A failed attempt to reach Spiti Valley on new KTM Bike - Opportunity to make random plans to explore even more special places in Shimla region of Himachal Pradesh
It was my first sabbatical after completing 5 years at Adobe systems and I had no clear plan. During an evening, Aneesh called to share about his new bike and we started talking about what is he planning. On that phone call, we decided that we will go to Spiti Valley. Decided dates on same call, I booked my ticket from Delhi to Shimla. We didn't reach Spiti valley, which you may have figured out from title of this blogpost, but things we did on our way were very special and now I highly recommend some of those experiences to folks visiting Shimla and Kinnaur regions of Himachal Pradesh.
If you are assuming that both of us were planning to go on 2 separate bikes, let me correct that :). Plan was that Aneesh will ride the bike and I will be on Pillion. Both of us were carrying one bag each. One of the bag was on my bike and other was on fuel tank of KTM Duke 200. We had not provision to pack the stuff on sides. We were cool with it.
Before starting our journey from Shimla, we had a quick round on the Mall road during which he met some of his old friends. He was well equipped and brought a helmet for me as well :). The next items on the agenda was to explore Kinnaur, cross Kaza & hit Keylong, Trilokinath come back to Delhi via Rohtang Pass, Manali, Kullu, Manikaran, Kasol, Mandi & back to Chandigarh. We bought some basic stuff & started our journey. 
Since there are many memories associated with Shimla, we kept stopping at different places and it was fun to have golgappas near St. Beads college. Just after Sanjauli, air became more fresh and fragrant and after some time it started becoming cold because of dense deodar forests on the way. 
On the way to Narkanda, we made frequent stops to capture the beauty of deep valleys in our TravellingCamera. In fact, the space around Punjab's Ex ChiefMinister's house was awesome. Amrinder Singh has a beautiful house on this highway, which is surrounded by dense Deodar trees and Apple Orchards.
Asia's highest Hockey ground is also on this highway. More details about this ground can be checked here.
After some delicious cherries, we thought of taking some rest around Tani Jubber lake. This is a beautiful lake near Kotgarh and is located around a small village of Shimla. More about Tani Jubber Lake can be checked here.
Soon after, it started getting dark and we were still at quite a distance from Jeori. So we had to be ready for a continuous drive now, till we reach Jeori. And the road from Rampur to Jeori was very scary. High hills on one side and deep river on other side. The road was also in a very bad state, and was very dusty. This was not the time to be overenthusiastic though we would have liked to explore more. The good part was that we hadn't made any advance bookings, because that restricts us many ways. Now we had the option to spend time as per our wish and there was no need to rush to the next destination.
Upon reaching Rampur we called some of our friends who could guide us about appropriate options to stay. One of the friends arranged stay at the HPPWD guest house, which is a beautiful place located on a hill top, from where the snow-covered white peaks of Kinnaur were clearly visible in the night. The sky was smattered with stars, and their light was making the snow-covered peaks shine.
Next morning we saw a huge group of people, playing local music and singing folk songs, going towards a nearby temple. They turned out to be the family and friends of the bride. The photograph below shows the local bands that were playing the music.
The agenda for the second day was to go to Sarahan, which was not on the way to Kinnaur, but we didn't want to miss it. There is a steep climb to Sarahan from Jeori, and it takes 45 mintues on a vehicle. Sarahan is surrounded by high hills and boasts of amazing views to deep valleys, Orchards of Apples/Peach/Cherry/Almond etc.
Driving through various orchards and some army stations, we reached the quiet and peaceful Sarahan town. It is a very small place but is very popular because of Bhimakali Temple.
After reaching Sarahan, we visited the Bhimakali Temple first, which is shown in the above photograph. To know more about this temple and its importance, check out a full story here.
Bhimakali Temple has beautiful views of snow covered hills of Kinnaur which were on our itinerary for the next morning. Excited and happy, we were feeling great about the idea of coming to this region during the month of May.
It was time to go back to Jeori. We were very tired because of numerous small treks and random walks/runs we indulged in enroute. As we started driving down, the rain started, but for some time we didn't stop. Then it started raining heavily and we had to take a halt. After a good break, we started again and stopped again before Jeori.
We got a disappointing news as soon as we entered the guest house and reached the dining hall. The caretaker brought a newspaper and pointed out that Chitkul Valley is unreachable now because of landslide, and roads to Kaza are also temporarily blocked because of multiple landslides on the way. There were two contractors sitting on same the dining table and one of them assured us that Kaza road will open up in the next 3-4 days, but Chitkul will take a lot of time as it was badly damaged. This effectively ruined our dinner. We came back to our room and had few drinks...
Alcohol-induced wisdom prevailed and we decided that it wasn't the time to be sad, but to think through the options we had. It was time to change our path. We were already enjoying the road journeys and didn't want to bring down the spirit, even though the plan we had charted up in Shimla now had to be shelved. We were not even considering moving ahead as one of the most beautiful part of Kinnaur was not accessible.
Next morning, journey continued on a different route and next destination for us was Kotgarh where we wanted to spend the night. We wanted to explore more of the orchard hills which are in abundance around Kotgarh.
On the way we met one of the Himalayan Devtas. Priests were taking the Idol from one place to other and it seems they had to carry the idol till the temple without putting it on the ground or on any other surface. The two of them were in the process of exchanging the idols. To know more about local deities of Himachal Pradesh, check this out.
We hit Kotgarh hills quite early in the noon and enjoyed fresh fruits from the orchards. Above photograph shows Aneesh on his bike and cherry trees in the background. All these trees were covered with white net, probably to save the fruits from birds. Initially we were hesitant about entering these orchards as we had heard a lot of stories of dangerous dogs that watch these orchards. After wasting some time thinking, we gathered courage and went up to pluck a few cherries. And I can't explain the experience. Those big sized cherries were amazingly juicy.
At Kotgarh, we had to meet some of my friends. Gaurav owns a resort known as Sheetalvan which has beautiful cottages of new & old style. All these cottages are surrounded by orchards of Apple, Kiwi, Pear and Almonds etc. Check out more about Sheetalvan HERE.
So that's how our plan to Spiti failed but now we had enough time to explore some of the gems of Shimla region. Let's take a little detailed view of these places. And did I mention that it was not a good idea to ride on one bike for such long trip. I was already uncomfortable and was having back pain. So everything aligned well and we slowed down to explore places mentioned below.
Visit to Bhimakali Temple in Sarahan :
Sarahan is approximately 30 kilometers from Jeory and it's a beautiful town located on hill-top with amazing views of snow covered hills of Kinnaur.
Bheema Kali Temple has a huge campus and different temples inside the campus. There are two main temples, out of which one is accessible to everyone during normal days. "The Second one is opened on some special occasions and Devi only allows Raja Virbhadra Singh to open the door of that temple."
Shri Bheema Kali Temple is located in Sarahan town of Himachal Pradesh in India which is dedicated to the mother goddess Bhimakali, presiding deity of the rulers of former Bushahr State. The temple is situated about 180 km from Shimla and is one of 51 Shakti Peethass. The temple complex has another three temples dedicated to Lord Raghunathji, Narsinghji and Patal Bhairva Ji (Lankra Veer) - the guardian deity.
Architecture of Bheema Kali Temple is beautiful. Whole campus is built with Stone and wooden blocks. It seems some part of the campus has not even cement to fix the joints. Whole campus is very well maintained and there is enough security as well.
Here is one of the doors of the Bheem Kali temple in Sarahan Town. It's made up of silver with beautiful carving. There is also some text written, mostly in Hindi and Tibbatian scripts. Most of the carved forms are different gods and linked through some old stories.
According to a legend, the manifestation of the goddess is reported to the Daksha-Yajna incident when the ear of the Sati fell at this place and became a place of worship as a Pitha - Sthan. Presently in the form of a virgin the icon of this eternal goddess is consecrated at the top storey of the new building. Below that storey the goddess as Parvati, the daughter of Himalaya is enshrined as a divine consort of Lord Siva.
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Here is a nearby sight, which is popularly known as Hawa-Ghar. This point has very clear view of Kinnar-Kailash Hills and place was quite windy. We spent around 30 minutes here to enjoy the breeze and take rest. This place is isolated form hustle bustle of the town. When we reached, there was only one person sitting here. Probably this place was least used by localites, as everyone has Hawa-ghar around their own houses :)
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Whole place was surrounded by Pine or Deodar Forests and smell was awesome in the middle of these forests.
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The town Sarahan is known as the gateway of Kinnaur. Down below at a distance of 7 km from Sarahan is the River Satluj. Sarahan is identified with the then Sonitpur mentioned in Puranas.
Before entering into the main temple, everyone needs to lock mobiles, wallets or anything else which is made of leather and then wear a cap. Above photograph shows Aneesh wearing the holy cap and standing on right side of lockers everyone gets to keep everything safe.
Royal House in Sarahan (Bushahr Kingdom) :
This Rajmahal is just behind Bhimakali Temple in Sarahan town of Shimla district. Architecture of this Rajmahal was almost similar to one which we saw in Rampur, Shimla. We visited Sarahan next day after exploring Rampur and Jeori.
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Usually people know Sarahan because of Bhimakali Temple and folks are hardly worried about this huge campus. But above view caught our attention and these huge houses made us explore possibilities to go there and see. Initially people were hesitant about telling that property belongs to Raja Virbhadra Singh, but gradually we got to know. While having snacks in the market, someone told us that visitors are also allowed inside this campus. He guided us through the main gate where we requested the gate-keeper. He allowed us to go inside and see some of these huge complexes.
As we entered, there was a very well maintained road connecting all Apple orchards & houses. First we crossed few apple trees on boths sides and then there was a gate on right which was a direct entry for Bhimakali Temple. Bhimakali Temple has two main entries, one is from main market and other is from this Rajmahal campus.
As we moved close to these huge buildings, we noticed that some families were living there. We didn't ask much but it seems, these were families of folks who were taking care of this whole campus full of Apple Orchards, different buildings and few small temples as well.
At the end of this internal road, there is a huge building which was probably the largest one among all. This was named as 'Shrikhand View'. Above photograph shows one of the main gates for this building. Initially we were hesitating to enter inside this building but staff there was quite welcoming and they guided us through the whole building.
There is a huge lawn around this building and above photograph is clicked form lawn only. Photograph shows view of hills above the main Rajmahal. This whole campus is surrounded by Pine forests. In fact whole Sarahan town is mainly surrounded by Pine and Apple Trees :)
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Sarahan Palace was also capital of former princely state of Bushahr for several centuries. Sarahan is famous for it's legends, hilly architecture, special culture and amazing beauty of nature all around.
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It's on hill top and there is a deep valley next to it which ends at Satluj River. One can see snow covered peaks of Shirkhand mountains and that is why one of the main Palace is known as Shirkhand View Palace.
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Summer capital of Rampur Bushahr which is one of the biggest princely states in the Shimla region is mainly popular for Bhimkali Temple. Sarahan presents striking spectacle of snow-covered Himalayan ranges and a picture of unspoilt pastoral loveliness. It beholds the construction technic of more than 800 years old and also gives a good opportunity to study the western Himalayan architecture.
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Shrikhand view has a huge campus and many rooms attached to it. It seems, some of the rooms have not been opened for many years. Some of them have very old styled locks and chains.
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With its two multi-tiered sanctuary towers, elegantly sloping slate-tiled roofs, and gleaming golden spires, Sarahan Palace & Bhimakali Temple are few of the most majestic of the few early timber architectures left in the Sutlej Valley... This is an area renowned for its unusual tradition of housing holy shrines on raised wooden platforms.
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Notice these chains and locks, which are still in use at Sarahan Palace. There are some small temples inside the Palace as well.
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These huge seating areas in Palace balconies are really royal. Bhimakali Temple was made at the order of Raja Shamsher Singh in the mid-nineteenth century. The sanctum also contains a fabulous collection of Hindu as well as Buddhist bronzes.
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One of the most interesting structures of the timber-bonded style is Raja Bushahr Palace cum Temple Complex which has been described as one of the finest specimens of hilly architecture. Almost 2000 years old, and like all buildings of the hill type, it is built of layers of rubble masonry and beams of cedar wood.
Without going into details, here are few more links to explorations in this part of Himachal Pradesh :
Explore heritage of Rampur Bushehar
Blushing Red Cherries in the snow rich region of Himachal Pradesh - Kotgarh (Shimla)
Tani Jubber Lake @ Thanedar near Narkanda, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh
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