7.30am,
time to leave Naggar for real! Goodbyes are always hard. While waiting for our
take away breakfast we took a few photos with the staff, I am going to miss
them. The taxi driver arrived on time at 8am, but we don’t leave until 8.30.
Our taxi
driver, Bules, is friendly and speaks good English, this is a relief because we
are going to spend 2 days with him in a car! He was fine with me sitting at the
front. His jeep is quite spacious, the only problem is that my seat belt is
broken… I dunno if it is too make me feel safe, but then the driver decided not
to wear his!
The scenery
changed so much, the Kullu Valley is really green, with tall trees. After
Manali, we started to head up, trees thinned out and we started to see big
boulders. We reached the 1st police check point soon after 9am.
Quick toilet break and picture with the jeep!
The 1st
stretch is from Manali to Rohtang La (La = pass). A lot of people do the trip
for 1 day. On our way up we started to see a lot of Indian families wearing one
piece ski suit (it was not THAT cold). We stopped just before reaching the pass
for our driver to get breakfast, we went to a stupa to get some last shots of
the Valley.
The roads
are particularly bad and not always wide enough for 2 cars, so imagine the
problem when 2 trucks are meeting… On top of the mountain, at Rohtang La, there
was some snow! We briefly stopped to take a picture, unfortunately we had
already passed the sign telling us about the altitude. Rohtang Pass is at 3,978
m.
Right after
the pass, on our way down, we saw a cyclist checking the view. Bules told us
that some people do cycle between Manali and Leh, it takes them between 3 weeks
and a month, but this is not the right month for it right now. He also told us
that it is more common to do it on a motorbike, it takes around 2 weeks. I
guess I could enjoy it more if it was hotter and with the wind on my face (I
would feel less sick).
The road is
long and after the pass we go down into Lahaul Valley. At the bottom of it you
have 2 options: right towards Spiti Valley and left inside Lahaul and towards
Leh. We turned left. It is nearly midday, we reach the 1st village
in Lahaul, Kokhsar, and our 1st police check. Bules takes care of
everything, we just need to sit tight, or like Damien jump out of the car and
take pictures (while I am recovering from the drive… I can’t believe I signed
up for 2 days of this…).
The scenery
changes quickly, along with the colours. It is beautiful! We are following a
river. 30 minutes later we pull up at a petrol station, nothing special about
it, until I notice the sign telling us that it is the last filling station for
the next 365km! We better not have a problem!
Talking
about problem, we met people that parked their jeep last night by the side of
the road, and could not find it this morning, until they looked down… The
ground had collapsed under one of the wheel and the whole car went into the river…
bad luck!
We arrived
at Jispa around 2pm, the 1st place we wanted to stay was closed for
the season (not good), luckily our driver found one that was open, and even
served us hot lunch! It is starting to get cold… After our lunch, we went for a
walk along the river. The colours were stunning (clear blue, brown and grey but
also green to yellow!)
Still a bit
dizzy from the road, I decided to lie down near the water for a little while.
We mainly walked upstream, to get closer to the mountain with the snow cap
(wondering if it was a good sign or not…). The bed of the river is actually
huge, but at the moment it is off season so the river it pretty small.
Walking
on the river bed, we noticed some sand, I had to take some: can you believe it
SAND from the HIMALAYAS!! (okay not completely the Himalayas but so close!!).
We walked a
bit more, and when we started to freeze we thought it was time to go back to
the lodge. We sat in our room under the cover, reading and listening to some
music for a while. Then we had dinner and once we were back in our room it was
pitch black: power cut! Which means: no light, no hot water, nothing!! It
lasted all night.
Slept in
separated single beds in the freezing Padma Lodge, in Jispa.
157 km driven out of 479
To know more about the Manali - Leh Highway, check the Wikipedia page
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