A guide to world’s highest post office in India’s Spiti Valley

There are myriad interesting facts about India that the world is not yet aware of and one of among those is that India is the place, where world’s highest post office is located. Yes, there is a beautiful village called Hikkim in the Lahaul-Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh; it is set at an elevation of 4440 m (14,567 ft above sea level). The location is credited for being the World's Highest Post Office with the pin code 172114. 

Facts about Hikkim and its post office

Located about 15 km from the town of Kaza in Spiti Valley, Hikkim has a population that is majorly Buddhist. For most of the months, this place remains cut off from rest of the world due to heavy snowfall over the passes. 

In existence from November 5, 1983, the post office too gets shut down for six months due to extreme climatic conditions. Considering the rugged terrains and remoteness of the village, the journey uphill to this post office is quite a tough one. We can just imagine how difficult it must be for the post master, Rinchen Chhering, to send out mails from here. 

Who is Rinchen Chhering?

Rinchen Chhering has been serving at the post office as a Post Master for more than 30 years now. He has been here since the inception of this post office and joined at the young age of 22, just because he was a fast runner and owned a bicycle. For all these years, the man has been doing all work single handedly and loyally, which is simply commendable. 

The journey of these mails

Well, it is quite a long journey from here for the mails. All the posts and letters are firstly sent on foot to Kaza every day. These are then taken to Reckong Peo by bus and then to Shimla. Later, mails are loaded on a train and sent to Kalka; from here, a bus takes the cargo to Delhi. The mails’ journey to its real destination begins from Delhi. So, there is a lot sweat and hard work involved in this entire mail trail! 

Is it all not fascinating? The journey, the job, and everything related to this post office that makes it a must-visit in India. If ever you get a chance, do not miss out on exploring this amazing place.