Today we trekked from Hikkim to Komic Village. A short steep uphill trek which brought more and more white-capped peaks into view with every step. By Komic - at 4500m above sea level - there was a breath-taking Himalayan panorama against a beautiful blue sky.
There are 15 families in Komic, with just 2 children attending the village school. Completing this tiny community are 50 monks living in the monastery. Next to the monastery is a big sign proclaiming Komic as the highest motorable village in the world. It might have been once, and though it probably isn’t anymore, that doesn’t stop every visitor to Spiti coming to visit The Sign for a photo.
World record arguments aside, Komic is still one of the highest villages in the world where people live all year round, and the 500 year old monastery is one of the highest in Asia. The monks invited us to perform in the old part of the monastery, where all the important religious ceremonies take place. Two stories of cells for the monks are arranged around a large central courtyard, with wide steps at the far end leading up to the temple. Though outside, there was no wind in the courtyard and the acoustics were fantastic. We felt very honoured to be here.
There were a lot of tourists around which felt very strange, as they all wanted to come to the show! Our audience was around 70 people – about 10 of whom were monks, some leaning over the first floor gallery to watch, some enthusiastically joining in with the show. About 25 local people walked up for the performance, and some 10 or so construction workers joined us from the monastery improvements. Quite a mixed crowd, but an appreciative one and it went down a treat. After the show we met the monk who teaches at Kaza Monk School, and is planning to bring his young student monks to the final show in Kaza on the 18th.
Our homestay has clean bright rooms with flower pots full of geraniums on the thick mud windowsills, a cosy lounge with a warm yak dung fire. Our company is depleted tonight as Benny is still unwell (Ollie played Boy again), and Juliette took him down to Kaza as soon as the show finished. He just isn’t adjusting to the altitude and hopefully descending 700m will help him feel better. They’ll rejoin us in Demul tomorrow afternoon.
Our homestay also has a western style toilet. Although this might seem like a sign of progress, really it shows how the pressures of tourism, and the expectations/demands of tourists, have pushed local people into making decisions that really aren’t in their best interests. Traditional dry composting Spitian toilets are basically a long drop in which little or no water is used. The composted waste goes onto the fields, a precious source of nutrients in fields which have low fertility. Every flush of a Western style toilet feels incredibly wasteful.
[Komik village]