A tour around north India on Royal Enfields

[KTMphil]

Shimla to Sarahan views

Cut ledges

Terraces gardens

 

[KTMphil]

Shimla to Sarahan - quite a ride

Taking 1,000 litres of diesel back to the farm

 

[KTMphil]

To Sarahan

 

[KTMphil]

A local shop on the way to Sarahan

More bridges across the Satluj

The locals seem to like having their photo taken'

Midway to Sarahan

Windey windey

 

[KTMphil]

Som having fun up the mountain leading to Sarahan

 

[KTMphil]

Heindrick - Owner of Asia Bike Tours

Some huge terraced gardens behind Som

More bridges and waterfalls

 

[KTMphil]

Landslides approaching Sarahan

Som with a local

Getting near Sarahan, you wouldn't want to go off this edge

Sarahan & our hotel visible in the distance

 

[KTMphil]

Arriving at the Srikhand Hotel, Sarahan

My favorite photo of the trip so far

 

[2wheels]

This image says so much!
Superb.

 

[bsacbob]

Great pictures of the trip so far and the colours of the housing is interesting.

Love this bike.

 

[KTMphil]

Srikhand Hotel

A little bit worn but acceptable

No major drama's with the bikes so far

 

[KTMphil]

In Sarahan, the big attraction is the 850 year old Shri Bhimakali Temple

Interesting flag near the temple - The Buddhist one goes clock wise as does everything they do.

& this on the wall in the hotel

Wiki:

Shri Bhima Kali Temple is a temple at Sarahan in Himachal Pradesh in India, dedicated to the mother goddess Bhimakali, presiding deity of the rulers of former Bushahr (Hindi: बुशह&#2352 State. The temple is situated about 180 km from Shimla and is one of 51 Shakti Peethass. The town Sarahan is known as the gate way 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.[SUP][1][/SUP]




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.
The temple complex has another three temples dedicated to Lord Raghunathji, Narsinghji and Patal Bhairva Ji (Lankra Veer) - the guardian deity.



History

Sarahan was the capital of rulers of former Bushahr State. Bushahr dynasty earlier used to control the state from Kamroo. The capital of state later was shifted to Sonitpur. Later Raja Ram Singh made Rampur as the capital.[SUP][1][/SUP] It is believed that the country of Kinnaur was the Kailash mentioned in Puranas, the abode of Shiva. With its capital at Sonitpur this former princely state was extended up to entire area of Kinnaur where for sometimes Lord Shiva disguised himself as Kirata. Today, the then Sonitpur is known as Sarahan. Banasura, the ardent devotee of Lord Siva, eldest among the one hundred sons of great ablative demon King Bali and the great grandson of Vishnu votary Prahlad, during the Puranic age was the ruler of this princely state.







Superb attention to detail

The guard was very proud

This is what it looks like in the winter

 

[KTMphil]

Godfather beer with dinner - nasty!!!!!

 

[KTMphil]

The next day Kalpa - what can you say!!!

This is where our problems are. East of Kalpa is where all the torrential rain has caused the flash floods and landslides. This is as far east towards the Tibet border as we can get right now

Classic through the wheel shot

 

[KTMphil]

East of Sarahan, our first snow capped Himalayan peaks

Carved tunnels

Landslide cleanups

 

[KTMphil]

This was a fun ride with lots of road problems

Lots of cool bridges

 

[KTMphil]

Lots of water crossings

This was obviously fun

 

[KTMphil]

Ladies breaking the rocks from the landslides - male supervisor under the umbrella

Males breaking the big ones

 

[KTMphil]

There seems to be an abnormal amount of eye problems here

More bridges

 

[KTMphil]

"No dream is too big"

 

[KTMphil]

We must have seen 10 hydro projects on this section of the river

Long, pipe version here

Indian school girls

 

[KTMphil]

Arriving in Kalpa, we stayed at the 2 year old, Shangri-La Hotel, great rooms

But its the view that will knock your socks off

 

[KTMphil]

Managed to get some shots of the summit as the clouds whizzed by

 

[KTMphil]

Old houses in Kalpa

Shop

 

[KTMphil]

More ladies with eyes issues

The temple in Kalpa was old, I can't remember the dates they gave me

Everything in the temple spins clockwise

 

[KTMphil]

Kalpa locals watching the world go by

 

[brake034]

The rifle is an Enfield too, a Lee Enfield.

 

[KTMphil]

.... More to come (when there's internet!)

 

[WarProfiteer]

Phil just curious cuz I've never asked... what camera are you using for these shots? Just a point-&-shoot or is it a good SLR?

 

[2wheels]

Sensational.

 

[KTMphil]

Phil just curious cuz I've never asked... what camera are you using for these shots? Just a point-&-shoot or is it a good SLR?

Combination of a Nikon D90 with a 28-70mm f2.8 lens and a Canon G1X

 

[Loop]

Looks like some nice scenery so far Phil.

 

[KTMphil]

The beauty salon in Kalpa

 

[KTMphil]

With the road confirmed blocked eastwards, we had no choice but to loop back westwards to head north. It looked like they'd been some rain, the road was in a worse condition now

 

[KTMphil]

Back through the overfalls

As we get westwards it improves

 

[KTMphil]

Ladies were still bashing the rocks

An Indian chappy breaking up the really big stuff

 

[KTMphil]

Checkpoint at one of the huge hydro facilities

Not sure many would agree with this

 

[KTMphil]

With our change of route due to the landslides and flash flooding eastwards, we decided that Banjar was too far in one day, so Rampur would make a good staging sleep for the next day.. So all topped up with gas to Rampur we head

Not a bad road following the angry Satluj River

 

[Kamarul R Muhamed]

As usual your photos are captivating. Can't wait for my trip on 17 August. How bad is communication/internet there? I need to be in communication back home on daily basis via email and phone.

I heard satellite phone is not allowed due to security reason. Is it true?

 

[KTMphil]

Kamaral ..most hotels have a computer in reception with an internet connection which they will let you use. Getting a phone sim card is very problematic for security reasons, we could not get them.

As usual your photos are captivating. Can't wait for my trip on 17 August. How bad is communication/internet there? I need to be in communication back home on daily basis via email and phone.

I heard satellite phone is not allowed due to security reason. Is it true?