7 Keylang

Leh > Taglang-La > Pang > Lachlung-La > Baralacha-La > Keylang

Leh to Manali is a distance of 475Kms of which 250 kms is in J&K state and the rest 225 Kms is in Himachal Pradesh. This is the world's 2nd highest motorable road crossing several high passes and reaching a height of 5328m at the Taglang-La Pass

J&K, Zanskar and Ladakh Bus Tour

25th May 2006 was a rest day in Leh for me .... I just went all over the city bazar areas and did bought some Buddhist / Tibetan music cassettes. And booked my share jeep seat for next day to Manali.

26th May 2006 - I got up at mid-night (!)... packed and left my hotel Tso-Mori at 1:15 am with my back-pack ... and walked thru the dark and deserted streets of Leh, to reach the new Bus-Jeep stand some 2 Kms away.

View from Tanglang-La pass

5:30am - Me at Taglang-La Temple

More Plains with low hills

At 7:30am Pang appears .... below in the valley

The Tso-Morori-ri Tent restaurant in Pang, where we had breakfast.

Pang Tent beds .... that you could hire for a night stay

Lachung-La pass

Lingti-Chu River

11:45am - At Sarchu .... a rest-stop

Our Sumo had a breakdown as we left Sarchu - a leaf of the rear right wheel spring broke into two!

It was pretty scary walk with street dogs barking at my heels and following me all the way. Luckily, I had carried my trek-stick with me and that helped to keep the dogs at bay and bolster my courage a bit . I don't know why the Sumo guy couldn't have picked me up from the hotel? That is the rule, it seems, ever since the new bus-jeep-stand moved to the edge of town. The Sumo left leh at 2:00am sharp. We hope to reach Manali by next day evening 6:00pm, if the going is good. We whizzed south, thru the darkened road past Upshi, Miru, Rumtse and reached Taglang-La at 5:30am in bright sunshine.

TanglangLa at 6050m/17582 ft - 2nd highest motorable road in the world

More Plains is a corridor of land flanked by low hills ....with stark desert like stretches .... this view just as we reach Pang.

In Inside the Pang Tent .... the ladies who served us breakfast & tea

Rocky terrain at lachung-La ...... 35 Kms still to reach Sarchu

Descent from Laclung-La ((5060m) starts via some 20kms of hair-pin bends called Gator loops .... down into Lingti-Chu river Valley

The baby in the Sarchu tent .... where we had tea.

We reached Baralachal-La pass at 2:30pm. The pass was heavily covered in snow and icy formations.

BaralachaLa 4883m - is a "double cross road" pass ... it links upper Chandra & Bhaga Valleys with Lingti Valley and Lingti plains

2:30PM - As we drove down Baralacha-La we came across a beautiful lake Deepak Tal with frozen ice floes floating in the lake.

Deepak Tal (Tal=Lake) 16Kms from Darcha, 3 Kms from Patseo, is a beautiful lake...... in a frozen ice and snow setting by the roadside

Only around 6:30pm we reached Keylang. We calculated it would take us another 4 or 5 hours to reach Manali. I did'nt want to land up there at 11pm and search for a hotel. So decided to get off in Keylang and stay teh night there. Found a good room in Hotel Tashi Deleg at Rs 300/- per night.

Next day ... got a nice view of the Keylang Valley ... from my Hotel "Tashi Deleg" balcony.

2:20pm At BaralachaLa (4883m)

Baralacha-La (4883m) snow

Deepak Tal, Patseo