Keylong is the district head quarters of the Lahaul region. The town owes its relative popularity to the increased traffic on the Leh - Manali road with numerous hotels cropping up here to cater to the tourists stopping over here enroute to their destinations.

Here you see the Sissu village lying on the banks of the Chandra river. In the background are the snowcapped mountains of the Pir Panjal range holding back the rain clouds coming in from the plains of India.

The cheapest route from Manali to Leh involves taking the public bus and about 2 days of travel time.

On the first afternoon you take a bus from Manali to Keylong (last bus is around 2pm). The bus reaches Keylong at around 7-8pm. Immediately on arrival you need to go the booking counter at the Bus station and book your tickets to Leh. On high season, they sell only the full fare tickets all the way to Leh. So even if you want to drop off at somepoint like Sarchu or Pang you'll have to pay the full price while booking. You can also choose to not book your tickets and try your luck finding an unoccupied seat on the next day.

Anyway the bus leaves Keylong at around 5am on the next morning and reaches Leh in the evening. About 6pm. Its a bumpy, dusty ride all the way to Leh but lots of fun nonetheless.

Nothing much to say here. Notice the crazy distortion by the Zeiss 21mm ZE.