Bus Journey to ASIA'S HIGHEST BRIDGE - Kaza to Chicham | Key, Kibber, Chicham & Tashigang | Himbus
♫ Hello friends, all of you are welcome to our channel. Currently you are watching our Spiti Valley mini-video series. In the previous video, we reached Kaza from Reckongpeo by a beautiful bus of Reckongpeo depot.
You must have learned about the routes and buses from Shimla to Kaza via Kinnaur in that video. Now in today's video, we will take a local bus from Kaza to Chicham village via Key Monastery and Kibber and our today's stay will also be in Chicham village. Meanwhile, we will pass through Spiti's largest monastery and Asia's highest road bridge. We will also know in details about the nearby villages. So freinds let's start today's video.
Today is 22nd May and we started from Reckongpeo this morning and reached Kaza at 2:30 in the afternoon. Now all the passengers have got off the bus and now the bus will go to Kaza Post Office to drop the mail. Today this bus has come to Kaza for the first time, so the local staff here also boarded the bus till the post office and are taking photos and videos. There is a post office here along with a petrol pump and the conductor have gone to submit the mails. This is the world's highest petrol pump built at 3800 metres.
After this we started back towards the bus stand. It is 3 o'clock now and It's summer time, so nowadays it gets dark till 8 o'clock, so there is plenty of time left to roam here. So today we have thought of going to Chicham, the HRTC bus going from Kaza to Chicham will leave from here at 5 o'clock, so we will have to wait here for 2 hours. So in the meantime, let's visit Kaza Market and have something to eat.
Along with the bus stand, the road leads to the market and there are many hotels, homestays and food shops here. After this I came back to the bus stand. On this side, this is a bus going to Demul which will leave from here at 5 o'clock. People are keeping their luggage on the roof of the bus. Nowadays new BS6 buses do not have roof carriers but here people have to carry so much of their luggage in buses, so the carriers of these old buses come in handy. Right now only a few passengers are sitting in our bus and the in-charge is making tickets.
The bus fare from Kaza to Chicham is Rs 61. So now our driver has boarded the bus, in some time the bus will leave from here towards Chicham. Local buses run on 7 routes from Kaza to Spiti, which include Kaza to Losar via Rangrik, Chicham via Kibber, Komic via Langza, Mudh via Kungri, Sumdo via Tabo, Lalung and Demul routes All buses leave from here only after noon and return to Kaza the next morning. The timings of buses leaving from Kaza and returning are written on the board here. After this, the bus started from Kaza at 5 o'clock. Talking about the route of our bus, starting from Kaza, the bus will reach Chicham village via Key Village, Key Monastery, Kibber and Chicham Bridge.
This route is only 27 KMs and it will take about 2 hours. The sun is quite intense here even till 5 o'clock but it is not hot here. The winds blow very cold and you can see that there is snow on the mountains in front. Even nowadays, the temperature here goes down to 0 degrees or sometimes even minus at night He is Mr. Jitendra, the conductor of our bus.
The tricolor has also been built on the hill in front which is visible from far away. And this is The Spiti Hotel of Himachal Tourism on this side. Apart from this, many other hotels and homestays are available in Kaza City. On the right side this road goes towards Langza, Komic and Hikkim villages. In the next video we will cover these three villages.
Spiti river is spread very wide here and the water spreads completely. But see here, the river passes through this narrow place, that is why all the water of the river is flowing here together. Through this bridge the route further goes towards Manali via Losar, Kunzum Pass and Gramphu.
Currently Kunjum pass is closed but will open in 1-2 days. Across the river in front is this Rangrik village. The road from Kaza to Manali also passes on the other side covering that villages.
The bus going from Kaza to Losar also passes through there. There are many such villages situated in this valley till Losar and you will get many options to stay in these villages also. There are very few passengers in our bus. This bus covers 3 villages, Key, Kibber and Chicham and the population of those villages is very less. If you are visiting Spiti Valley for the first time then we would recommend that you stay here for a day at Kaza Especially when you are coming here for the first time.
Visit Kibber, Chicham or Langza side the next day. This is because these villages are situated at a higher altitude than Kaza and the oxygen level there is very low, so your health can also deteriorate at night. This does not happen with everyone but many people face this problem. Right now we are slowly climbing uphill in this direction. When the road to Kibber was built, it was the highest road-connected village in the world, but now this title is held by Komic village of Spiti Valley.
Then in about half an hour we reached in Key village. Many huts have been built here for tourists to stay. Key is a small and famous village on this side. This village is famous for the monastery here. The monastery is upstream from the village and our bus will go up to the monastery there also.
♪ After the Key village, the bus stopped here and water would be filled here. Actually, there is no water in the Chicham where the HRTC staff stay, hence they have to carry water from here. Below are the fields of the people of Key village. Almost all the villages of the valley are situated in such places where the soil is suitable for farming. Nowadays, some vegetables and fruits etc. are grown here in summer, but in winter this entire area remains covered with snow.
This Key monastery is visible at the top, after climbing a little more from here, our bus will reach the monastery there also. After climbing continuously, we reached this turn of the Key monastery. From here the road ahead goes towards Kibber and Chicham and for Key Monastery we have to enter through this gate. Key Monastery is hardly 1 KMs away from this turn. Within some time our bus reached Key Monastery.
There are some passengers alighting here, after dropping whom the bus will go back. Key monastery is the largest monastery of Spiti Valley. This monastery is believed to have been built in the 11th century. Although it is not easy to reach this cold desert, but here too many unruly people have attacked and this monastery has been demolished many times. Apart from this, incidents like fire and earthquake have also caused damage to it many times.
Later it was rebuilt by the Archeology and Public Works Department. Today many Buddhist monks live in this monastery. Some monks stay here throughout the year but most of them migrate to lower Himachal or other monasteries in the country during winters because life here is very difficult in winter. So after dropping the passengers at Key Monastery here, the bus is now moving towards Kibber. It will take another 20-25 minutes from here to reach Kibber.
Then we again came to this gate, we had come from Kaza from the lower road and after going to Key Monastery, we will now go to the right side from here. By continuously climbing from Kaza, we have now come quite high. We still have to climb another 5-6 kilometers till Kibber. The road here is single lane and there is a deep ditch along it. There is no barricade here on the roadside. One can go comfortably here during the day but one has to be doubly careful during evening and night.
Our destination i.e. Chicham village is visible in front. Right now we are climbing the Kibber hill on this side, after that we will go to that side. From here this Kibber bypass road passes which goes straight to Chicham. We have to go up via Kibber and then go to Chicham. And here we enter Kibber village. Kibber is a wildlife sanctuary and many rare animals including the snow leopard are found here.
Then at 6:15 PM we reached Kibber village. It took us 1 hour to reach here from Kaza. The distance is not much but it takes this much time to reach comfortably. So this is Kibber village situated at an altitude of 4270 meters above sea level. When the road was built in Kibber, it was the highest village in the world to have a motorable road.
Later, Komic in Spiti Valley was also connected by road and then that village became the highest road-connected village in the world. Nowadays one can easily reach here only during the summer season, in winter this entire region is covered with a thick layer of snow and it is extremely cold here. Nowadays even in the month of May the minimum temperature here goes below 0 or even so, so guess what would be the condition here in winters. There is snow on the high peaks around here and there are dunes made of rocks and sand. This entire area is dry and the winds blow here so cold that the body shivers even during the day.
Due to being situated at such a height, the oxygen level here also remains very low. For people coming from outside, it is recommended to acclimatize for 1-2 days in Kaza before coming here. Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary is a huge area spread over about 2200 square kilometers which is spread in these high mountains. Many rare animals and birds etc. are found here which includes Snow leopard,
Red fox, Tibetan wolf, golden eagle, ibex, blue sheep and lammergeier. The passengers coming to Kibber have got down here and only 1-2 passengers going to Chicham are left. Most of the houses in Kibber village are built in the same old style in which the roof of the house is made using mud and wood So that it can remain warm in winter. After this we moved ahead of Kibber towards Chicham.
The people of Kibber village have farms here. Soon we came to this turn where we joined the road going straight from Kaza to Chicham. Meaning, if you want to go directly from Kaza to Chicham, then you can bypass Kibber and come here from this lower road. But this road that bypasses Kibber is still in very bad condition.
Then soon we reach the highest bridge of Asia which is known as Chicham Bridge. And our bus will now cross this bridge and go to the other side. So after crossing this high Chicham bridge, our bus has now stopped on this side. This does not mean that if you come by local bus, you will not get to stop here.
You can stop for 5-10 minutes and take photos on the bridge. Chicham Bridge is the highest road bridge in Asia. There is a deep valley between Kibber and Chicham villages on which this bridge has been built. Before the construction of this bridge, the people of Chicham used to go out from here on foot or through trolley but after the construction of this bridge, Chicham and Kaza have been directly connected. This bridge is a special attraction for the tourists coming to Spiti and there is a gathering of tourists here throughout the day. The bus stopped here for about 10 minutes.
After this, we started moving towards the last stop, Chicham. Now we have to climb uphill to reach Chicham and the distance is only 1-2 kms. The condition of the road from the bridge up to the village is a bit bad. The entire region is dry, so a lot of dust keeps flying.
If you have problem with dust then definitely carry a mask with you. Continuing to climb from Chicham bridge, we have now reached almost same height as Kibber. This valley between these villages is very narrow and very deep. While the height of Kibber is 4270 meters, Chicham is situated at a slightly lower altitude i.e 4154 meters. It is 6:45 pm and we have reached the entrance gate of Chicham village.
It took us about one and a half hour from Kaza to reach here. And our bus was parked on the side right at the entry of the village. Evening has fallen and the last rays of the sun are shining on the mountain peaks. It will get dark in a short time and the cold here has also increased suddenly.
That Kibber village is also visible in front, apart from these Chicham and Kibber village, there is no other population on this side. Gete and Tashigang villages are situated on the other side of the hill behind Kibber village. From here, a road from Chicham also goes to Kyato village where you join the Kaza-Manali road. That means, if you want to go to Manali from here, you do not need to go to Kaza again.
Today my night stay will be here in Chicham village only. The HRTC bus is parked on the side here and the bus staff also lives in this house built above here. The staff of our bus are going towards their rooms with their luggage. Driver Hans Raj ji is from Mandi and conductor Jitendra is from Karsog. These are beds for the staff to stay and a heater is also installed here to avoid cold.
There is kitchen, washroom etc. but they had to carry water along with them and the other big thing is that there is no electricity here. They have to do their work only with the help of a solar light. Now I have to go inside the village because the homestay I have booked here is almost at the end of the village. The winds have become very strong here and it is also feeling cold. Soon I reached Pema's cottage here.
Woke up early this morning and reached Kaza from Reckongpeo which you saw in the previous video, and have just come straight here to Chicham. So now I will rest and will visit Chicham village tomorrow morning. There is complete peace in the village and now the sun has also set.
Now let's go inside the homestay. There are many rooms in this homestay, some rooms are on the ground floor and some are on the first floor, my room is on the ground floor here. The room is like this, here the charges are taken per person which ranges from RS 1000 to RS 1500 depending on the room type. Dinner and breakfast are included in this. It has become quite cold outside but the room is quite cozy. And the kitchen and dining room are on this side where this bonfire is burning in the middle and all the guests sit around and eat food.
First of all, drank lemon tea here, then after freshening up, ate food and after that I went to my room and slept. Next morning I woke up comfortably by 8 o'clock and by now the sun was shining outside. After taking bath, I had breakfast and breakfast included hot parathas and curd. Visiting these remote villages of Spiti Valley like Chicham and Kibber is a different experience in itself. A few days ago we were touring Rajasthan in which we had shown you the Thar Desert of Jaisalmer. This landscape also seems similar to that but the difference is that there are high mountains here and it is quite cold.
Most of the area is barren but people have made fields around the village and grow vegetables etc. for their needs. All the remaining items have to be brought down from Kaza. In winter, there is a thick blanket of snow everywhere and it is extremely cold. Still the people here survive in those conditions. On this side, Kibber and Chicham are the only two villages which is situated opposite to each other.
Apart from this, a unpaved road above Kibber goes to Gete and Tashigang villages. Gete village is a very small and there are only 8-10 houses here. Tashigang village is a short distance ahead of Gete village. And for this time's Lok Sabha and Assembly by-elections, a polling booth was also built in Tashigang, which was the highest polling booth in the world. Tashigang village does not have much population and the total number of voters here is 62.
The road from Kibber to Tashigang is unpaved and the distance is about 8 kilometers. And here Langza village is also visible in front of Tashigang but there is no connection in between. You will have to go back to Kaza and then go to road to Langza. If you come here to visit Spiti, then you must have at least a week's time so that you can explore all these beautiful places thoroughly. We have come here from Shimla via Kinnaur and the other way to reach here is from Manali via Kunzum Top.
The road via Manali is open only from May-June to October-November. You can come from Manali side and go back from Shimla side because only then you will be able to complete the Spiti circuit. So friends, with this we end this video here. Hope you are enjoying these videos of Spiti Valley and you will also be getting all the information about this place. In the next video, we will take you to the world's highest village Komic connected by road and will also show you the world's highest post office.
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2024-06-17 20:15
