Introduction-Hikkim
Spiti Valley has truly been a bag filled with uncountable surprises. Every turn lands you onto a new mountain, every step brings you to a different pattern of landscape, every village has its own specialty of its own. This is the major reason why people take a longer duration and cover almost all the major tourist places on their trip here.
The trip also would be totally incomplete because one would definitely regret missing the left out thing though they would have visited a lot of other places because every place is unique because of its own thing and has an identity of its own. There are a lot of such places in and around Spiti Valley and Hikkim is one such beautiful place.
About Hikkim
Located around 16 kms away from Kaza, Hikkim is a very tiny village located at a humongous altitude of 14,400 ft above the sea level. Please don’t confuse it with Sikkim, both are completely different places. Kaza is at a height of 12,200 ft and one actually gains more than 2000 ft in just a span of 16 kms.
The entire surroundings of this village is covered by dark brown cold desert kind of surface and mostly its flat though its at a very high altitude. There are very few houses in this village and Langza and Komic are the other nearby villages to Hikkim.
The Highest Post office in the World
The most important reason to visit Hikkim is The Highest Post Office of The World. At a height of 14,400 ft, no other Post Office in the World is at such high altitude as this. This has been a very crucial thing here in this area because the villagers are dependent on Kaza for all their needs, be it ATMs or any other service.
This has made it very easy for sending and receiving money for the villagers, also the network has been recently set up here in Hikkim. So this was the only mode of communication for the inhabitants of this village back then. Before the Post Office was set up in the house of the Post Master, but now there is a separate thing for this Post Office.
The Friendly Post master
Rinchen Tshering, the Postmaster of this PO, has been serving here since the PO has been setup back then. He is responsible for the daily operations like delivering the letters in these areas which come in a bus from Kaza not just to Hikkim, but also to Langza and Komic, receiving the letters from the people and sending them back to Kaza.
A Letter to your Home
After visiting such an auspicious destination, one definitely has to write a letter to their home from The Highest Post Office Of The World. Beware there are many hotels which sell postcards at higher rates. Make sure you buy them from the Post Master himself and send it from there itself. He’s a very chill guy, he speaks good Hindi and is very friendly with the tourists. You can even watch his interview here.
I never expected that this special letter would be delivered to my home. I went back after 7-8 days to Dandeli and to my pleasant surprise the same letter reached me safely and it was such a delightful moment to receive the same letter which I posted from the Highest Post Office of the World to my home. Thank you India Post and Post master Rinchen Tshering for your service to our Nation even at such difficult areas.
Food & Accommodation
As it’s a very tiny and remote village, there are not many hotels and places to eat. You can find Maggi, Tea shops here and there. It’s not an ideal place to stay because the nights are extremely cold and it’s very difficult to survive. So tourists usually plan a one day trip from Kaza. Though there are a few homestays and also few local people allow tourists to stay at their homes, you can enquire there.
How to Reach Hikkim
The road from Kaza is a very good single lane road till Langza and a bit of off-roading till Hikkim. There is only one bus from Kaza, which leaves Kaza in the evening and reaches Hikkim in the late evening. This bus travels via Langza-Hikkim-Komic and departs back to Kaza in the morning.
Ideal Plan
One can plan to visit Langza, 12 kms from Kaza, then to Hikkim around 4-5 kms and then finally to Komic, the The Highest Inhabited Village in the World Connected by a Motorable Road and then get back to Kaza by evening. This is an area with a very cold atmosphere and as the cold is mostly dry, tourists usually feel health issues even in the daytime and it’s not at all recommended to stay at any of these villages at night.
Conclusion
This was about one of the most beautiful villages in Spiti Valley with a great tag of being the Highest Post Office of The World. Don’t forget to add Hikkim to your trip plan and make the most of your trip to Spiti Valley. Do share your experiences during your visit to Spiti Valley and also comment below if you need any more information regarding Hikkim or Spiti Valley.
Kannada in letters 💛❤️
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