Spiti Valley - Odyssey by Bus

This existence of ours is as transient as autumn clouds. To watch the birth and death of beings is like looking at the movements of a dance. A lifetime is like a flash of lightning in the sky, Rushing by, like a torrent down a steep mountain.

                                             -Gautama Buddha

Buses are the lifeline of the local people old, young,  women, men, children; all use the bus. If one wants to live the place, buses are the way to go. People, places, food all form a kaleidoscope of experience. So I decided to traverse the Spiti Valley by local buses. I had no fixed itinerary and only a vague notion of the places I would go to.  My route turned out:
Mumbai-Chandigarh by train 28 hours
Chandigarh -8 hours- Karcham -1h 30m- Sangla -1h 30m- Chitkul -5h- Reckong Peo -30m- Kalpa -14h (incl 6h halt at a landslide at Spillo)-  Kaza (Force Traveller 10 seats)-11h- Manali -10h- Chandigarh.

There are mountains astride the narrow roads, mostly barren, the higher peaks snow clad and the ubiquitous river along which the road goes. Buses drive fast but safely, out of necessity local traffic is courteous, stopping and reversing to where the road is wider to allow the other to pass. Here is a local gentleman sitting next to me, chatting and explaining places, customs and the way off life.  He will tell me where to get off.

Everyone has right of way, here goats cross the road while the bus driver waits, though not patiently.  Eager to be on his way, the driver will speed even more on the narrow roads. Our way was blocked by shooting stones at Spillo for six hours, as soon as it opened, the driver took off, driving to Kaza non-stop for six hours.

Bus journeys are long, often 10-12 hours depending on the destination, road condition and weather.  To get to where I am going, I often need to start before dawn.  No matter what time I start, the vistas in the mountains are always breathtaking. The norm seems to be using one's own car or bike brought up from the plains, that is why hotels and homestays are often far from bus stations.  The itinerary of most tour companies are generally a whirlwind, going through the valley in five or six days.  If you have the time and the inclination, I strongly recommend a more leisurely pace.

Early morning buses are often used by villagers to go to the fields and harvest the crop. Since many of the travellers are from nearby villages and meet each other on the way to fields each day, the bus journey gives them time to catch up with local chatter and listen to the   loud music, these are possibly the only restful moments they have in their busy lives.

The seasons are harsh and unforgiving, the crop must be brought in before the icy winds of winter drive cattle into the fields.  In the higher reaches there is but one crop a year and most villagers live on this through the severe winter.  The crop is generally fafda and ogala, the bright red plants making for colourful fields.  Both are grains a type of buckwheat; and every part is used, for human and animal feed.  

There are hubs from where buses go to the lesser villages, Sangla is one such hub.  Everyone waits patiently for a bus to somewhere.  Buses at the hubs are frequent and in some distant places they become once a day, coming and going back immediately.  It is best to enquire the bus timing for a place in that season before going anywhere. Schedules can be changed by landslides and the vagaries of weather. Buses can be regular full sized buses or even small vans as this one at Sangla.

No matter how crowded a bus is, there is always room for more, even the engine cowl is padded to create space to sit. Buses usually start packed with passengers and as people hop off they become less occupied, till somewhere close to the destination there are few people left. Most mainlines have regular buses, specially short routes of about four hours or so.Though there many home-stays and hotels at each location and in between,  I did not know this but had not booked a room to stay in advance.  I never had any difficulty in finding a a room to rest my weary head. The cost of a room spans the spectrum of budgets, one can find a room from Rs 500 to Rs 2500 or even more.  I do not recommend booking accommodation in advance because it is difficult to plan.

...quite literally, music booms out in every bus, all the time. It can be religious music, like when I was travelling early one morning from Chitkul to Reckong Peo; or pahadi music or simply film music.  Carry earplugs if you cannot handle this sound, or listen to podcasts like I did.

The people here are very religious, given the narrow roads and steep hillsides,  the bus drivers are possibly even more religious. Small shrines and large temples dot the road side, and every bus has pictures of deities all over the drivers area.   The bus drivers are good, the buses well sprung and the roads are not too bad so even long journeys though bumpy are not too bad. it is best to sit in the front/middle of the bus, seats around No 15 are the best.

The weather in the mountains is fickle, bright and sunny one moment, it can become grey, cloudy and rain the next. Travel easily, do not have a tight schedule, as landslides, weather or availability of buses can disrupt them. A landslide at Spillo caused me to divert to Kalpa for two days. When I began moving on the third day, shooting stones at the same place caused a delay of six hours. So I skipped Sumdo and went on to Kaza.

Kaza to Manali is a long journey along rough roads, though the very scenic route is through arid high altitude desert and wetlands, the road is generally along the Spiti River upto Kunzum La (4590 metres) and then the Chenab to Manali via Rohtang La.  The journey starts at 0630 am and is by Force Traveller, it reaches at 1700 pm and it is best to take a seat just behind the driver.  

There are few halts on the way, breakfast at Losar and lunch at Battal. from the milestone one sees that the distances are not much, it is the time taken to cover short distances in mountains.  Breakfast is parathas, achar (pickle) and tea; lunch is rice, rajmah and some vegetable. Time and distance dictate a uniformity of action and I found many buses, taxis and private cars stopped at the same places.  Around the corner in both places is literally just that. 
 

“The secret of the mountain is that the mountains simply exist, as I do myself: the mountains exist simply, which I do not. The mountains have no “meaning,” they are meaning; the mountains are. The sun is round. I ring with life, and the mountains ring, and when I can hear it, there is a ringing that we share. I understand all this, not in my mind but in my heart.” – Peter Matthiessen