Memoirs of my Travels: Sarahan-Pooh

Tired from first day's drive, we got up very late. Sarahan has a temple dedicated to Bhimkali which has a large following in this region. So first we went to see this temple. it was a short walk from our guest house. View of the temple from or guest house..

At the temple we had to take out shoes to go in. even though i was wearing socks, within a few metres of walking, the feet felt like blocks of ice. Thank god inside the temple it was carpeted inside. Manik had been here before so stayed outside. Sadly no photos were allowed inside the main temple. but we could take photos outside it.
another temple in the complex..

the main temple entrance..

the main temple.. the one on the left is open everyday.. i think the one on the right is only opened for special ceremonies..

on the top floor of the tower on left..

door knob

then we had a quick breakfast in the market and then came back to the car.. it was very dirty from yesterdays journey and so we decided to clean it.. intention was do so every day but as they say "man proposes, god disposes".. there was a tap on the side of the road from which chilled water was flowing.. infact the water on the ground next to the tap was already frozen.. still dedicated as we are, we cleaned the car.. then after packing our stuff, we set out to see a hawa mahal nearby.. the locals had said its only a few kms away.. and what a waste of time this turned out to be.. after driving many kilometres we still couldn't see any building.. we were driving uphill, so the views were nice..

that while cluster of houses is Sarahan..

our "stretched Jazz limo".. :)

then we asked the locals and came to know we had missed the place.. after again and again asking people, we finally reached it and this turned out to be what we were looking for..

what the hell.. we had wasted almost an hour for this small hut in the middle on nowhere.. So till the time we left sarahan it was already 12:30pm.. on the way we saw more ice.. i small waterfall which was frozen by the cold..

i climbed down for a closer look..

so this showed that the temperature was low enough and where ever there would be water, it would be frozen.. we were looking forward to reaching Nako lake..

after crossing Jeori we entered the Kinnaur district.. view from the gate to Kinnaur..

on the otherside..

the hills were absolutely brown, no sign of snow.. koi nahi, we will see it as we go higher..
we were almost stopping at the same places where we had clicked pics in our trip Spiti 2 years ago.. again the stretched Jazz limo..

the rock cut roads of Kinnaur...

yours truly driving.. the roads were narrower but the traffic was less, so driving was fun..

as we got deeper into Kinnaur, the roads started becoming bad or i should say "normal"..

as we started getting close to the JP Dam, roads turned from bad to worse. till Karcham there was no tarmac, only gravel.. we drove on stopping now and then to click photos..

the gravel roads.. this is probably the best of the lot..

construction work going on everywhere...

the JP dam..

trucks came pretty close to shaving the mountains..

better stay away from this van..

along the river..

Jazz wasn't exactly the best choice for this sort of terrain.. it is very lower (infact lower than an Alto which we would find out soon).. big stones kept on scratching the bumper and the bottom of the car.. again the bad conditions came in my turn to drive.. driving at 20, taking care of every stone and pot hole was no fun.. also every time something hit the car, my heart pained.. Not to mention what the bumps were doing to rest of the body. then we reached Karcham..

After crossing Karcham, we suddenly stopped feeling any bumps.. ahead us was a wide smooth road.. it was like driving on clouds..

and as we had changed driver a few kms before, again Manik was driving on the good road and at 100 kmph.

But good things dont last long. Thats wot make them good. So just in few kms the road became narrow but it was at least in good condition with stretches of dirt after every few kms. we drove on clicking pics here and there..
the petrol pump after Recong Peo..

places ahead..

a lovely waterfall..

at a wider angle..

the dry landscape..

another waterfall..

gravel roads..

and dirt mountains..

again frozen water on the road sides..

i wanted to capture the sun set but since we were in the valley, we had to be satisfied with this..

We reached a very small town called Spillo (or Speelo as it was spelled at some places) just after it got dark. There was a decent looking restaurant there and we had a leisurely dinner.. Then went out to find a place to stay.. There is only one guest house there and it also wasn't in the best condition and had a single shared toilet. Left with no option we had to move ahead to the next town, Pooh. After driving in dark on roads which were alternate again stretches of tarmac and gravel, we reached the town very late. The hotels there were closed but thankfully we found the PWD guest house open. But it was also booked for the ongoing elections. After requesting a lot, the choukidaar said he will see if something could be done. Finally after waiting for a long time he gave us a room. It was a nice and comfortable room with enough space inside to play cricket. After a simple but warm dinner, we tried our hand at abstract photography.. so there were ghosts appearing..