Day 3 - Manali to Keylong (5th Aug 12)

Fortunately, the weather was good and we set off at 630am.

A collapsed bridge.

Clear Blue Sky. 

(A stark contrast from the previous day's cloudy and rainy weather. I guess we weren't so unlucky afterall.)

These are what I came here for....

Blue Sky, Majestic Mountain ranges, Green, Fresh Air and Colourful Tibetan Prayer Flags.

And also company of great friends. =)

XF & Ying.

We had fun taking photos.

=D

Some people travel by standing on the back of a truck.

Some chooses to cycle... Respect!

At a checkpoint, the police officer told us that we could not go forward as the road ahead was closed due to landslide. Our driver, Ramesh, told us that we had to go back to Manali town as the road was closed. We protested as there were other vehicles that went ahead. Finally, we got our way and went ahead to join the long queue of vehicles waiting for the road to be cleared.

Beautiful Scenery.

Mobile Kitchen

Our Van in the muddy road.

Even though I don't really like our driver, we had to give him credit for cutting queues, and he parked his car  infront of the long queue. 

There was a truck on the edge of plunging into the steep slope. The excavator was helping to get truck out of the dire situation.

After the truck was saved, the excavators were clearing the road. 

The landslide.

An entrepreneurial guy who was selling sweet corn (which was meant to be horse feed). Well, the gals tried it and agreed that it was really horse feed as it tasted horrible. Haha...

Our driver suggested us to walk across the landslide area (as it might not be safe for us to be in the car when he drives). We totally agreed with him, as the road was muddy and soft, and we did not want the car to be stuck in the mud while we were on it.

We walked in a single file and I was ahead of the gals. While we were crossing the landslide area, I saw a big rock (half a human size) rolling down from the hill, and people around me were asking the gals to hurry up as the rock was rolling down towards their direction. 

It was quite scary and the gals (could not see the rock) were struggling to cross the muddy road. Fortunately, that big rock stopped halfway. It was quite an episode.

]

The view of the landslide after we crossed it.

Traffic Jam and a dirty Glacier.

Our unplanned trekking expedition.

We decided to meet our driver at Rohtang Pass (4000m), which was supposedly 30mins trek away (as told by an Indian tourist).

We weren't properly acclimatized and the gals were struggling with this trek at 3500m++. Well, I had to admit that I enjoyed the trek. It was cooling and the air was fresh. In the end, we saw our vehicle and hop onto it. Luckily, as the Rohtang Pass was very far away.

I think our luck had changed for the better, as the road was closed again shortly after our vehicle passed through. We really had to thank our driver for cutting queue, otherwise, we would be stuck in the mountain for one day.

Beautiful Scenery along the way.

Keylong, where we were stayed one night.

"Keylong (or Kyelong or Kyelang) is the administrative centre of the Lahaul and Spiti district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, 126 km (78 mi) north of Manali and 120 km (75 mi) from the Indo-Tibetan border. It is located along the Manali-Leh Highway, about 7 km (4.3 mi) north-east of intersection of the Chandra Valley, the Bhaga Valley, and the Chenab Valley; on the banks of Bhaga River."

I really enjoyed the dinner, as the hotel owner was playing soothing Buddhist music.

It was a really peaceful evening.