How we travelled from Delhi to Spiti valley for free!!!

Started off our journey from Karol bagh taking only 30 bucks (Ashutosh) and 80 bucks(Arjun) in  our pockets to leave the hustle-bustle of Delhi to hitchhike our way to national highway 1. After walking through a couple of miles with those heavy backpacks on our back (pheww!!)  we met the first tempo driver named Pawan Kumar Gautam who gave us lift till national highway 1.After waiting patiently for another lift we met the second truck driver Ram Gopal Yadav who worked with nestle to deliver the dairy products,he even offered us some packets of yoghurt (yummm!!)  from back of his truck. That was so amazing experience.He shared with us some moments of his life that how he used to play musical instruments with his father and brothers and all the villagers used to gather around to listen and how he used to keep liquor in refrigerator at home without even other family members knowing about it (how cool is that.wish we could do the same.😬) because he told everyone that it's a medicine that keeps cold away and is not for everyone because it can get wrong side effects on body.After reaching some miles he left us again to wander on paths of unknown.we thanked him and moved on to find our another companion on road.

Struggling our way we hitchhiked 13 transports to reach shimla that includes 3 tempos, 3 cars and 7 trucks. At shimla we decided to rest the night there at a dharamshala.It was not a bad idea to share the room with a 60 year old himachali (clothes smelling like soaps and medicines) .

Next day we decided to leave for jakhu temple trekk leaving our big bulky bag behind in the room and carried only what we needed like water bottles,phones etc.our first stop on top of the mountain a tall majestic Statue of lord hanuman as if keeping an eye on the city. Looking at such a majestic Statue of lord hanuman you feel so small In Such a big world. Coming back down after few hours of rest we had our breakfast of aloo pranthas which filled us up to the brim. So to ease our stomachs we decided to take another hike and here's the fun begins.  The hike was of 16 kms one way to a temple called Tara Devi temple. The trek was from a very dense forest and after the hike we saw a beautiful temple dedicated to Devi Tara and lord Shiva.  It was situated at a height of 5300 feet above sea level. The wind were blowing on our face like a kiss of nature. On our way back to shimla we got to know there is a gurudwara at old bus stand we sat there to listen to the peaceful mind soothing chants and moved to the langar hall to have our dinner for tonight we were feeling so lucky to have langar, after all it's free food.😀

In short it was a day well spent

As we left Shimla through the tunnels of lakkkar bazar, we could hear the calling of spiti more clearer(and the beating hearts too) . We again started hitch hiking and met our third truck driver for today named Gopal thakur. Gopal thakur seemed very generous and kind person. He was into driving vehicles for last 20 years and now he had his own vehicle which was a truck he use to transport sand and other construction material.

Gopal thakur is a live example of kindness and hope that there are still some good left in humans. As he told us the story how once he got conned for just helping a person and still believes in helping others.He had a very positive perception towards life. We loved how he connected nature to humans by saying that "Nature has a big role in making a human being's personality " and that "Money is not everything that matters in this world" as he was raised in poverty and grew out of it. He even paid for our "chai". On leaving he asked for our phone numbers and facebook accounts and asked to send him request and said that next time he will show us apple orchards and let us have some for free (what else do we need from this Life).Later in the evening he even called us to assure we have reached safely to our next destination.He left us at a place called sainj from where we hitch hiked to Rampur.
Rampur is a small town of himachal where you can find satluj river flowing through the massive mountains that gives you some scenic views of the place.

Deepak Mehta, a civil engineering graduate struggling to find a job dropped us at not so famous town in himachal called Jeori.First we tried to find a place to set up our camps but did not succeed as there were more of govt. Quarters where they did not allow us to set up our camps, besides there was no safe place so we had to hire a cheap room for night.

Next morning we headed to a nearby Shiva Mandir where we had a rejuvenating bath at a hot water spring (kund).Now the plan was to reach Reckong-peo that was 100 kms from Rampur.The plan was good, because it was practical(Practical? Are you serious?) Nothing was practical about our journey so we reached peo in 3-4 hours by changing 2-3 modes of transport which increased our hunger to reach Kaza(spiti valley) which was still somewhere around 250 kms to go.our journey got more and more difficult as the number of vehicles on road were getting lesser as we were going deep into the mountains, still we managed to reach the checkpoint from where they check your Ids.luckily we found two youngsters going around 60-70 kms far.The journey was amazing, listening to the songs of your generation, chatting,clicking selfies but as all good things come to an end so did our company. They left us in the middle of nowhere.we felt so alone but very near to the god.

No regrets of the past or any anticipation from the future just free in the moment. We had no clue where we will stay for the night or have our dinner or not. But one thing we were sure about that we were happy and it was reflected by the smiles on our faces.

But we still had a long distance to cover.walking for few kilometers into the unknown, we met a man who was actually going till Kaza but was not sure himself whether he could make it the same day or not which put us in melancholy, but he had high spirits so we started.Reaching some odd 30 kms to the town of Nako he thought of staying back as it was getting dark but was confused, even were we, he asked in a very polite manner "Ji Bhaisahab.kya Karna h yhi rukna h ya aage chalna h ..kaza? " then some voice came from inside us craving for more adventures .we looked at each other and smiled(oh yeah!!  Why not?) and said the man "chalo sirjii ab jo hoga dekha jyega magar aaj to kaza phuch K rhnge ". It was only 5 kms when our car's tyre got punctured in between the deserted area(scaryy!!), the sun was hurrying up to go home so we had to hurry too but this man was unbelievable,it took him only 5-7 minutes to change the tyres.So we moved ahead towards kaza which was still more than 100 kms .There were surely some unforgettable picturesque views on our way with every mile it was getting much more beautiful than before. Our speed was increasing as we chased the time,the last 30 kms were most dangerous and memorable time of our life.Darkness was all around us and the man was driving at a crazy speed, we felt like sitting with an F1 racer moreover satluj river on one side and shooting stones on the other side.Our heart just skipped a beat when some of the shooting Stones hit the car and we felt like this is it...this is the time to accept all the apologies and say how much we admired each other (but thanks to the gods....We didn't have to chug down our shame). We finally reached kaza ,it was an unforgettable journey as we stepped down from the car we looked up in the sky, never saw so many stars twinkling together with a smile to welcome us .We booked a circuit house as Negi ji ( the man who gave us lift)  was an advocate and got this govt. Quarter without any hassle for cheaper rates.Now after having a belly full of food that tasted so good.We decided to rest our day and dream about more dangers and adventures to come ahead.

Good morning Kaza.....we said as we woke up in the circuit house surrounded by deserted mountains adorned with snow atop. We had a cup of "chai" and a little conversation with Negi ji. He was  really a good man, he didn't even let us pay the room rent for the night stay neither for the food, he said you don't have to because you are guest in our place.People sometimes really amazes by their behavior towards others as he barely knew us and has a selfless attitude towards us and life. We were speechless though.Moving ahead we bid adieu to Negi ji and left for Kee monastry ( FYI which is more than a 1000 years old) .He gave us his visiting card so that we can contact him on our way back down,if he still would be in town he could drop us till reckon peo.Kee was 12 kms from Kaza, we decided to walk our way to the monastery.

The long stretched roads to monastery were aesthetically appealing. With every turn things were getting exponentially more beautiful and the sky was welcoming us even in a more dramatic way. After few miles we hitchhiked our way to monastery the man dropped us at the gate of monastery saying he has to go to Kibber Asia's highest situated village.We were already at an altitude of more than 4100m above sea level. From the monstery gate one could see the black-brown fields of peas, barley which were completing the picturesque setting of the destination.

As we entered the monastery the monks welcomed us with a smile showing us the way to meditation room. The paintings of Buddha, the encrypted stones were all telling some stories about that monastery. We spinned the prayer wheels in hope to purify the impurities that we hold. "please no photo inside " was written on the entrance of meditation room. We entered the room, there were praying flags all over the ceiling of room with ancient drawings on them.As we sat down and started meditating we realised the true power of focus and learnt a useful lesson of life that how one can forget his pain by focusing on positivity of life.

Leaving the monastery we took a short route that lead us to main road to Kaza. After reaching Kaza we somehow managed to call Negi ji so that we could go along with them we met him at the state bank branch of kaza.He had his lunch and asked to help him in completing his documents so without any hesitation we agreed to help him.Finishing the document work it was almost 6 in the evening and again we had to take a decision whether to stay or to leave for Tabo where we would find some fuel for our car as kaza petrol pump had no petrol because the petrol vehicle didn't reach on time. We again decided to take the risk and moved on to Tabo hoping for the good only. Reaching Tabo we looked for petrol at local shops but couldn't find it anywhere. Again we had to make decision, the next town was Pooh which was 80 kms from tabo.We decided to give it a go. Wait, actually Negi ji decided to give it a try and we had no choice but to say yes and hoping for all good we moved towards Pooh.

Night was dark, roads were dangerous, three of us in the car, no other vehicle on the road we could only feel dark,silence, fear and..... Hope. Hope to reach our next destination safe and sound. "Maybe it's the last sharp turn" said Negi ji asking both of us. We were in doubt about that and we were right, there were multiple more dangerous turns ahead on the way,holding some unexpected dangers. Dangers of landslides, shooting stones,wild animals and so much more. The man had some good contacts so he called a known person at Pooh to arrange rooms and food for three of us if we could make it till there.
Finally we took a big deep breath when we reached Pooh and had some good sleep after having dinner there all expenses paid 😀.

All this happened within a period of one week
And we only spent a total amount of around 1000 INR only that too for two of us.And this is for food and accommodation only we didn't spend a single penny on transportation. we are still moving on our journey across India not to plan to go home for sure and hoping and craving for some more.still on the road... The Renegades Diaries