Important Details
About Lhalung Village
Lhalung Village is village of Spiti Valley is one of the villages which are covered in so many mystic tales that it makes the trip to the place all the more fascinating.The name Lhalung means the “Adobe of Gods” and rightly so.The village.If you are acustomed to the devta system all across himachal then you would be fascinated to know that the Lhalung Devta is supposedly the head of all the devtas of the Lingti Valley.Something that captured my imagination is the belief that the Mountains change color according to the moods of the Lhalung Devta.
Anger-Red,Happiness-Yellow so on and so forth.
It is also believed that the Lhalung Devta comes from the Tangmar Mountain located beyond the village in Lingti Valley.
How to reach Lhalung Village
If you were to take my advise I’d suggest to reach Kaza first and set your action plan according to the weather and road conditions in Spiti.Technically you can go and visit Lhalung the very next day.But it would make sense if you cover the Kee-Kibber-Chicham circuit or Kaza-Komic -HIkkim-Langza circuit then proceed towards the Lhalung -Dhankar-Lingti Circuit.
Kaza to Lhalung by Bus
You can reach Lhalung from Kaza by HRTC bus. The bus for Lhalung leaves the Kaza bus stand by 5:15 PM . The same bus rebounds from Kaza to Lhalung by 7:15 AM in the morning. These services are for summer time. In winters the road is too slippery for buses. So you will find shared taxi’s plying to Lhalung from near the Kaza bus stand. However if you wish to travel on a weekend during winters you will have to hire a private taxi to reach Lhalung from Kaza.
Lhalung Monastery
The Lhalung Monastery is one of the oldest monasteries in the Spiti Valley.It was built around the 10th Century and the Tales surrounding the monastery are equally intriguing.It is said that the people of Lhalung wanted to bulid a monastery to ward off evil spirits and to make the gods happy.So to initiate the process they called a “Rinpoche” for those who don’t know Rinpoche is a religious leader and a teacher in Buddhism.So there are two stories both involving a plant,In thr first one the Rinpoche plants a tree and says if it survives for a year the monastery shall be built here.The other story says he plant multiple branches of Seabuckthorn and the branch which was the first to have a leaf come out of it was chosen as the site of the monastery.After that overnight the angels are said to have descended and built the monstery in a days time.The Monastery also contains a tunnel which is meant for circumventing the temple clockwise.Earlier on it had various paintings which by now have faded due to aging and non preservation.
Treks in Lhalung Village
You can trek from Demul to Lhalung through the wilderness of the upper Himlayas.Ideally it takes around 4-5 Hours to reach Lhaung from Demul on foot.The trail is relatively easy.It goes down from Demul to to the valley floor and it takes around 2 hours to reach the floor where the Pangdang river flows after that it takes around half an hour to reach Sanglung Village where you can grab your lunch and march forward.However to reach Sanglung bridge you will have to cross a bridge.After that it is a 1hr steep ascent to reach the Lhalung Village.
Camping in Lhalung Village
If you want to camp around Lhalung Village I would suggest you get to Demul and do the 4-5 hour trek in day and set up camp at the base of the river Pangdang. It will surely be an enriching experience,since you will get so much extra time to wander and explore the valley.
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