A Most Auspicious Blue Moon Day

This morning was the opening of the community centre in Kaza so we had breakfast and drove in around 9.30. The vans parked at the hospital and we walked slowly down to the centre where a transformation had taken place. Gone were all painters, ladders and paraphernalia, a beautiful red and yellow awning had been put up over the chairs and carpets had been put down over the floor. We were greeted with prayer scarves, white for us and yellow for the dignitaries.

There was a Puja table by the door with water and various seeds plus three jugs and a red ribbon across the door. There was a moment of excitement when the monks arrived with their instruments.

The minister for tribal affairs in Dehli arrived around 10.45 and the ceremony got under way with a puja at the door. There were prayers said and barley thrown around and then he flicked water and lassi from 3 jugs over the crowd before cutting the ribbon and going inside with an entourage that included an armed guard. We wandered back to our seats and waited for them all to appear from their tour of the building.



There were various speeches and gift giving and then the monks began their Cham dance. This was a special dance to throw out the evil spirits and ensure good luck. It was very stylised and ritualistic but very entertaining.


Following the ceremonies we had lunch in the meeting room before wandering back through town and back to the hotel for a peaceful and restful afternoon. I spent most of it scanning the hillsides from the balcony seeing migrating swifts as well as Black Redstart and lots of feral pigeons.




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Shopping and a visit to Runrick Village

we drove into Kaza to see if we can help at the Centre but they were happier to finish clearing themselves so we spent the morning bartering the shops. Lunch was back at the hotel where we sat and chatted hoping the threatening storm wasn't going to burst into a downpour, before going out to Runrick village to distribute some of the sweaters that are knitted by the the ladies of Great Britain.

The community centre and Kie Monastery.

A leisurely get up for breakfast, which was a choice of porridge, toast, omelette and/or curds, and we left for Kaza town and a visit to the New Community Centre. It is being built by the Spiti Valley Project, www.spiti.org , and has been designed to demonstrate the use of modern technology, combined with traditional build skills as developed in the area. It has thick, inner, rammed mud bricks with an outer layer of glass windows which heat up the bricks and slowly release that heat into the living spaces. They also have a convection system which circulates the warm air from the small gap between window and wall using openings at the top and bottom. Building in the valley is a long drawn out procedure as it can only take place in the warmer months after the snow has melted so while the building is complete, it will be a while longer before the inside is kitted out with an eye clinic, maybe dental, community room etc. it should be an absolute boon to the community.
We then walked through the old town to the hospital which was built a few years ago. It is a small subsidiary of the main hospital in Manali and carries out births, broken bone setting and other small surgical routines. They are in a transition at the moment as the old doctor has just retired and the new doctor arrives tomorrow so it will be interesting to see how things develop.
After lunch we drove up to Kie monastery where we looked around the Main Prayer Hall, the old prayer wheel and a couple of temples before returning for dinner, which was Chinese based and very nice.


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The drive to Kaza

We got up at 5.30 for 6 o'clock breakfast, loaded the cars and off by just after 6.30. The drive up into the mountains began with a metalled road which had various roadworks and safety signs but was very scenic and included a series of zigzags up to the Rhotang Pass at 3,987 mts before going along the tops to the Kunzum Pass and then narrowing and dropping down into the Spiti Valley.

We had to stop at the checkpoint for permission to enter the valley. The number of cars and lorries allowed to enter the valley is limited and you can be stopped if the quota has been reached. While we were waiting we had a look round and found some tots of very pretty Anemone rivularis which grows around the upper meadows.

 We drove ever upwards towards the Rhotang Pass where there is a small temple that we stopped at to ensure safe passage and we had a few other stops to look at the landscape which was quite awe inspiring.

On one or two corners we drove past the remains of  glaciers that still lingered beside the road, in one place it continued on down the valley.

Winding our way along the tracks we stopped at the Kunzum Pass and temple before crossong over into the Spiti Valley. The temple was visible from miles away and aflutter with the pprayyer flage and prayer scarfs. There were a set of prayer wheels made from re-cycled tin cans.

The really interesting part of the drive was once we got over the Kunzum pass and started the drive into the Spiti valley. The road is basically a one car wide, with places you can pass, track gouged out of the hillside with rocks and potholes. It is closed in the winter and has to be checked every spring. In places the streams flowing out of the mountains cross the road, causing the surface to break up and in places you actually drive up part of the river. This causes real problems for non-4 wheel drive vehicles which routinely get stuck on boulders, ledges, and in one place an old metal pipe. That one lost us over 2 hours while the drivers tried to get themselves and everyone else over the pipe. All the drivers that are held up get together to help each other out shifting rocks and building up ramps in front of the problems.

The road is different every time as these streams can change their flow depending on the snow melt. The flowers along the way were stunning, with acres of flower-filled meadows so some of the time was spent looking at them while waiting for the cars to get through and in one place a lovely White-capped Redstart flitted about on the rocks.

Once into the Spiti valley proper, the environment changed to a much drier dustier landscape and the road was better. We eventually arrived at the hotel around 9.30 - a 14 hour drive. A light dinner and I went to bed, out like a light and slept nearly through.

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A day in Manali

We had a day in Manali to help acclimatise to the altitude. We were supposed to visit an artist and then spend the morning at Naggar Castle. The drive up was through some lovely woods.

Unfortunately, the artist was away when we got there so we went straight to Naggar which is an old, traditionally built castle with a mixture of wood and stone walls and some amazing carving.

There was a lizard running around the log walls and the views were stunning.

We returned to the hotel for lunch and then walked into town to suss out the shops which was an interesting experience and we improved our bartering skills although I decided to leave most of it until we come back next week. In the evening we went to a music event as it was one of the girls birthdays.