Kalpa to Tabo – Day Three of Spiti Circuit

Please Read Day One and Two here:

Spiti Circuit – Day One & Spiti Circuit – Day TWO

Reaching Kalpa on Day Two was a bit of a challenge from Reckong Peo with Google recommending the shortest possible route thorough very small lanes into which the XUV hardly fitted in.

Finally made it to the place where we stayed “Little Heaven” which is actually a Himachali Home-stay (thanks to Ranjeet who helped us book our stay to experience this). The place was small and with no parking, we had to park very meticulously to ensure onward traffic had no problem (had a HRTC bus that frequents this place in the morning). Trying to escape the drizzle, we went into the home stay and were surprised with the very basic facilities that this place has to offer but more so the hospitality of the locals was something we said is the deal breaker here.

We were welcomed in with some nice warm masala chai (Tea) which made us feel a bit warm.

For dinner, we had some nice pulkhas with vegetable curry and dal rice along with salad while interacting with our guests on how the region is and their lifestyle.

We were too tired and hit the bed with no second thoughts post dinner and woke up to a pleasant surprise next morning….

We started capturing a few pics the next day morning (attached above) and after completing breakfast (parathas) and chai, we started to get our luggage back to the car.

After bidding farewell to our hosts, we set course from Kalpa to Tabo. Just as we crossed a couple of kilometers, we get a call, and guess what.. i forgot my jacket back at the place.

The distance is around 150 kms, however took close to 8 hours due to bad roads and a pit stop at Nako.

The hosts were kind enough to send it through a passing car as we took a U turn back. Once, we took the jacket, we then started on our trip to Tabo.

The route was filled with a few decent and many bad patches till we crossed Pooh. We saw a marriage party ready to leave for a marriage function.

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Crossing Pooh and somewhere close to Dubling, the roads starting getting better and we reached Nako around 1400 hrs.

A few interesting facts about Nako Village and reaching there:

• It is situated at a height of 3660m (Above Sea Level)
• It shares close proximity with the Indo – China International Border
• Found in the era of 955 – 1055 AD and represents different kinds of Buddhism
• There is no air / rail connectivity and the easiest way to reach there is the Himachal Roadways / Taxis from Shimla which is around 250 kms
• Stay options are limited with only a few guest houses / home stays
• While i did not find any Check post, Foreign nationals might need a Inner Line Permit (ILP) due to its proximity to International Border

After entering the village, we did some local shopping for woolen gloves (missed getting mine from Hyderabad) and exploring the small lanes went further to reach the Nako Monastery.

We then went on to Nako Lake, had some memorable pictures and visited the Monastery near which we parked our vehicle.

After spending some good time at Nako Lake and visiting the Monastery, we then set our course to Tabo our destination for Day Three.

Fairly good roads is what welcomed us towards Sumdo and Tabo while a few bad patches were being repaired.

Something interesting happened as we were on our way, due to the small roads, i stopped en-route to give way to a local Alto vehicle and to my surprise he stopped alongside and seeing that we were a family with a kid, offered yummy apples close to a dozen of them for us to consume and wished us a safe trip… We were taken aback by this hospitality. We thanked the couple and moved towards Tabo which was now a bit under 25 kms from there.

We went further to reach our destination around 17:30 while the sunshine was still around and checked into Hotel Maitreya Regency in Tabo.

It was wonderful for finally reaching the destination for the day and checking into a decent room.

We ordered some snacks and Tea for the evening.

The staff was super friendly and supportive in guiding on routes sharing stories of the place and different places of interest.

We retired for the day after a wonderful dinner to wake up the next day at around 6.00 am.

Post the breakfast, we went visiting the Tabo Gompa which was a pleasure and a peaceful experience. The Monks who welcomed us, showed us different aspects of a Buddhist Monastery was beyond explanation.

A word of caution, when visiting a Monastery, please observe for signs prohibiting photography or check with a monk for permission to click a few pictures, most of whom would happily oblige.

It was time to bid farewell to Tabo after a wonderful stay and visit to the Tabo Gompa.

We started on our journey further to Kaza from Tabo.

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