We reached
Rohtang Pass(Top) at 1120. Rohtang Pass, a gateway to Lahaul and Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh, remains one of the most spectacular destinations in the entire Kullu region. This picturesque pass is located around 51km away from Manali, at a height of 3980 meters, on Manali Keylong highway. The name Rohtang means 'ground of corpses' due to the number of people who lost their lives while crossing this difficult mountain range.
At Rohtang Pass(TOP).
Rohtang Top was full of tourist in rented snowsuits. More and more vehicles were arriving at Rohtang top every second. It was an indication of what we were going to face on Rohtang Manali Highway.
Rohtang Top.
Rohtang Top.
Rohtang Top.
However, We were at Rohtang top, It was time to play with some snow and get some photographs.
Walk in the ice.
Keep walking.
oops...
And fell.
Three Idiots.
We moved ahead from that spot. We drove some more and stopped at that yellow board for a mandatory photo.
The road to Marhi.
Rohtang Top.
That yellow board and surrounding areas were overflowing with tourists. We left that place and moved ahead. The road to Marhi was full of tourists and their vehicles. It was chaos. We kept moving ahead.
Tourists.
And their Vehicles.
and some more tourist.
and some more vehicles.
We stopped at an empty stretch of road. At that point, my cell phone latched on the network after 7 days. I am using a Vodafone postpaid but it didn't work even in Leh town.
My phone was over-flooded with messages and emails. I called up Kapil Thakur ( Owner of The clifftop Cottage, Palchan) and asked him to keep some tea and food ready for us.
He told me ..."abhi toh aap Marhi ho, Palchan aane mai time lagega"(You are in Marhi, it"ll take time to reach Palchan.)
An empty patch.
The Road to Manali.
Latching on Network.
Called up Kapil.
Three Idiots.
We reached
Marhi. After Marhi village no one was ready to drive. Everyone wanted to check their cell-phone. We stopped for a while at Marhi village to reply some important calls and emails. It was time to implement our driving rules once again.
Marhi Village.
We started from
Marhi. Our plan was to drive till Palachan village. Have a quick stop for tea and bio breaks at The clifftop Cottage and proceed to Manali. Vicky wanted to stay for a night at Manali. It was not part of the plan. However, I asked Vicky to have a look at the condition of Manali and then decide.
Start from Marhi.
To Plachan.
We kept moving ahead. We were following a long queue of taxis and private vehicles. Fortunately, that convoy was moving slowly.
A long queue of Vehicles.
A close-up
After a while, one army guy came out from nowhere.
He stopped that entire convoy just three vehicles ahead of us and parked a dumper in front of our convoy.
Why? We didn't have any clue...
We were stopped.
All of us and other drivers came out to check whats going on. BRO was repairing a long patch of road. There was all kind of road construction machines. They started repairing the road just in front of us.
Seriously?
I mean, I respect BRO and the amazing job they are doing in some of the remotest areas but who stops a live/on-going traffic (that too at a top tourist place) to repair a road. That was strange.
Road Construction.
We waited three hours at that spot. Yes! three long hours.
In fact, I & Vicky watched an entire movie ( The 33). BRO gave us a go-ahead at 1515. All of us started rushing to Manali. Local taxi guys were not able to tolerate a Gujarat vehicle driving ahead of them. They kept honking and I kept giving them space to overtake us.
We moved ahead and stuck in one more slow-moving jam. That jam was due to Gulaba check post. We got out of that and followed a slow-moving queue of Taxis. Kapil called me, I told him that we couldn't stop at Cottage. He came to meet us on the road and gave us some food.
At Kothi.
Traffic after Palchan.
A slow-moving queue of vehicles.
The good part of a slow-moving jam was that it was "moving". However, in that case, all the passengers should remain in the car. We crossed
Palchan. We crossed
Solang. Our progress was very slow. We took one hour to reach Palchan to Solang (3km).