Posted by Shivam Singh
On 27th March, 2021
***Kinnaur Roadtrip***
Date: 27th November 2020
We were in Sarahan and today’s plan was to visit Bhimakali Temple in the morning followed by hotel check-out and proceed towards Narkanda as a stop-over before moving towards Delhi next day.
But around 9 AM, our hotel owner from Sangla sent some whatsapp images of today’s weather and view in Sangla, which was simply unbelievable. Sky was clear with no clouds, rain or snowfall and the shining sun was making everything majestic.
We were tempted to see those beautiful scenes. Since we already covered most of the places in Sangla, so we decided to visit Kalpa (5 km above Reckong Peo) again.
Soon we got confirmation from the owner of the hotel in Reckong Peo (where we stayed) about clear sky. But with a little warning that there will be lot of snow on the roads in the higher regions of Kalpa. We planned two spots: “Suicide Point” and “Kinner Kailash View Point“.
After discussing within us, we decided to hire a local vehicle for travel today as we do not wanted to stuck in snow in higher regions of Kalpa (with no help). We booked a Mahindra Scorpio in 5000 rupees for full day with the help of hotel staff (which later turned out to be a very good decision).
But first thing to do today was to visit temple in Sarahan. Around 10:00 AM, we reached the temple which was at walking distance from hotel. The place was literally empty due to Covid scare.
This BhimaKali Temple is dedicated to the mother goddess Bhimakali, which was the presiding deity of the rulers of the former Bushahr State. This temple is also one of the 51 Shakti Peethas.
After Temple darshan, we started towards Kalpa around 11:00 AM. Our taxi driver was young and very friendly.
He suggested to have our lunch at one of the restaurant with name “Choti Wala Dhaba” enroute, famous for “Makke ki Roti” and “Sarso ka Saag”.
This place was 20 km from our hotel in Sarahan on NH-5 towards Reckong Peo, at a place called Badhal (this dhaba can be easily located on Google maps). Food was amazing and super tasty, they have Thali system with unlimited food in 100 rupees. Heavily recommended to satisfy your hunger.
After spending around 1 hour at this place for food, we moved towards Reckong Peo. As we covered this road twice already on this trip, we didn’t stopped and reached Kalpa (95 km from Sarahan) in next 2 hr 30 mins around 2:30 PM.
Sky was clear and we could see mountain ranges far away easily. We were looking for Kinner Kailash peak, and after asking multiple locals at one place we could see it clearly using zoomed camera of mobiles and high-end binoculars of Prabal.
Next stop was Suicide Point, which is located at 10 km from Kalpa on the Kalpa-Pangi Road at a place called Roghi. You may not find it on GPS, so take help from locals.
Our driver was also unaware of local spots. While going towards Suicide point, we witnessed some extreme snow roads but also the real beauty of nature. It was such wonderful scenery around the road which was hard to capture on cameras.
Soon we reached the destination: Suicide Point. All 4 of us including the driver jumped out of the car, to look at the depth of the valley which was way too deep. Once again the scenery was amazingly beautiful and we were praising our decision to revisit this place.
Actually, it was Sharad who motivated me and Prabal for this visit. We clicked infinite number of pictures of ourselves and the view. Some of these will definitely go as DPs for long long time.
After spending more than an hour here, we finally decided to go back. We were once again hungry by now, time was 4:30 PM.
We reached Reckong Peo 5 km downhill and stopped at a small restaurant near the main circle/red-light, where we got local dish Thupka and Momos.
Got few images clicked at the red-light once again. The view of the mountains from here is amazing.
Soon, we were on our way back to Sarahan, it was dark by the time we reached Jeori from where we have to go 17 km uphill for Sarahan.
It was here when our hearts came in our mouth after our driver drove at 70-80 km/hr speed on a single lane uphill road with no railing during the night. He was constantly telling us, it’s his daily job which was somewhat ok for us.
After reaching hotel, we had dinner followed by a walk outside marking the end of once again a wonderful day.
See you in the next blog, till then Happy Travelling.
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