After five days of hectic travelling and sightseeing, we decided to go slightly easy on the sixth day of our journey. The two major sightseeing destinations that we had earmarked for the day were Kye monastery and Kibber village. We woke up late and had a slow and leisurely morning with a nice breakfast. Finally, by 1 pm, we all got ready and left for Kye monastery. It took us just half an hour to reach the monastery.
KYE MONASTERY (4,166 m)
The thousand years old Kye monastery is the largest monastery in Spiti valley. Being the poster monastery of the region, it finds itself prominently displayed in most of the photos and travel brochures of Spiti. The monastery has gained such prominence mainly due to its location and a very unusual shape. Perched on a hilltop, Kye monastery looks more like a fortress than a religious place. In fact, when I saw it for the first time it reminded me of the city of Gondor from Lord of the Rings.
We parked our vehicle at the base of the monastery where we were met with a now familiar sight of monks playing volleyball. A short climb led us to the main gate of the monastery which had some beautiful and colourful sculptures.
Once we entered the monastery, we were guided by a Lama to the many different rooms including the prayer rooms and kitchen. He told us the story of how the monastery was attacked several times by various armies in the 17th and the 18th century and suffered heavy damages due to a fire and an earthquake in the 19th century. The consequent reconstruction and renovation gave the monastery its fortress like shape.
After visiting the rooms we climbed on the roof of the monastery. It was probably the best part of the monastery as it provided breathtaking views of the mountains and the Spiti River flowing in the valley. On the opposite bank of the river we could see tiny hamlets surrounded by green fields. Among those stark mountains, these hamlets appeared like oases in a large desert. We eventually climbed down and left by 2:45 pm.
KIBBER (4,270 m)
Till a few years ago, Kibber was considered the highest permanently inhabited village in Asia and thus, it is a famous tourism destination in Spiti valley. It took us just 20 minutes to reach Kibber from Kye monastery. I don’t know what we were expecting but our first view of the village was quite underwhelming. The village was just a cluster of white buildings spread over a small area. Regardless, we started walking towards the village.
We first came across a school building where we saw a few kids playing volleyball. Volleyball certainly seemed to be the most famous sport in the region. Our friend Vinayak, who himself is a sports enthusiast joined the kids for a game. After all it’s not every day that you get a chance to play volleyball at an altitude of 4,000 m surrounded by the mighty Himalayas.
Once our friend was done with the game we walked further towards the village but quickly realized that there was nothing much to see in the village. There were some suggestions about returning back to Kaza but it was quite early in the day so few of us decided to climb to the top of the village. I am glad we did that because as usual, the views from the top were stunning. The land at the top was flat and was used by the villagers for cultivating crops. In the distance, beyond the valley, we could see the small village of Chicham. We sat there for a while taking in the view, clicked some pictures and then climbed down.
As we were leaving the village, there was a sudden change in weather. Clouds appeared out of nowhere and completely covered the mountains that we could see so clearly just a few minutes back from the top of the village. Marvelling at this phenomenon, we got in our vehicle and started our drive back to Kaza by 5 pm.
On our way to Kaza we came across a stream and decided to halt there for some time. The halt turned out to be pretty short as it was extremely windy by the stream and we all got numb quite quickly. We clicked some photos in the breathtaking surroundings, filled our bottles with the cold, crystal-clear water and left. We reached the main market of Kaza by 6 pm and spent an hour shopping for some souvenirs. After that we relished some delicious momos and that concluded our day.
Traveltellers 
heheh, monks playing volley ball…..wow in the heights of the himalayas!
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Yeah. Apparently it is a pretty common practice there.
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To be honest it is tough to do sport, the air is thin!
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I totally agree. For us,even climbing for 5 minutes was strenuous. But I guess people living there get used to the thin air.
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I love the picture showing Monks playing vball. That’s awesome 😊
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Haha yeah it was quite fun 🙂
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How very beautiful it all is. One day I hope to make it to the lovely villages of these wondrous valleys.
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We are sure you will 🙂
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Cheers 🙂
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Such an interesting post! I really love the photos – they capture both the people and the place so well! The colours are great! 🙂
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Thank you so much 🙂
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This is so cool. What fun trip, and I love your photos.
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Thank you 🙂
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Planning to go to Kye and Kibber. Also need an insight on Pin forests… it you have any..
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Hello sir. We did not visit pin valley. If you want to go there just for normal exploration then 1 day would suffice (go from and return to kaza). If you want to go for trekking then it would need more time and accomodation is also very limited.
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The forests you mentioned are not the forests in traditional sense. The area is quite barren and you will mostly find shrubs. Regarding kye, kibber and rest of Spiti we would be glad to provide any insight you want. Thankyou and best of luck with your trip
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From Shimla to Kibber and back, wd like to know the no. of days. Where to take night halts? How many days are needed at Kaza to visit nearby places and what r the chances u may not be allowed beyond a point…. heard of this prob?
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If you could please tell me which month/dates you are planning to visit then I can provide you accurate details
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Reaching Theog on 17 May.
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All right so you are going to take NH 5 all the way to Spiti. You are going to pass through Kinnaur valley so if you want to explore Kinnaur then you can follow our itinerary. If you are not planning to explore Kinnaur then you can drive straight to Reckong Peo from Theog. That would be your first halt. Next halt should be Tabo as it is a beautiful village. From there you can drive to Kaza (visit Dhankar en-route to Kaza). In Kaza you can visit kye, kibber, langza, hikkim and komic on first day and pin valley next day. so 3 nights in Kaza.
Regarding places you won’t be allowed: on the main road there won’t be any such problem but you won’t be allowed to visit places like Shipki la pass and kaurik as they are under ITBP’s control. You also won’t be able to visit the famous Chandrataal lake as the route won’t be open yet. That’s all I can think of.
Kindly revert in case you need to know anything more.
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Thanks for ur concise and helpful recollections. Will inform u when we return by the end of the month.
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Sure. Looking forward to your travel stories. All the best
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. How many days are needed at Kaza to visit nearby places and what r the chances u may not be allowed beyond a point….
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If you are planning to travel by car everywhere then you can easily do it in 4 days. day 1: kye kibber and other villages. Day 2: pin valley national park. Day 3: Tabo & Dhankar. Day 4 Explore Kaza itself.
The season when you visit will decide the point till which you can visit. Kindly read my conversation with Mr. Umesh Kaul on the same post in the comments section. He had similar queries and I have provided some detailed answers.
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. How many days are needed at Kaza to visit nearby places and what r the chances u may not be allowed beyond a point….
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A joyful read…..brought back the happy memories of my hitchhiking experiences in Spiti !! Thank you so for sharing the wonderful pictures….surely pushed me to pack my backpack all over again and head towards the valley 🙂
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Thank you so much. Spiti is beautiful and certainly worth visiting again 🙂
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