Today we were covering the final stretch along the Leh-Manali Highway. It took us about two hours to complete the remaining 70km from Keylong to Manali.

Initially we were following the Bhaga and Chandra rivers until we hit the 9km-long Atal Tunnel. There was agreement in the group that by going through the tunnel we had essentially left the Himalayan culture behind and made it (back) to India proper. Instead of Buddhist we were now going by Hindu temples; the dry and sunny mountain climate had changed to a sticky monsoon climate – and instead of Godfather we were now looking at Kingfisher beer.