Rumtse (India)

Rumtse is not really somewhere to stay at but rather a place to stop for a quick break. The scenery all around it, however, is quite magnificent. On the way to Manali from Leh I didn't see a single other village for more than 250 kilometres. All you encounter is tents in the middle of the mountains where you can get tea (and often you don't even see these, just mountains … it's fantastic!).

I was half asleep when I visited Rumtse because the jeep had departed from Leh at 1:00 am. Rumtse is located just in front of Taglang La, which at 5,328 metres is the second highest mountain pass in the world navigable by car. Shutting one's eyes from that point on is absolutely out of the question, such is the beauty of the place.

After Rumtse the roads become very tortuous. Along the section between Lachulung La (5,059 m) and Baralacha La (4,890 m), it looks as if the world's most atypical mountains have all come together in the same place. After that, you begin gradually to descend and the landscape becomes green and verdant all the way to Keylong and Manali.