20-01-2017, 1230 hours, Kaza – Ki Road, Spiti, Himachal Pradesh, India:

We are now walking towards the Ki Monastery and the view is just amazing. The day is hot as compared to yesterday and the day before. As the snow reflects the sunlight, everything is very bright and it’s getting hard to see without proper sunglasses. If too much exposure to such lighting conditions occur, one can even get snow blindness, but that mostly happens when the snow is too much and the person is constantly looking at the white snow. The snow on the mountains towards the north is less as compared to that on the south. Maybe its because the trans Himalayan belt lies beyond the mountains on the north whereas the southern ones come in the great Himalayan range.

A nice day and time for undertaking the walk to Ki Monastery; Photo: Abhinav Kaushal

The Ki Monastery complex looks ever impressive in the snow covered surroundings; Photo: Abhinav Kaushal

Snow covered mountains across Spiti river look amazing in the bright sunlight; Photo: Abhinav Kaushal

Unique patterns around the fields near Ki village; Photo: Abhinav Kaushal