Bhapa Pass, India

Arrive at New Delhi airport

Snowland welcomes Yongo Bhapa Pass

Our first meal in India ... SANDOZ

Yummy yummy

Onions appetizer

Eat eat

Capati or naan ?
Naan it is, capati –flatten non fluffy varieties normally over hot plate. Naan over tandoori oven (earthern or mud or cement holes)

Royal bed

Next day, get on the bus

On the way to the train station......

Mini taxi ...

Ok, everybody get ready to walk to the train station. Get help from some porters..

No that's not our train.

Waiting for the train to arrive, chit chat...

Nice train, comfortable seats

Wah, provide hot water and snacks ....

Makan makan

On the way...

Arrive at Chandigrah.... everywhere got porter...

Transfer to car....

Yippie ...

Wow nice car seats...

Ok lunch time.... Singh's Chicken, recommended by lonely planet..
Most common n popular dish is buttered chicken

Order food

Chicken briyani, mutton briyani, yogurt, ice cream ...etc..

Anyone want to buy some fruits ?

On the way to Manali ...300km but take many many hours drive...

Ok, entering Himachal Pradesh state...

Going up hill... lots of lorry

Toilet stop ... and photo of car No.2 and professional driver...

This peach, got story.... everyone in the car finish eating in less than 1 minute, already throw the seed out the window. But I still eating slowly, I think about 20 minutes to finish.

Truck break down

Passing many other small towns

Still long drive...

Toilet stop and masala tea

Are we there yet, getting dark soon and no street lights...

Ok, arrive in Manali!

Dinner time, prepared by hotel.... curry dahl, curry aloo, curry cheeze...and some salad..

Nice comfy hotel room.... will be staying here for 3 nights

Next morning....

That's our hotel...

Walking around town

Snowland office ..the green building...

Jalan jalan

Ok, back to hotel for breakfast...

Mango...

Everyone ready

Street food...Samosir

Ok, time for some exercise ... pine trees forest...

Lepcha, assistant guide...

Some stalls

Hadimba Devi Temple

Helloo!

Nice view...

Happy plant growing by roadside.... marijuana...

Manali first frequented by Hippies flower people because of free highs (marijuana) growing wild in the area. Then backpackers came and hippies moved on to Vasikh area quieter. Then the local tourists and so on. Manali is a honeymoon area for locals Indians as far as Bombay.

Walking around

Explore old part of manali

Photo photo

Explore villages

Keeping animals on ground floor to keep house warm... body heat..

Looks colourful

Entering pine trees forest again

Mr Chang asking some questions

Climb out through the fence

Who wants to buy Himalaya products... the shop is here...

Snowland office, have some apple juice...

Buying some trekking gear...

Lunch lunch

Momo...

Momos served at Tibetan Dhabas (translated coffeeshops)
Many Tibetans relocated here from Tibet.

Chicken chow mean...

Need new pants ...

Doggie

Wai Fun and me

Have some chai

Buying some seeds...

Pharmacy

Diamox for AMS....

Cheapest car in the world $2500 USD

Time for some fine dining.... trout fish

Oh, everyone gets a new hat

Yummy yummy very good... trout with mint sauce and another one with almond sauce..

Urrggg... taking Diamox pill...

Next day breakfast - bread is called Puri…usually fluffed up but flattened when empty of fluff

New driver

Solang Valley... can do paragliding or Zorbing

Who wants to try... can do the short one or the long one

Photo photo

I just sightseeing, take the gondola...

Exploring the top of the hill with Tze Ling

Going back down

Christina just landed

Ok ok, wait for others to finish... hot hot hot...

Lunch time.... small stall nearby...

Ordered maggie mee goreng (fried)...
but looks like Maggie porridge... taste ok...

Ok, what's next...

Ok, trekking warm up... trek back to Manali

So many rocks

Nice views

Pass by some villages

Fruit trees... Solang Valley trek back to Manali via many apple orchards

Me..heheh

Lepcha and Vincent play some volleyball..

Peas in a pod...

Barley or some kind of grain...

Photo with some pretty village girls

Flower

Christina trying out some farm work...

Bye bye doggie.... this dog was following us ...

Ok ok, back to Manali. Free and easy....
Dinner time at restaurant recommended by Mohinder

Tandoori chicken

Butter chicken, and other yummy stuff
Wow wow... excellent

Happy happy...

Have some more...

Group photo...

Next morning...

Mr Chang's Birthday!

Got card also....

Ok, check out and on the way to Rohtang Pass

First top over Rohtang is Mahri 3390 meters break for tea

Some soup

Getting cold...

Drive up some more

Nice view

Traffic jam.... stuck for 2-3 hours here I think, also waiting for VIP car to pass by..

While we are stuck, lets take some funny photos in the car...

Driver

Connie

Have some corn...

Ok, cross the rockfall area, wait for others... or toilet stop anywhere here...

Ok, welcome to Rohtang pass 3978m.... lots of locals coming here to see the snow..

Taking photo of myself...

Good car...

Ok... next.. continue driving down the valley....

Nice view - Past Rohtang, enter Lahauli Valley, the many green pics

Glacier everywhere... good thing machine already cut...

Wow.. some waterfall

Nice scenery...

Ok, get down from car, let car cross the small stream...

Add in some rocks

Ok no problem...

Challenging road conditions...

Ok, lunch stop... Chatru 3360 meters

Jamie, Chan, Christina, Connie, Boh Seng...

Vincent, Frances and Kim ... having maggie mee ...

Have some chai

Cooking our lunch

Simple lunch... rice with dahl and some curry....

Ok, now what... looks like road is blocked... machine is halfway cutting through glacier

Get down from car and walk ... we all camping the other side..

Horses

Doing funny things while waiting for the tents to arrive...

Nice big rock

Machine and snow

Ok, set up your tents

Wow, nice flat grass...

Wye Yim, our fun and sexy tour leader...

Photo photo... bye bye to drivers...

Who wants to go toilet

Dinner time... chicken and cauliflower

Kitchen tent

Brush teeth

hmmm...

Breakfast

I lazy to remove my shoes...

Ok, bunch of daypacks...

Packing up

Get your ponchos/raincoat..

Rolling up the tent

Sheep

Trekking on glacier

Flower

So many sheep and goats...

How to overtake the sheep...

Ok, need some rest.... Christina tired after having some diarhoea/vomiting..

Walk some more under the hot sun... so many rocks

Everything ok ?

Sheru, the horseman gets a horse for Christina...

Tiny flower and meadows...

This is suppose to be road for cars...

Lunch stop...

Ok, this glacier part go 3 at a time.... who wants to practise first... Jamie ?

Careful... if you slide down, go straight into the river....

Ok, no problem...

More and more rocks

Fixing shoe...

Are we there yet ?

Ok, no we are not camping here... need to walk another 1.5KM

Yay!!! Reach the campsite!

Whew ...

Wow there's a nice little stream here....

Wai Fun and her sleeping bag...

Sleep sleep ... tired tired...

Nicely arranged tents..

Tea and snacks

Breakfast

Wow... looks nice...

Should we pack up now or wait until the cars arrive...

Lunch pack ... better eat the banana first before it becomes banana juice

Ok, free and easy, sun bathing etc.... or get a nice massage from tour leader...

Ok, cars arrive!

Roll up your tents

On the road again...

Oh, apparently Lepcha had to walk 3 hours here to show the cars to our campsite..

Toilet stop/tea break at Batal....

Have some tea

Me and Wye Yim, my room mate...

On the road again... dusty

Our driver...

Kunzum Pass 4452 meters. After this is Spiti Valley

Spiti Valley

Nice snowy mountains

Entering Spiti valley

Spitti valley

Small towns, and farms in Spiti valley...

Lahauli Spiti District once under the Greater Kingdom of Tibet…area is predominantly Tibetan.
Area opens only 6 months a year for tourism bec of heavy snows closes road. During winter, locals manage with govt supplied kerosene

Bridge

Look at the rock formations...

Getting dark...

Ok reach hotel in Kaza town

Soup

Rice with potatoes

Nice big room and comfy bed...

Mohinder, Lepcha and Sheru

Breakfast

All set for some sightseeing

Ki Monastery on top of Hill

Photostop

Ki monastery

Monk show us around and give us a drink

Solar power

Simple lunch... fried rice

Kaza market

Sim has to repair shoe ...sew

Strange rock formations....

Repairing road

Tze Ling and her new mask...

Some kind of tree that some tibeten monk planted 100 years ago...

Lots of kids... sweets... photo photo photo

Its that tracktor again

Ok another monestery embeded in a rocky mountain slope.....
Rocky Mountain Gompas (better word – means Tibetan temple), called DHANKAR

Chang and Chan

Nice view from the monestery rooftop

Me

Heheh

Nice photo... should put this in facebook as well...

Go back down

Ok, Tabo town... Tabo monestery.... overnight here...

No power! Need candle... am I suppose to blow out the candle when I leave the room...
The whole place might burn down..

Candlelight dinner

Looks like we have some macaroni today... and some mutton curry..

The place looks much better in the morning...
Power came back halfway during the night, so managed to charge some battery...

Mutton chow mean

Ok ring the bell

Looks like a mud village but got some very old buddha paintings inside...
Tabo Monastery paintings equal to that of Unesco listed Ajanta Cave paintings in Southern India

Tabo monestery

Want to buy anything ?

Sweeping floor

Another building where everyone else was staying.....

View from the rooftop

Ok, today will start bhapa pass trek... bridge to Pin valley

Entering Pin valley

Amazing rock formations

Sheru gets down from jeep to take care of horses (which have been walking here since the last campsite)

Photo photo

Lunch stop and toilet stop

Camping crew...

Nice view

Welcome to Mudh ... population 255

Reading my 'blog'

Before start trekking photo..

All our camping stuff... wait for horses to arrive...

Ok we start trekking first...

Cross the first stream....

Bridge

Ok, easy walk .. just walk for 2 hours...

Nice view, the town of Mud

Crossing another stream

and another small stream

Ok, Mr Hah resting by a rock fence

Everyone waiting

Sim and Wai Fun

Some local village kids

Ok horseman arrives

Horses arrive with luggage and camping gear

Set up tents

Me and Boh Seng, tent neighbour

Oh, this is already next morning......

Breakfast

Roll up the tents

Start 2nd day Bhapa Pass trekking

Walk walk walk along the Pin river

Lots of purple rocks

Flowers

Small bridge...

Stream

Flat grassy patch

Small small white flowers

Toilet stop

Walk walk walk

Rest

Hah and Connie

What's that...

Another stream

Horses overtake

Horses overtake

Another glacier

I think already raining abit

Lepcha

Oh, here comes the fun part

Tie the rope

Crossing the icy cold river... look straight ahead.. don't look down

Roll up your pants and romove your shoes
(or just remove your pants and wear underwear)

Woo hoo.. who's next ?

Everybody waiting .....

Go go go.. just do it!

Wear back your shoes after getting across...

Ok.... after this I'm next.... really cold, no more photo...

Photo from Chan

Me and Lepcha

Ok, continue trekking to warm up your legs

Lunch stop

Who is that...

Ho hum... another glacier

Look at that evil glacier at the bottom...

Why are we stopping here... need toilet but no place here... no tree no rock...

Ok, looks like they had to hack the glacier...

Everybody cross...

More and more rocks...

Approaching 2nd campsite

Second night camping at Bara Polandar

Mohinder and Sheru

Photo photo

Oh what are they serving

Maggie mee! Maggie mee never tasted soo good...

Maybe you can add in your leftover egg from your lunch pack

Yummy ...

Ok, next day.... early morning about 3am I think...

Horses also need to wake up

All set for Bhapa Pass

Everyone here ?

That must be a moon

Slowly trek up... not too bad actually...

Photo photo of sunrise

Glacier glacier.. snow snow

Ok ok

Snow snow ... still easy to walk on because early morning.. snow still hard..

Boh Seng

Lunch stop ? Toilet stop ?

Don't walk near the rocks because snow melted, might be a huge hole there..

Photo with kitchen helper...

Horses catching up

Hello

Ice

Sim going strong...

Need an escort... ?

Yah why not ...

Everyone doing very well so far

Step by step

Weather looks clear so far but got a tiny bit of snow falling down...

Tired tired

Oh look... we walked so far...

Zig zag up the snowy slope

Me and my escort...

Tired tired

Oh... reach already ah
Height Bhapa Pass 4890 meters

Sim and Hah

Horseman happy

Mr Chang going strong

Almost there

Yay, Connie ! Give Mohinder a hug

Mr Kim....

Time for a speech

Group photo.... everyone made it !

Ok, Tze Ling pls help me take photo here....

Better get down before 12 noon... india timing...

Rest here ... can take a nap also

Somebody gets stuck in the snow...

Sliding down

Whoopie ...

Snow snow snow .........

Down a very rocky and steep slope...

Rest rest ..... I'm last !!!!!

Where's the &*%#$ campsite ???

Camping next to a glacier
Down to FAUTI campsite 3rd night, last night Mooling, then out to Kafnu

Thanks Lepcha for escorting me down....

Ok ok I'm going to sleep......

Next morning breakfast

Wye Yim our hardworking tour leader helping to serve breakfast...
Jamie, eat eat eat...

Why cover up your face.... oh yah you guys were laughing in the tent ...

Nice views here... more green area....

But first need to cross a few more glaciers....slipper can lah

Walk walk walk

Cross some more river

Another one.... jump!

Flowers

Cobra plant

Pine trees

Where's the campsite ........ are we there yet..

Actually we can just eat potato curry.....

4th campsite....in mooling

Tea time .. yummy yummy

Looks like we have some pasta and mutton curry...

Party time

Campfire !!!!

Have some 'mango juice'

Some singing and dancing......

Ok, next morning.....

Last day camping....

Last pack lunch

Horses all ready to be loaded...

Nice scenery here......

Watch out for the cow.....

Tiny flowers

Looing for cobra plant under maple tree

Forest...

Cobra lillies everywhere

Hello baby sheep.....

Some more river

Nice trek...

Namaste

Lunch stop....

Glacier

Finish !!!!!!

Luggage and kitchen helpers waiting for us at Kafnu

Ok, thank you everybody

Larry, our representative, passing out the tips...

Tips for you.... thank you...

Ok... time to sit in the car......

Sun burn face... put some aloe vera cream or vaseline or something..

Hydropower

Ok, you can stop here for toilet or buy some yummy moh moh

Hey, its a pig!

Drivers stop for lunch

On the way to Shimla....

Ok, check in to hotel.....

Ok, next day... lovely breakfast on rooftop

Beware of the monkeys

Welcome to Shimla.... Summer capital of British raj India...

Walking around the shops...

Almond ?

Mangoes

Sharpen your knives

Me

Sweets

Samosa

Nice buildings

Indian coffee house

Colonial style buildings .. Town Hall

Christ Church

Roof

Some shops

Ok, meeting point here at 4pm...

Walk to railway station......

Shimla, popular tourist destination......

Railway station..... Shimla to Kalka

Bye bye Mr Sheru.... see you on facebook....

Get on the train ... Train popularly known as the toy train

The Kalka-Shimla railway line, constructed in 1906... The railway route from Kalka to Shimla, with more than 806 bridges and 103 tunnels.... (from wikipedia)

Honeymoon couple laughing at me because a moth fell into my curry...
"Write in your diary and take photo!!!!".......

Arrive in Kalka station.... change train

Whoo hoo.. everybody tired... already midnight.....

Jamie, Hah and Larry

Time to sleep....zzzzzz

Arrive in Delhi

Old Delhi railyway station

Roadside

Bye bye those to are leaving early......

The rest off to Agra, Jaipur .....

Bye bye Mohinder..

On the way to Agra... wah.. long journey....

Small accident.... another driver reverse into our bus....

Have some naan with tomato sauce

Trying to sell some stuff

Arrive at hotel

Wow nice hotel

Nice room....

Mcdonalds ...... McCurry or Maharajah burger ?

This one is .... Agra Fort. Made of red sandstone..

Our city tour guide explaining something

Photo photo

View of the Taj Mahal... thats the tower where Shah Jahan, the King who built the Taj Mahal was imprisoned...

Carpet factory

Who wants to buy carpets...

Dinner time..... are you happy ?

Ok ok.... going to Taj Mahal

Get on the bus

Scanner...... can't bring in anything except money, passport, camera.
No lipstick, no sun block... etc....

Got my tickets and mineral water

This is the gate....

Welcome to Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal or "Crown Palace"
It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

Photo by Lepcha

Just put on the cloth thing over your shoes so that don't scratch the marble floor

Wah... look at islamic writing on the side

Decorated with designs of flowers. Designs are called marble inlays

Wow look at the delicate carving........

Ok ... this school boy wants my RM1

Ok bye bye Taj Mahal

Happy happy

Breakfast back at hotel

Back on the bus...

Have some rock sugar melon sweets thing .. famous in Agra

Lunch stop

Salad

Lepcha cooking his own meal...

Toll

Ok, reach Jaipur city... check in to hotel

Wow... nice British India style room... best hotel of Bhapa Pass tour...

Nice toilet with nice bath tub...

Dinner time, some traditional Rajastan dance

Dinner

Ok, just rest and watch some Channel V bollywood music...

Doorman ..........

Ok, this is.... Amber fort. Pronounced as Amer Fort

Our Jaipur tourguide.......

Gate with elephants

Flower designs

Mirror design.... some kind of queen living room/bedroom....

Imaginative flower carvings... scorpion tail flowers with elephant ears...

Ok what's next

Jantar Mantar, World Heritage Site

Wow.. that's interesting..... giant astronomy devices
Jaipur King's hobby

Big sundial.... can you tell what's the time now.....

Biggest sundial in the world.......

Ok bye

Back to Delhi

We just love Sandoz

Afghan chicken

Mutton curry, butter chicken, naan....

Ok, next day..... Lepcha takes us sightseeing in Delhi..
This is the biggest mosque in India, DELHI JAMA MASJID

Been here before.... Mahatma Ghandi memorial...

Wow they have a big shopping mall here.... 1 utama style...

Have lunch at food court...or if you want KFC its downstairs....

Last shopping for art and crafts stuff before going to airport...
Ok ok no more battery... thank you...

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