Haha… Relax, sit back and breathe out! Manali of Himachal Pradesh, India is a place one should never visit but explore at leisure.
I saw a road-side sign-board in Manali which read “himaanchal” and it flashed to me that the state might have been named to mean “draped in mist” and it sure lives up to its probable name most days of the year.
My brand new husband and I landed in Manali on the morning of 2nd of May, 2008 to spend our honeymoon. The choice of destination owing to
“Jab we Met” being the Bollywood block-buster at the time of our marriage, one of the popular songs of which was shot beautifully in Manali.
My husband and I desiring a close to nature, adventure-packed romantic holiday.
Destination India.
A 2hr flight to Delhi from Coimbatore and a 16hr bus ride from there landed us in Manali; the Deluxe A/C Volvo being least strenuous. When we opened our eyes in Kullu, we knew we had made the right decision - Ranges and ranges of pine covered mountains on either side, the Beas River flowing in all its fury by the hills, small and big water falls at every twist and turn of the road and huge rose bushes scattered all over the place. Manali was an hour’s drive from Kullu (about 40KMs) and our hotel, the “Apple Country” was a couple of KMs uphill from the main bus stand. We requested the hotel chap to give us a room with a good view and I sure would have kissed him if he was around when I opened the windows of my room; behold! Snow capped mountains, more than one splurging water falls, a tiny village cupped in the valleys - all in my window.
A bath and a heavy breakfast later, we decided to cover by walk as much of the local Manali as possible; the town is spread out within a radius of just about 5KMs around the main bus stop. We first visited the Hadimba temple, a KM uphill from our hotel. Numerous windings of the roads and cafes and hotels later, we got to the temple. The temple itself is thoroughly unimpressive to a layman, said to be an ancient temple dedicated to one of the Pandava brothers Bhima’s wife Hadimba, one cannot go close to the main idol. The surrounding park is quite extensive, calm and peaceful and full of pine trees and other tall, seemingly ancient trees. A half hour’s worth of visit, just to tick the place off on your guide book. We then trekked down to the main market place; there are a flight of steps from the temple downwards which is a much shorter route compared to the main vehicle route and goes through the woods too. Shopping held no charm for us so we just proceeded to the Tibetian monastery which is about 0.5km from the main market place. Except for a mild interest in the unique revolving bells all around the monastery and a big statue of Buddha, it has nothing else to offer to a layman. Lunch at the madras café on the main road and then to Van Vihar, the national park. The park is spread over an extensive stretch of land on the banks of River Beas. We lolled around for a bit in the lazy afternoon sun peeping through a thick coverage of numerous unfamiliar species of tall trees. A sign-board strictly prohibited the public from crossing over to the river banks. We read it and promptly crossed over. Navigating through the rocks, we reached an isolated spot close to the river. Not a single human sound, just the evening breeze and the sound of water busily speeding by. This was bliss! We sat there for over an hour, sometimes touching the freezing water with our feet, sometimes with our palms, not wanting to distract the breeze or the water with our sounds. With this twilight in our hearts, we trekked back to the hotel and were we out of breathe or what! 4KM of uphill trek was something we had not made up our minds for. Puffing and panting and dragging each other, we reached the hotel and collapsed on our beds, not waking up for dinner either.
For the second day, we planned to hire a taxi and visit the “must-see” places around Manali. Rohtang pass was off limits for tourists until the ides of May so we zeroed-in on Solang valle and Marhi. The drive was expectedly scenic. Solang valley hosts a few adventure sports and the must-do among them is paragliding. There are a range of heights and flight times to be chosen from starting from the beginner level 40sec, low height flight to the thrilling 10min, higher than the hill range flight. We chose the medium 2.5min flight which went up to a descent height but once there, we realized we could take in much more. So, anyone who has an above average strength of heart or done parasailing before must opt for the 10min, high range flight. One can get a top-view of the Beas flowing amidst the mountain ranges and almost embrace the breath-taking snow-caps. It’s the best! None of the other activities are worth the time or money. From Solang, we proceeded to Marhi. The taxi drivers and the road-side guides forced us to hire snow pants and boots saying it would be terribly cold uphill at Marhi and would need them for snow sports – skiing, sledging, tubing and what-nots. We ignorant folks promptly obeyed them. An utter mess is what awaited us at Marhi; hundreds of people crowded on a small stretch of mountain trying to sledge, tube-slide and ski all at the same time with no regards what-so-ever to safety and to top it all, a proportionate number of small-time vendors selling magi noodles and tea. The snow had almost turned brown in color. For people who have done snow-sports in the US or Europe, this place is an absolute taboo. Anyways, driving back to the hotel, we encountered numerous small water-falls and couldn’t resist the temptation to halt and admire them at leisure. An hour long drive landed us back in the hotel. The hotel had boasted of a discotheque on its website and having a little more energy left for the day, we decided to check it out; although an absolute disappointment in size, music and crowd, two drinks down and we were on the floor, shaking a leg.
Third day in Manali will be one of the most memorable days of our lives; 14KMs of white water rafting in the furious River Beas. The rafting started from Phirdi, a place 5KM from Kullu and we opted to get there by the government bus which cost us Rs 80/- each both ways rather than a taxi that would have cost us Rs 800/-; The buses are quite frequent and comfortable too. Excited and expectant, we waited for our pilot and raft to arrive and meanwhile realized we had forgotten to pack a change of clothes and towels. Regret was mild at that moment, further diminished by excitement. We saw the weather change for the worse as the day progressed and sensed the river water freezing cold but the excitement persisted. At around one after noon, we were finally stuffed into life jackets, helmets and into the raft. The pilot asked if we wanted to row and we eagerly nodded assent. A few hundred meters into the river and we threw down the rows into the raft and held onto the ropes for dear life. My husband says, in those few moments, he couldn’t help conceiving a peaceful life with any woman other than me; an adventurous trip was 90% my idea and 10% his consent. An extensive stretch of furious rapids threw us all over the river and blasted us with freezing cold water. I still wanted to complete the 14KMs stretch but not wanting a divorce during my honeymoon and set a record of sorts, I seconded my husband when he told the pilot to cut down the trip to 7KMs. There was then a calm stretch that allowed us to breathe calmly, thank heavens for our lives and look at each other before being thrown about again. This second rapid was not as shockingly frightening as the first probably because we knew what to expect and in the next calm stretch, my husband surprisingly agreed to go the entire distance. It was sheer enjoyment after that. Every time we went into a rapid, we would try and guess if we would be sprayed with water or spared and shout to each other over high decibels of the gushing water. We were all smiles when we disembarked at the 14KM mark, our courage proven to us beyond doubt. Further test of endurance awaited us though, the weather having worsened and rain pouring down in gushes as soon as we landed. No change of clothes and not even a towel to wipe dry, we warmed ourselves with numerous cups of tea and fried chillies served at a road-side café. The trip back to Manali and to our hotel was extremely uncomfortable owing to our wet clothes and chill weather, my husband apparently re-conceiving his earlier visions every time he shivered.
Day 4 was a complete disaster. The hotel had promised a complementary jeep tour around some of the “must-see” places in Manali and having paid a blast for the hotel, we took it up not wanting to miss anything they had to offer; a penny wise pound foolish decision. Lazing around till late in the morning, we started on the tour post-lunch. We first drove down to Vashisht, a temple supposedly housing a natural hot-water spring and a huge disappointment. A person who has any concern for hygiene wouldn’t get into the springs and the temple is one among millions scattered across India. Thirsting to do something worth-while, we enquired some of the tour organizers here for short-distance trekking routes and they suggested a 4KM trek to Jhogni falls from Vashisht. Point noted we drove down to our next destination, the much hyped Manali club house. Common-sense told us a club-house can’t offer a wonder but hope, thy name is man. Anyways, since we had no alternative plans for the evening, we decided to utilize and enjoy whatever was available; played a good game of Table-tennis for an hour and called it a day.
Last day in Manali, we signed off in style; went for the 4KM trek from Vashisht to Jhogni falls, reaching Vashisht by auto. It was a pleasant scenic trek through the woods and the falls were simply beautiful. We trekked up as much as we could and halted at a place where there were no humans around and the water was least likely to have been touched. There was a small intermediate pond formed here and the water tasted refreshingly sweet; we just couldn’t have enough of it. We spent about an hour here and trekked back to the Manali market place. A final sumptuous meal at Apple Country and boarded the bus to Delhi. We took in as much of Manali as we could from the bus windows and drifted into dreams of pure, gleaming water gushing through rose-covered mountains surrounded by taller peaks of snow-caps.
Advice:
5000/- per night that we shelled out for the honeymoon suite in Apple Country was not worth the money in terms of facilities – the room and water closet are miniature in size, the TV never works, gym consists of exactly two treadmills, no swimming pool, discotheque is disappointing, no sports bar.
Travel as much of Manali as possible by walk or government buses – autos and taxis charge a bomb.
There is a Johnson’s café on the way from the market place to the log huts area – do not try it unless you want the bland American cuisine. Food in Applie country is good although expensive.
Paragliding cost us 1500/- per person for the 2 min flight. We heard there are other places offering the 10 min flight for the same amount. Enquire with the numerous tour organizers in the market place.
We contacted the X-Zone adventures for rafting and I think they gave us good deal – 500/- per person for the 14KM stretch.
Set aside atleast one whole day for trekking. Contact a good trek organizer for the same, they provide you with routes and guides.
Mountain biking is another thing one must not miss in Manali, although we did.