Rohtang-Taglangla-Leh

After having climbed the first of the three high passes (Rohtang) on our journey from Manali to Leh and taken the classic pictures, our bus was rolling down nice muddy slopes.

We were now in Keylong valley. This side of the first heights of the Himalayas receives less rain than the side near Delhi plain. The landscapes became much rockier, with less green vegetation. The end of our first day of journey brought us all the way to Keylong, were we slept. By passing Rohtang we left behind most of the Indians on their honey moon and entered the cultural sphere of Himalayan culture.

After a short night of sleep under our tents, we were back on the road. The night helped me recuperate from the ankle I sprained when getting off the bus slight accident caused by the influence of altitude, the flue, the long trip or a little of everything?
We were now on very dusty roads, almost no vegetation.
Our bus and bus driver kept pushing on our ever winding road.


The only slight negative point was the quality of the nice little sandwiches we had for our breakfast...
Far from being alone in the middle of the Himalaya, we were with the very numerous trucks that have only 2 months to deliver all the years necessities in the different Himalayan valleys.



We saw the many workers, who fight against the winter snows and natures will to wear down the second highest road in the world, with theirs shovels and muscles.

The sun and clouds offered us some magnificent views and panoramas of the valleys and heights we were climbing.




We particularly appreciated these little messages on the road
Which became necessary when the road kept on turning indefinitely
After a long drive we were at the second height of our trip: Lachulungla
A nice French rillette as lunch in the middle of the Himalaya.....

Along the road we saw the military presence of India, recalling the political difficulties in the Himalayas.
Up up up we went and discovered this magnificent sand plain lost in the heights of the Himalaya. At this point in time the altitude and the length of the trip started wearing us down.
And finally we were at 5 300m, Taglangla, making the road from Manali to Leh the second highest road in the world.
The rest of the road was not very difficult, but the length of the trip had worn us down a little.
We started discovering the nice Ladhaki valleys with their very green bottoms and their rocky and dusty slops.

We arrived in Leh by night, and were surprised to discover so many people who wanted to bring us in their hotel, aggressively... This first impression disappointed us because we had been told that in Leh the regular solicitations tourists find in the rest of India do not exist. Happily this was just a first impression and the rest of our stay in Leh was calm.