Whenever we think about biking in the Himalayas, the route to ladakh comes to all of our minds. But let me try and sell you a lesser explored but my no means a less deserving destination.
A couple of years ago I made an impromptu long weekend trip to Kaza (the biggest town in Spiti valley) and despite being one of my shortest trips, it ended up becoming one of the most memorable trips of my life!
I was residing in Shimla at that point in my life and was feeling quite burned out from my job and life in general. A travel buddy that I had met during my first visit to Spiti were back in Spiti and called me up to invite me to join them and relive some celebrated times together.
And just a couple of hours later I had already boarded a bus to Kaza from Shimla and taken upon myself a 24 hour bus ride both ways just to be able to spend two night in that place.
The bus left the Shimla bus stand at around 4 p.m. and after a loud cramped bus ride with one stop a dhaba for dinner, we reached the Reckong Peo bus stand at about 3 a.m. in the morning. The bus stand was closed ofcourse and so were the toilets. I found myself a wrought iron bench to rest on until I waited for the bus to Kaza that arrived at 7.a.m. It gets pretty chilly there at night, so I tried my best to keep myself warm by spreading a jacket underneath me and another on top of me while I tried to take a nap on a metal bench in middle of nowhere. But, I have no complaints :)
I couldn't take my eyes off of the landscape outside and was completely smitten by it throughout the journey. It got to witness the rare occurrence of a rainfall in Spiti. I finally reached Kaza around 6p.m. and caught up with my friends.
And we did what we always did in Spiti, sat under the clear night sky and shared stories while we made new ones. One thing led to another and somehow I ended up sharing with them that I had always dreamed about being able to ride a bike in the Himalayas. And before I knew, one of them signed me up for some bike riding lessons on his bike the next day.
I slept in the next morning and after brunch, spent the entire afternoon learning how to ride a bike. Not to brag! But I turned out to be a quick learner and was riding the bike uphill and downhill by myself before dawn.
I rode the bike to the next town and was so excited that I forgot how cold it will be once the sun goes down.On my way back to Kaza my hands froze and so did my legs but I made it down the hill from Kaza to the place where I was staying. I parked the bike and struggled to walk back in with a shivering body and chattering teeth.
My friend saw me and ran to my rescue, She walked me to my bed and threw five blankets on top of me before she began rubbing my hands and feet. About 30 minutes later, I was beginning to warm up. But honestly have no regrets, I was in fact filled with a sense of pride about having made my dream come true.
I was a perfect day, in a perfect place!
The roads, the views, the air, the people, the quiet, and just the whole experience, there was some magic in all of that!
And who would have thought, the shortest trip of my life would help me make my biggest dream come true.
Next morning, I jumped on a bus at 6a.m. on a Sunday morning for my 24 hour long bus ride back to shimla so that I could show up to work at 9 a.m.
I learned something from that trip, that we should all take on a long, hard and dreaded journey in our life with a hope that it will be worth it.
If not that, one thing that we all must do in 2021 is go on a bike trip to Spiti instead of Ladakh!!
And I did biked in Ladakh the summer after, but spiti still remains my favourite place. I feel blessed while being able to tell people that spiti is the placed where I learned to bike.
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