Spiti in June, Spiti in October

June is when Kunzum opens and the whole road is new: snow walls at the pass, the Chandra running high, and the villages just planting. October is the other Spiti — gold poplars in Tabo, apricots dried on the roofs, the light low and clear, and the road about to close. We run the circuit in both and they are different tours with the same name. If you have one week and one chance, October.

Written from the verandah, with a cup of chai going cold.