some time later and a lot of altitude climbing later, all of us grew wary since we didnt come across a single milestone nor a single board that showed where the road was taking us. Finally some hutment came into view and luckily it was filled with the road construction people. Verifying that the road was indeed taking us to Nako, we pressed on.....only to come across one of the worst stretches of road - one water crossing that had eroded the entire road, and unfortunately, the crossing happened to be in one damn steep incline. Then came the backbreaking climb down the jagged road. It was already dark and we had turned our lights on, the need for a safe climb much more accentuated now. After negotiating the treacherous terrain, we hit smooth roads again and gunned our engines towards the lights ahead. We almost missed the village entry and came back after we realised we were moving farther away downhill from the lights. Darn those people who always say "Both the roads lead to the village"!!

Finally we entered the village and enquired for one Amar Guest House that had come recommended from the restaurant at Tabo.It was nice and cosy,rustic and very very village hut types, but we had to take a flight of steps down and we were in no mood to be carrying our equipment all the way. Plus the landlady seemed to be a lot stiff in her lodging charges. We looked around for some more places to put up for the night and finally checked into one nearby Reo Purguil Hotel that offered much more comfy rooms AND parking space for our bikes at almost the same rates.

After checking into the rooms, we all got fresh and Anshu and Vikram went to the previous Amar Guest House to make some phone calls since it was the only place in the locality that offered a payphone. But seemed Anshu and Vikram had a lot to hear from the land lady when she came to know we ditched her hotel and stayed elsewhere!!! Poor fellas, they had to beg to make a phone call and even after that they got looted . Vikram paid 25 bucks for a 3 minute call!!

Evening time was again slotted for some rounds of old monk, and for a change we tried having apples with the rum!!! It wasn't bad, quite different, but nice!! Found the food at the hotel way too expensive and we ordered our food at a dhaba bang in front of the hotel! Told the dhaba guy we'd take an hour and to make our food slow and easy. He asked us not to worry- food would be available till 10 pm. But the shots continued till late, so much so that the dhaba guy had to come to our room to remind us that it was 10 pm!! Dinner was rice-dal-chicken curry and rotis for Kenny and Vikram.

After a heavy dinner, Kenny felt an urge to take a midnight stroll to the Nako lake and he pulled me along. I, in turn , roped in Anshu and Vikram too. Banged on a particulary big pebble in the dark and hurt my toe in the process. It was a good sight, the lake by the moonlight. It was a very very small lake, compared to Chandertaal and a pygmy lake compared to Pangong Tso. but looked beautiful enough in the moonlight. The moonlight also made me drift off to some memories of yore, while I fought off the cold. It was chilly, but the moon and memories brought some kind of warmth inside.Talk about cold comfort.

We retired later into our rooms- Gyan, Vikram and me piling into one room; while Anshu , Jill and Kenny settled into the other room for some "joint" sessions. Jill said that their room was meant for people who stayed up late and who woke up late. Bloody Kenny ditched me and sent Vikram to my room. I just glared at him and asked him for his earphones; I was too tired to look for my pair.Without a single protest, Kenny handed me his earphones and I bid goodnight to the guys and headed for my room, where Gyan had already started his glorious snoring!

For reasons very well known to the guys, I took some 3-4 play lists and the volume put on high to garner some sleep!!!