1. Day 2 - Shimla - Reckong Peo ( 226 Kms) - Waking up early and setting up the timelines for the trip was my responsibilty by default. We were ready to hit the road by 0730 hrs. We checked our route once and realised that we about to enter into a much isolated region of Himachal Pradesh that day. And the famous roads caved into the mountains that we saw in the videos before the trip were also a part of the day's ride. We left Shimla and took a halt for breakfast enroute. As we crossed Rampur, The geography around us changed drastically. There were cliffs, cracks, gorges and a much smoother black tarmac around us. The famous caved roads were here too !! It was as if we were entering a different world. An energising and overly joyfull feeling egulfed me as we cruised through what was only a trailer to a movie full of graphic special effects and out of this world landscapes. We had our early lunch at a place called Bitthal on the banks of satluj river. Soon we were gaining altitude climbing through the twisting winding roads among a picturesque landscape. By evening that day, we had crossed the hindu region and had entered the Buddhist region of Himachal Pradesh. We decided to take the halt at Reckong Peo, a small, beautifull town, around 15 Kms off our course. We had to go a little more offcourse to find a decent Hotel but the effort paid off and we parked ourselves for the night.
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| Day 2 Ride
2. Day 3 :- Day three started off with the usual ritual of me waking them up and going out to soak in the lovely fresh breeze off the atmosphere. Reckong Peo looked stunning in the morning. The town was situated at the slope of a mountain and had a wonderfull view of the mountains in front and beyond. We got ready by 0700 hrs and joined our course back to enter the Spiti region. Our destination for the day was the biggest town in Spiti, Kaza. As soon as we set on our course the landscape became more scenic and picturesque. The mountains started to loose vegetation, weather got more chilly and the roads became narrower and dangerous to ride on. The road moves along satluj all the way till Khab, a small village after crossng Pooh, around 80 Kms from Reckong Peo. From there, Satluj moves towards Tibet and we move along Spiti river towards Kaza. We had our lunch at Nako, another small village enroute. We had a little session with lunch when all three of us tried describing our feelings. The beauty around us had stolen our hearts. The mesmerising landscapes we saw in the videos, which looked like some sort of special effects were actually true!! We were right there, in the midst of the best of the creations of mother nature. A world so untouched, so unexplored and so pure in its existence, it blew our minds. We compared it to Laddakh and the fact that Laddakh has now been invaded, to some extent, by modern times (something we cant do anything about ), made Spiti truly a better experience for most of the travellers.
        
3. We continued ahead and soon it was starting to get dark. There was almost no sign of any life around us other han the loud swirling Spiti river. However, kaza was not far so we continued riding after dark. By around 1930 hrs we could see the civilization coming back to life. We could see lights at a distance and some houses far off. We hit Kaza town by 2030 hrs. The town market was half closed but as we entered, we became the centre of attention right away. People offering hotel rooms started to run alongside our bikes. We chose one hotel which was yet to be inaugrated (so we got rooms quite cheaper) and ended the day's ride. Days ride was a wonderfull experience and we could'nt wait to see how beautifull Kaza was !
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