Ride the Himalayas Day 4 7-13-19 - Incredible Monasteries in the Spiti Valley

 

Ride the Himalayas    

7-13-2019       Day 4 of the "Ride the Himalayas"

The wind up at LakeView hotel in Nako was very brisk all night and was great for drying out our clothes (jacket, pants, sox, boots, gloves, shirts, etc.)  Some of the clothes (shirt & socks) were not totally dry but close enough.  

In the morning all of us were rudely interrupted in our sleep by a vehicle alarm that took some time to get shut off.  I wondered why anyone in this tiny village would even have an alarm but it got us up.  HA,HA,HA   We wanted to take a shower but no hot water so we checked our chargers (phones, GoPro's, other cameras) with all the camera batteries and they weren't charged either???  Hmmm...  apparently there was a generator for power (which we didn't know about) and it was turned off around 11:30 PM.  It's a good thing Von Lester and I had a few battery power banks so we hooked them up to our batteries/phones and charged away till after breakfast.   

We were on the top floor of the hotel with a huge patio outside of our rooms, this provided a good view even though it was a little foggy & overcast when we got up.  All of us headed down to the main restaurant for breakfast and were treated to Scrambled eggs which was awesome as we hadn't had those on the trip yet and it was a nice treat.

Rahul did a ride briefing of what we might encounter for the day (he did this every day), then we headed back upstairs to pack and get ready to head out.  Today we would ride to two different monasteries.   

We finally got all packed up and headed out through town on the skinniest of roads.  I'm surprised the larger SUV and Truck made it down there to the hotel but they did.  With anyone walking on it the road was barely wide enough for us to get our bikes through.  The sun was out and it was beautiful now.  

Finally back on the main road we kept heading up and up the pass and over more amazing terrain.  

At another Military checkpoint in the town of  Sumdo (we are the closest yet to the Chinese border at 3-4 km).  They didn't want us to take any photos so of course I was the one they were talking about.  LOL   We can see their post on the mountain across the narrow valley.

I don't know how long it was after that stop but around 11 AM we turned off the main highway and headed up a small dirt road.  We wound our way up the canyon a ways until we arrived at what looked like a small army post and little village.  I'd say there were maybe 50 people in the village and the street had stone walls along both sides that kept folks on the main road and away from the homes.  While riding through the main section of the village there were a bunch of ladies sitting in what appeared to be plastic or lawn type chairs and they were all dressed up with silver headdress type gear that covered their faces.  As we got to the other end of the village there were some trees and a small orchard.  Then IT appeared on the hillside.  There was no mistaking this magnificent monastery.  We wound our way up the road to it and the paint job on it was incredible.  So much detail, so MANY colors and the blending of colors, I could have stayed and shot photos all day.  

This was the famous Gue Monastery next to the village of Gue which is just a few kilometers from the India-China border.   We arrived and were taking photos by 11:30 in the morning.  All of us spread out and were just soaking up the beautiful scenery.  Behind the monastery there was a small building which housed the perfectly well-preserved 550-year-old mummy of Sangha Tenzing.  One thing that was very interesting in the small building housing the mummy was a few photos of the Dalai Lama.   That guy visits all these places which is super cool (IMO).

The roads are continually dusty, lots of construction and treacherous but fun all at the same time.  We rarely get out of 2nd gear and have seen a lot of unique mountain and rock formations today.  Some of the formations looked like the Bad Lands of South Dakota.  

We even met a local guy in the middle of nowhere.  The guy loved meeting us and having his photo taken, I hope he felt like a Rock Star 😀.  The mountains rise very steep from the valley floor and we are now seeing small glaciers along the roadside.  

Ok back on the road to our next stop 40 km away - the Tabo Monastery in the small village of Tabo.  We had lunch on the side of the nice road leading into town under the shade of some trees.  The temp was a bit hot for all of our riding gear so most of us took off our jackets, pants and boots.  

After lunch we were in for a treat as we went to visit one of the oldest monastery's which was founded in 996.  We drove down to the middle of town where the Monastery was and walked to the entrance.  You could not take cameras in and we also had to take our shoes/boots off to go in.  There were a few different rooms, the first room had a short ceiling and there were paintings all over the walls.  Another had all sorts of statues in sitting positions hanging up high on the wall.  These statues were very large, much larger than a regular person.  All of the statues were different and dressed in beautiful outfits.  They were many of the different deities.  The large room was a prayer room with rugs in it.  Towards the back there was an alter area & behind that another small room with a large statue of Maitreya Buddha.  I walked around the backside of the alter and there was a large skylight and I think a lady monk. The funniest part was when I passed by her a cell phone went off and started ringing and it was HERS!  Cell phones were not allowed into the monastery.  LOL

On the way back to the motorcycles a bunch of us stopped by a souvenir shop.  I picked up a small singing bowl for a screaming deal of 1500 INR which is about $22 US.  A large signing bowl I have at home cost me about $250 - Gack!  

Today was a day we had a few bike incidents, Gala went down a few times but nothing serious.  We helped her right the bike and she kept on going   She is doing an awesome job for being only a street rider like me.  She says she is a bit terrified but certainly doesn't show it.  I don't think you should play cards with her.  Ha, Ha  Evan on the other hand went off the road and crashed today, we think he broke his arm.  The most inexperienced of the group he has done an amazing job riding and has good spirits. 

The last section of the road were in the beautiful Pin Valley National Park.

We got to our tent camp today and what an amazing view.  Our camp was about 12,500' and the temp was around 50 F when we went to bed and SUPER windy.  The tents were on a small island and the ground was pretty saturated from the river close by but our tents were on dry ground.

Rahul said it would be the most difficult so far and it was.