two restdays in Kaza: "warmshowers" hospitality

May 27, 2016

Rest Day One

There is still intermittent power except for solar and no internet except just enough to get a message on Facebook of our location. We expect this to be the norm until we reach Keylong in 4 to 5 days.

Through the Warmshowers hospitality, Karan, the manager, has arranged for us to exchange rooms midday with Rocio. She is a Spanish cyclist, on the road for three years starting in Japan, as she has been here a couple of days. This is a fantastic hotel room. The rooms, hallways and walls in the restaurant have painted murals and sayings about travelling.

We shop in the town bazaar for supplies for the next few days over the Kunzum La pass. Typical of shopping in small villages, we find what we need in different shops not in one supermarket. For uncooked meals and snacks, we find Nutella, peanut butter, crackers, and cookies. For cooked meals we plan two meals of pasta. One meal with a red sauce from tomato soup and tomatoes with veggies, and another meal with white sauce of mushroom soup mix, tuna fish and veggies. Along the way through the shops, we buy tiny prayer flags for our bikes and triple A batteries for our headlamps.

We think we’ve arranged a trip to Kee monastery at 4pm but that falls through, instead we climb up to the town’s monastery with the late afternoon light. When we get back to the hotel, there is a big group of backpackers in the restaurant, a few we recognize from a few days ago in Tabo. There’s no room so they leave for other accommodations. We’ve decided to stay another day and the two American backpackers, Dan and Ross, are interested in going to the monastery tomorrow with us. We will meet up for breakfast to confirm.

During dinner, we visit with a very nice Indian family, and finally meet Rocio. Karan and Kim, his Australian girlfriend who also just cycled to Kaza, Rocio and us have a great conversation sharing cycling experiences.

Rest Day Two

There’s still only solar power and essentially no internet. Not enough to upload photos. We have a great visit with Dan and Ross, they will share a taxi along with a German couple to the monastery.

Rocio takes off around 1000 to cycle to Kibber. At 4pm, we go to the Kee monastery in a taxi up the 12kms. We will see the monastery again tomorrow from across the valley as we cycle further up the Spiti Valley.

Our room, not quite as organized once the panniers get unpacked.

We meet a friendly family from Mumbai. She is an architect, he a lawyer.

Rosio is leaving today to visit a monastery up in the mountains. She will return in a day or two and then chase us towards Leh.

Kee Monastery on its mountain top. We join forces with a group of backpackers and rent a taxi to go there.

Inside the central prayer hall of Kee Monastery.

The bell and varja two items in Buddhist religion representing the male and female.

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