Initially we were going to drive back to Manali with the motorbike, but since we already saw the scenery it would just have been three days of pain. We thought of taking a bus that goes to Manali in one day straight from the morning at 04:00 to 22:00 or later. Luckily we heard of a french couple looking to share a taxi back to Manali via Tso Moriri and Tso Kar, two high altitude lakes. We decided to join just as the offices for the permits closed as it was the end of Ramadan. We could thus only get the permits the next morning and a potential 08:00 departure turned into a 12:30 departure. Somehow we still manage to reach Tso Moriri just as the sun was going down and checked in the Tso Moriri Inn, which had buffet style dinner and breakfast. The next day we drove via Tso Kar where Hugo had to use is ‘mechanical skills’ learned in Africa to help another Taxi remove their drum brakes as the wheel locked up. The road was a lot different from before as on the one had more snow had melted, but at the same time it was snowing while crossing Baralacha La and raining in other areas, so the river crossings were much more intense. We were very glad that we weren’t on a motorbike in the snow and rain. We only reached Keylong at 22:00 and stayed in the same hotel as before. Despite an early departure we only got back to Manali at 16:30 due to the crazy traffic over Rohtang Pass.
