Himalayan Odyssey - Keylong - II

Continuing from the last post. Another day we are in Keylong. Just to get an idea of the trip, I am posting the Royal Enfield map here again.

To reach Keylong from Manali, we need to cross the Rohtang Pass. Its probably the most crowded owing to the tourists. To your surprise you will find traffic jams happening at the top of the hill. In those narrow winding roads, these traffic jams can take hours to clear off. You will wonder why on earth I wanted to do this holiday away from the city rush. Only thing I can say is that the snow out there and the view out there are truly rewarding for a people from planes.

1. We are climbing uphill, Rohtang Pass. Long stretches of the highway you will find that the road is almost non-existent. And consider that there is heavy rush of the tourists in the season. Look at a Maruti 800 trying to cross on of the uphill stream which can get more powerful as the day pass by. This is about 9-10 am. We trying to cross Rohtang by noon, to reach our destination safely by 3-4 pm.



2. So we are close, but too far. A heavy traffic jam formed some 3km from the Rohtang Pass hill top. Its some 3-4 degree Celsius and the place smell petrol and diesel. We stopped there waiting it clear off for about 1 hour, all the while trying to save our self from the snow wave. There is no food available and wait like for things to clear off is painful. You can see my fellow bikers parking along side. The traffic is because of the tourists as well as the trucks with heavy supplies taking place towards the army stations and Leh (with fuel and other essential commodities).

3. Yeah, we are finally at the Rohtang Hill top. Where snow meets the clouds.This was first of our hurdles, but for none of us knew that. So we had 'hurray' of success and taste of first achievement. We felt bit of oxygen deficiency, but that was OK. So now we take the road down.



4. Riding down we reach, Koksar on the way to Keylong. Its a great route with ravenous on sides. Keylong is till where a normal tourist would venture (sort of 120km from Manali and one can stay in Keylong peacefully). Beyond that its a long stretch of 400km where you wont find any kind of vegetation. As far as I can remember you will find a petrol pump near Keylong and then none for another 300km or so. Keylong is a beautiful valley where we reached by end of day 3 (29 Jun 2005).