I am a compulsive traveller always ready to move out of Delhi at the shortest notice, all though i like all types of destinations but himalayas hold special attraction for me . I have been to Manali & Rohtang several times & i always used to wonder " what lies beyond". Being in the internet industry i googled & read exciting accounts of travellers from Lahaul, Spiti & Kinnaur & wondered if i could go their someday.
Jahan Chaha wahan rahan well it started as a casual conversation alongwith two of my colleagues at office & we decided make good at the earliest & the destinations choosen was Chandratal. Well the lake is situated at a hieght of 4300 m from the sea level & it is approx 55kms on the other side of Rohtang pass in lahaul distt.As the name suggest landscape is moonlike rocky , barren , cold & amidst this landscape a clean huge water body is like a heaven.
A trip like this needs a critical mass of participants & three of us ( Anil , Shiv & yours truly aka Dhananjay ) checked with our friends & quickly added three more . We were joined by shiv's wife & two other friends . Shiv took the task of planning & organizing, Anil with his interest in photography became an official photographer & rest of us limited ourselves to eating, drinking & enjoying.
Day 1
We got ourselves booked to manali from delhi on A/C coach service run by HRTC daily for friday evening. Bus left the ISBT kashmere gate delhi dot on 8.30 pm, every one was excited, journey was smooth & time was well spent in planning and sharing drink till the bus stopped for dinner just before karnal. Thereafter we slept and got up the next morning when it stopped again near Bilaspur for tea .Finally we reached Manali by 11 am .
Day 2
Our organiser shiv was constantly in touch with the contact person at Manali, guy was waiting for us at the bus stop & immediatly took us to the hotel a little distance away on the way to Rohtang pass.Manali was humid & stuffy , locals told us that that rains are negligible this year. We all took turns to freshen up meanwhile shiv surveyed the TATA SUMO negotiated & finalised , support boy a nepali too was hired. Their are no hotels beyond manali , shiv organised four tents & eight sleeping bags & cooking items.We all went over the list prepared earlier several times just in case we forget something. By the time we finished we were extremly hungry & headed straight to the MALL for some cool bear & hot momos. Our motto for the trip was coined by anil " Nasha nahin tutna chahiye dost ". Forgot to add that our photographer had been clicking with vengeance since the time we boarded the bus at ISBT. Shiv spent some more time buying daal , chini , namak & other grocery as we had planned to camp for three nights, i went & bought a big stock of hard drinks & wine and came back to hotel. Since anil & myself had been to manali several times we stayed back and took dinner at hotel itself others went to the mall for more shopping & more momo's.
Day 3
We all were up and ready by 5.30am , Sumo was packed & their was just enough room for all of to squeeze in . Our Sumo was as old & frail as our driver whom we called chacha and we all just wondered but nevertheless carried on.Here we go with Anil in the front clicking everything possible, it was clear day & with every turn we climbed higher & higher leaving manali below shrouded in the morning mist till we reached Marhi a favourite place for breakfast for tourist heading to Rohtang pass some 14-16 kms above.Marhi is approx 3000m above sea level & its quite cold here, being true to our motto we ordered some fried eggs & parathas to go along with peach , plums other kind of local wines at 9am in the morning.Road ahead was bad as four laning is in progress but we still managed to reach Rohtang in an hours time, as usual its covered in mist amd the place is as dirty as any place with insensitive indian tourist becomes as soon as it becomes popular. We left Rohtang asap & the moment we turned the corner few kms down the road we came face to face with stunning scene of high mountains, snow at the top, rocky surface, fast flowing cold streams jumping over the boulders, practically no vegetation but we could also spot high above on the mountains Gaddi shepherds with their black & white herd of sheeps looking like tiny but distinct specks against the background & making good of the little vegetation that springs up.It was magical to say the least.
We reached Gramfu some 27kms away from the pass and the last available phone connection to the outside world.Their is fork on the road here one going towards Keylong & other goes to kaza.We took the one towards kaza & travelled 14kms to reach -Chatru- at lunch. Being true to our motto we gulped few pegs of rum with cola each before gorging on hot soupy maggi noodles, the most widely available & recommended food. Road from gramfu goes along river Chandra all the way to Chandrataal. We pitched our tents some distance away at a place called Dadarfu, cooked chicken pulao,emptied another bottle of liquor , clicked as much as we could & finally settled in our sleeping bags for the much needed rest.
Day 4
Unfortunately low pressure weather system followed us, it drizzled all night two of our tents were dripping by the time we got up. Morning chores were performed in the open , water was available in plenty & so were the rocks to hide behind. We had a quick breakfast of bread & cheese, packed our belongings and moved forward quickly as weather was getting bad to worse.It took us approx 1-2 hrs to reach Batal some 20 kms away, road was stone & dirt track with numerous streams overflowing the road. Views along the way was breath taking but the journey for the vehicle as well as the pessengers was tough. The entire stretch from Rohtang is uninhabited except for two small villages gramfu & chatru. Batal is a camp inhabited by 3-4 dhaba owners who migrate to either Kaza or Manali in september & come back in April. During these transit months it acts as a lunch point for busses , jeeps & few tourists like us.They also have mud shelters or dormitories with clean quilts pillows & razais . Chandrataal from here is 27 kms away after crossing the river on a wooden bridge breaking away from the main road to the left which goes to Kaza after crossing the Kunzum pass.
It was still drizzling & all of us were very hungry,keeping true to our motto we ordered some mutton rice, rajma rice etc to go along with our blenders pride this time.We were waiting for drizzle to stop but alas we were in for surprise, rain turned into sleet & within few minutes it was snowing on 31st of august. Locals were unhappy at the advent of early snow, they advised us not to go ahead as it is very dangerous and wait for weather to clear. Some of us were ecstatic but some were not . We did not let the oppurtunity go, we made videos clicked photos & took neat shots.We decided against pitching tents as accomodation was available , had early dinner & went off to sleep hoping for a clear weather the next day.Let me inform readers that it was'nt a comfortable night , most of us had headaches due to altitude & cold weather, low oxygen levels really made our life a little difficult that night.Let me apprise the readers that a walk of few hundred feet would ensure 10-15min of fatigue only because of low oxygen levels.
Day 5
Fortunately weather was clear & we all decided to move quickly towards chandrataal, road again is stone & dirt track & very narrow. We had to get down & remove large stones on the way & if one encounters a landslide it is not possible to turn back. Fortunately we reached the gate of the chandrataal sanctuary in approx 2 hrs time. One has to trek for a km to reach the lake & the first glimpse of the pearl like lake against the backdrop of high barren snowcapped mountains is mesmerizing..... guys one needs to see it to believe it. The lake is situated at a hieght of 4300m & a small stream quietly flows out of it to become the mighty , thundrous river called chandra and it is joined by equally mighty Bhaga river somewhere on the border of HP & Jammu to become Chandrabhaga, before entering the plains of punjab via kashmir to become Chenab.Luckily we found out that a guy from delhi runs a tented dhaba on the banks of Chandrataal . We spent half a day on the lake, Anil, shiv & two others circled the lake & clicked whatever they could & two of us stayed back to catch a quick nap in the balmy sun.Weather was not very encouraging so we all decided to head back to Manali instead of getting stuck & our driver chacha made sure that we were in our hotel rooms at manali by 10 pm.
Day 6
We got up a little late & the first thing we did was to book our tickets to delhi on the evening A/C coach. Later anil & myself decided to visit the Manu rishi temple & others decided to explore manali. On our way back from the temple we decided stop at Johnsons Cafe to spend a lazy afternoon with some cool bears & tandoori Trout fish, it is recomended to everyone visiting manali. We boarded the bus at 4pm & reached delhi at 6am the next day.
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