Chandra Valley

[Moni] So we entered Chandra Valley. First the road junction: Left the good conditioned street to Leh, right the road to Kunzum La and Spiti Valley. The road looked ok too, we were in a good mood to do the scheduled 30 km still today, even when it was already quiet late due to tyre changing and hungry breaks.

The valley was absolutly amazing. At the bottom the bulky river of Chandra, left and right high mountains full of glaciers and snow. It felt like in another world. All alone.

We soon realized, that the first so lovely road was a hard thing to ride. More a pave than a road, full of holes and big rocks, and always with the Chandra River on one side. From time to time, a river had to be crossed, a thrilling experience for our bikers! How to get through without wet feet?

We proceeded with about 10 km per hour and arrived late at Chatru. Three dhabas side by side and a floor for camping- just perfect.

We splited up for dinner. In one dhaba, a very nice young lady was serving, her husband was just in Manali. We ordered rice and dal and got a big thali- sauces, pickels, vegetables, a kings food. When asking for the bill, she made us a perfect recipe, very proud of her calculations- no wonder in a country where half of the people are analphabetics!
Fabio and Martin preferred Momos in another dhaba. They both had a turbulent night running in the rain to the "toilet" and back to the tent. Next morning, Martin looked really pale and weak. What to do? Nobody could drive Martins bike, so we decided to continue to Batal and over Kunzum La.

The road was still hard to drive, but the landscape was so amazing, we almost forgot that Martin was feeling very ill. After a last stop in Batal, at the foot of Kunzum La, we climbed up the road to the pass at 4800 m.

The white temples with their colored flags were shining in the brown and grey surrounding, two majestic high mountains watched over this holy place. It was quite and embrassing.

We were not alone there, street workers were doing their job on this altitude and coldness, and bus passengers walked left around the temples and prayed. Only Martin was just laying down and slept until a herd of sheeps enclosed him and woke him up. We decided to continue to Spiti Valley.

[Hynek] Now smoking at 4600 m has definitely an effect on you! Coming down from Kunzum La into Spiti Valley in the evening sun has definitely an effect on you! And so, highly intoxicated we enter Alice's world.

The golden sunrays illuminate the valley's colour combinations beyond imagination. The mountains are glowing with silver and gold twisted with red, green and velvet black. Each mountain surprises you with a different psychedelic twist, there is no end to the eye and mind! Through this cuts the purple river on its silver platter. The beauty numbs our senses. I can't recall any noise: no crow greets us, the Gypsy runs silently, the noise of our motorbikes has fallen asleep.

[Moni] Torn apart between sorrow for Martin and the absolute beauty of the area, we drove to Losar. Suddenly, Martin stopped his bike and felt down. We all jumped out of the car and hurried to him- nothing serious, he just urgently needed a break. But alarmed we continued faster. Only one kilometer left for Losar- suddenly the car stopped. It was already overheating before, but now it was the end. The bikers organized a farmer from Losar who pulled us to the village. It was the beginning of many car problems that would follow...

< Over Rothang La | The Trip | Entering Spiti >