Kalpa - Reckong Peo

I, alongwith my wife, went to a small trip to Himalayas. This time our destination was Kalpa south-east corner of Himanchal Pradesh. It is about 260 Km from Shimla, the capitol of HP. Major attraction to visit Kalpa (3000 mts) was the overwhelming view of Kailash Parbat (>6000 mts).

We started off from Delhi on 7th May by Volvo bus of HRTC. One can book tickets for this online. See the web page of HRTC. We spend a couple of days in Shimla. First day we booked a car to go to Kufri and Fagu. It is a fantastic place. Next day we spend in Shimla. We went to The Ridge and The Mall. Visited Church and climbed all the way way up to Jakhu temple. The touts in Shimla spoil your mood all the time.

We took overnight bus from Shimla to Reckong Peo on 9th evening at 8PM. It was an ordinary HRTC bus which arrives at 5Am at Peo. The tickets for the buses starting from Shimla can be booked in advance. You can also see the schedule of buses between different places on the web site of HRTC. Though we made a mistake and when we booked the ticket at 6Pm about 2 hours in advance we got last row of the bus.

The journey was quite bumpy, the roads after Rampur is not good at all. Most of the time we were air-born. Though still I manage to sleep in middle of all this....amazing.....

Once we arrived in Peo we took a cab to Kalpa, uphill which costed Rs. 150/-. In day time from 7Am till 6PM there are regular maxicabs (12sitter small buses) plying between Kalpa and Peo (main market place not the bus stand) for Rs. 10/-. Upon arrival in Kalpa we were tired and decided to spend a day resting. We roamed around in the Kalpa village only. Needless to say that sitting just outside your hotel room itself gives you a full view of the Kailsh Hill and Shivling (a 79feet high vertical stone on the top of hill). The next day we hired a guide and decided to go on top of the hill where Kalpa is. Our guide told that there is a lake on the top of the hill and we can target that. The previous day it has rained so we will have plenty of snow on our hill as well. One of the aim to go to Himalaya is to at least touch the snow. Shimla, in recent time, doen't get any snowfall. Needless to say that once we climb uphill we will get much better view of the Kailsh Hill and other adjacent hills.

Now Kalpa is already close to 3000 mt and climbing further was going to take a lot of effort. We went up to where we were walking in snow, breath-taking views of Kailesh range hills, where trees end. But it was getting difficult for us to go further beyond and we were already tired. We decided to take rest there and head back to our village.

Next day we went to Kothi (downhill 3 kms from Peo) where they have temple of Durga and then went to Peo market. We came back to Kalpa in the afternoon and took a walk along the main road, in the Apple Orchard. It was an unforgettable trip........

Next day we were to head back to Delhi a long (10+10 hours) bus journey. We had fortunately bus to Shimla from Kalpa at 6:30AM which arrives in Shimla by 5PM. We had a lot of time to kill before we get 10Pm Volvo to Delhi. Good in some sense, it gives us some times to catch up with dinner and fresh Himalayan air for the last time. On the way back to Shimla from Kalpa there is dam construction work going on at Karcham. That was the reson why roads have gone bad because a lot of trucks were plying on that road. I have determined to go back to Kalpa and this time go further beyond up to Kaza. One wish which I have not been able to fulfill so far in all my trips to Himalaya is to see an Himalayan Lake......Last time when we went to Keylong we planned to go to see Chandrtal lake but could reach only up to Batal as the roads were not open and we were not equipped with enough sleeping facilities.