Road trip to Lahaul and Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh in October 2019 in Hyundai Creta by Soumala Ghosh

Road trip to Lahaul and Spiti Valley in  Himachal Pradesh:

I (Soumala Ghosh) with husband (Batsayan Das) and son started on 2/10/2019 from Kolkata in own  Hyundai Creta (Diesel) SUV.
Total distance covered:  5000 km+

2/10/2019: Kolkata - Night halt near Varanasi.
3/10/2019: Varanasi - Night halt at Agra.
4/10/2019: Agra - Delhi - Chandigarh - Chail (575km). Road condition is extremely good upto Himalayan Expressway toll plaza. Thereafter it becomes worse. Put up at Koti Forest Rest House, 10 km from Chail towards Kufri.
5/10/2019: Koti - Kufri - Narkanda (62 km). Road condition is quite good. Put up at Gahan Forest Rest House, 20 km from Narkanda.
6/10/2019: Gahan - Rampur - Nichar (129 km). It took more than 6 hours for us as we stopped on the way several times appreciating the lush greenery and snow capped mountains. Roads have been carved out of rocks and  mountains. Put up at Nichar Forest Rest House.
7/10/2019: Nichar - Sangla - Chitkul village (100 km). Chitkul is in Kinnaur district. Road is extremely rough and narrow particularly after Sangla. Put up at final destination, by the River Baspa.
8/10/2019: Chitkul - Kalpa (61km).  In the morning we found thin sheet of snow on the windscreen of the car. Put up at Kalpa Forest Rest House.
9/10/2019: Entered Lahaul and Spiti Valley. The terrain completely changed. From lush greenery it became desert with River Spiti flowing nourishing the growth of cacti and a few plants and trees. We drove past Nako, Tabo and arrived at Dhankar Monastery Guest House (179 km). Extremely helpful caretaker who served with  refreshing honey ginger lemon tea on our arrival. Next morning we  tried to trek upto Dhankar Lake, but it was too difficult for us because of extreme cold and I was having a bit oxygen problem.
10,11,12/10/2019: Kaza.  Dhankar - Kaza (33 km). Kaza is a small town in Lahaul Spiti district. An elderly lama suggested us to take the route via Lallung village, Lingti valley,  Demul village upto Kaza. We followed his advice and really enjoyed our drive through small villages, gossiping with local people over cups of tea, taking a glimpse of their lifestyle. From Kaza we visited several small villages like Langza with a statue of gautama Buddha, Komic, Hikkim villages. We also visited Kye Monastery which is a must visit. We drove upto Chicham bridge constructed at an altitude of 13000 ft, Kibber village,  Gete but could not reach Tashi Gong as we lost the trace of road. There were no human being to ask for direction. Only yaks and more yaks were there.
13/10/2019 - 15/10/2019: Kaza - Manali via Lossar - Kunzum Pass - Batal - Chhotedhara - Chhatru - Gramphu - Leh Manali Highway - Rohtang Pass (202 km). It took 10 hours. There is no road after Lossar. Kunzam Pass was breathtakingly beautiful. The most difficult portion was crossing Chhotedhara. The road is full of rocks and we had to drive on the riverbed with Chandra River accompanying us. At last after Gramphu we took Leh Manali Highway and arrived at Rohtang Pass. But here also in some stretches road condition is very bad upto Manali.
16/10/2019: Manali - Panipat (453 km).
17/10/2019: Panipat - Lucknow (647 km).
18/10/2019: Lucknow - Mohania (Hotel Kaimur Vihar) (372 km).
19/10/2019: I am expected to reach Kolkata.