Mussorie - Place Above Clouds

Road to Ladakh - via Manali (Day1)

In continuation to my previous post, now I will be discussing the journey to Ladakh by road. This can be done via Manali or via Srinagar. Since we went via Manali and it took us two days thus I will elaborate the first day here . 

I always recommend traveling by road to Ladakh as it is a beautiful journey with nature at its best. You can actually feel that you are entering a different world. But here you need to keep in mind that roads are open only from June  to Mid September, after the snow is cleared by Boreder Roads Organisation. BRO is an Army support organization which builds and maintains road in this region. No matter how many times you visit Ladakh by road, experience will be new every time. This is because of the fact that roads will be different every year depending upon snowfall, landslide, glacial melt and the amount of work BRO was able to do. Since it is made by Army hence it is safe for any type of heavy vehicle. In fact you can see large supply trucks and army vehicle on your way. 

We travelled in June end and had a taxi booking from Manali. The taxi was from Ladakh basically and he came to pick us from Manali, It cost us INR 20,000. The charges are same for one way taxi whether it's from Manali or Ladhakh. We started our journey at 9:00AM and that was the last time I checked time. Afterwards, once we were on road it was so beautiful that I was totally unaware of the time. Its better to start early as traffic increases at Rohtang pass at later hours. During whole journey we had to cross number of mountains. So during initial hours we were climbing up the mountain, then later were climbing down and this process continued till Ladakh. 

 

With in two hours of our journey and 52km of ascend we reached Rohtang pass, popular tourist destination for people visiting Manali. It is a natural divider between Kullu valley and Lahol-Spiti valley and is at elevation of around 13,000 ft. A permit is required for Rohtang pass to limit the number of vehicles thus controlling pollution. Since our taxi came from Ladakh so the driver had done all these formalities himself.

When we started from Manali the weather was on the hotter side but as we reached Rohtang pass it was very windy and we were starting to feel chill in the air. 

Crossing the pass took us some time due to heavy traffic. This is because of narrow roads and car parking on road side. Though it was June still there was some ice at the pass, therefore tourist rush who came to visit Manali was visible here. So we took this opportunity to click few photographs.

Once we crossed the Rohtang pass roads were all empty with only few cars or bikes visible.

The road after the pass was unpaved, so it was bit uncomfortable journey. It was fine after few kilometers, still we witnessed few more unpaved stretches on our way. Soon after our way down from the Rohtang pass we reached Khoksar where we had our lunch. The local people in this region have part time business of small restaurants during tourist season. This is because it lasts only for 2-3 months. Once there's snowfall all the roads are blocked. It was more like home cooked meal and you will be amazed by the friendliness and sweet behavior of the native people. Khoksar village is on the bank of Chandra river, hence you can have amazing view of the river while having food.

On the way further you can see a number of water streams crossing the road. This is because when glacier melts the water stream makes the way of its own. This is also one of the reasons for bad condition of the roads. Mostly they were small but few were large enough to be cautious while crossing them.

I can share only few pictures here but the beauty of the journey can only be felt when you are there. 

It was already late afternoon when we reached Keylong (about 43km from Khoksar). It is the only major town on Manali-Leh highway. We had two options to stay for the night one of them was Keylong as it has less luxurious but concrete hotels. And other one Sarchu, where one has to stay in tents. We opted for the later. Darcha and Bharatpur were also the tent ships on the way but Sarchu was the last one and it had more luxurious tents. Sarchu is 120km from Darcha.

As soon as we crossed the Baralacha-la pass we started to feel really cold. All this while the windows of taxi were open but now we had to close them. Moreover this was the worst part of the whole highway with numerous water streams and uneven road. We made a halt at Bharatpur to get our jackets from the suitcase and bought woolen caps from the shops there as the wind was totally freezing. You can only imagine such a weather in dream, in the month of June anywhere else but this highway. This is a picture taken after I was totally packed.

Our driver told us that Sarchu was only one hour journey now, approx. 38kms. We were really looking forward to spend the night in a tent. Soon we were able to see group of tents across the road. There many service providers but its better to opt for one before you cross all of them. Also if you are late there are chances that you will not be able to find any vacant tent. Though it is suggested to pre-book the tent but we were able to find on the spot. The charges vary according to month and tourist rush. We paid INR 1800 for one tent. It had all the facilities, double bed, blankets, quilt, washroom, English toilet, dinner, breakfast, tea, hot water on request, etc. We loved the stay there but at night it gets very cold. Although tents were in, more like valley area still the place was at an altitude of 4,290ft. Hence you can feel it all this while.

Morning was very pleasant there. It was all light and sunrays even at 5:30am. But the chill in air wasn't gone. You can see in the picture above I had to be completely covered to avoid getting cold. Good thing was, there was non stop supply of tea which really helped.

If you have also visited Ladakh, do share your experience. The journey of second day will follow in the next post.