Himachal Diaries: Part Twelve

Day Seven (07.07.2024): Exploring Hikkim and Komic

Hikkim is a remote village nestled in the Himalayas, with an elevation of 14,567 feet above sea level. The village is surrounded by breathtaking landscapes, with snow-capped mountains, rugged terrain, and sparse vegetation.

World's Highest Post Office

Hikkim is home to the world's highest post office. Established in 1983, it serves as a vital communication link for the village. The post office connects small villages in this isolated region to the rest of the world. It receives and sends postal letters. It also acts as a savings bank where villagers can deposit money in their savings accounts or withdraw money. The Postal Index Number or PIN of the village is 172114. 

Enthusiastic travellers make it this far to Hikkim village to take pride in mailing their letters from the highest post office on Earth. And so were we! We left the hotel at 4pm and drove ahead to Hikkim. We had to pass the sandy road. We crossed the same bridge many times to drive to different places. We reached the post office at 4:15pm and it was closed due to Sunday. There were souvenir postcards, keychains and fridge magnets. We bought the postcards and wrote our messages. Ideally we should have bought the postcards at places prior to Hikkim and written the message. There was a single shaking table and windy weather. It was getting difficult to write at such an altitude, hand was freezing so there was no firm grip on the pen. Kindly do not use an ink pen because the ink will spill out of the pen at this altitude. I used a gel pen. I had written two letters, one to self at my office address and another to my parents at my home address. 

Others had written letters to their loved ones. The locals were very helpful. The ticket costed rupee six per letter. So we paid the amount and gave the letters to them. They assured us to post the letters the very next day with the ticket. The letters are carried from Hikkim to Kaza and then to Shimla and then it's dispatched all over India. We had tried our luck and indeed we were lucky to receive the letters in July itself. I received the letter on office address on 24th July and showed it to all my friends at office. I didn't receive the home address one.

We drove higher to the Komic village and reached there by 5pm. 

Komic (means eye of snow cock) 

It is a remote village situated at an elevation of 15,049 feet above sea level. It is often referred to as one of the highest villages in the world connected by a motorable road. It offers breathtaking views of the Himalayas and the surrounding landscape. Its famous for Lundup Tsemo Gompa, 500 year-old Buddhist monastery. 

Komic monastery, with its colorful shades of red and orange, is the center of legends that have trickled down for decades, making it a symbol of great reverence and hope in the region. Done with clicking photos of the landscape, we drove ahead to Langza village, our last destination for the day and reached there at 5:30pm. More on this in next post.