Its been an year and a half since I got married and got the chance to go on a holiday (the best part of getting married, you get yourself a holiday), I have not put my step out of Delhi except for going back to my home town a couple of times over the year. The job doesn’t really give me the liberty to go for long holidays and neither the bank balance supported me (given the fact that I am going to be under bank’s debt for another 18 years for the home loan).
But then destiny, they say makes things happen for you. The project we had been working for, for more than a year, finished and my manager gave me a weeks off all by herself (Software engineers who find it hard to believe that managers give a week off, I can understand. It was hard for me to digest it as well). But then, it did happen.
I was not really sure of where to go, all I knew was that I had to go some where. I just wanted to take my wife and parents along and go somewhere… And here enters my tour planner, Vidisha… She is a colleague of mine and a close friend as well. And has the love for mountains (especially Manali) as not even the local residents of hill stations would have for that place. She contacted her travel agent and knowing I have not been to Manali, got the quotation for a 4N/5D trip. I chose the accommodation in Hotel Snowline (a 3 start hotel) and got the booking done.
We set off for Ludhiana on a Saturday, took a day off in Ludhiana and started our journey for Manali on Monday morning. The driver was good, aware of the journey (having made numerous trips to Manali) and knew his car very well. The good part was that the mountainous region started in just over 2 hour journey from Ludhiana. The journey was long but enjoyable. The tunnel on the way to Manali is amazing (though we almost had an accident while passing through it), but otherwise that 2-3 min run was fun.
The moment we reached Manali, it was raining and the weather was just awesome. The hotel was just next to the Mall Road. We checked in and the rooms were spacious, neat, had everything one would need for a comfortable stay and to top that, a very humble and hospitable staff.
We freshened up and in an hour were roaring to go ahead. The driver was kind of surprised to see us with cameras and shades on, ready to hit the road after almost 11 hours of journey. But I guess it was the weather that had done the trick… We got the list of “places of visit” from the reception and decided to visit all the religious places in Manali for the remaining part of the day. The first stop was @ Hadimba temple (Wife of Bheem, Mahabharata Fame). The temple was unique, it lay under a huge rock and in case you have some back problems, you might not be able to do the Darshan. On the way out, there were a couple of ladies with white fur in their hands. On investigating, we found, it was white rabbit. We got hold of one and got a few snaps clicked with the Yak and Rabbit.
Next was ghatotkach temple (now everybody knows of him cause of the movie), right next to Hadimba’s. An open tree temple, nothing much to cherish about. Enjoyed fresh baked corn on charcoal and set ourselves towards Vashist temple. The temple was in the opposite direction and so took us some time in reaching there. Vashist was the guru of Lord Rama and the temple has hot springs coming out from below the ground. Many tourists and locals take bath out there and they say it relieves you of all your tiredness. However, we didn’t try it!
Right next to it is the Ram temple and that was the last visit to the temple for the day.
There are two things you will find anywhere you go in Manali:
- The most amazing part: You will find Beas River following you everywhere. The sound of clean water makes you feel fresh.
- The not so amazing part: “Sir, aapne Chingoo dekha hai?” The question we tried to avoid from every single shop keeper you come across, cause by now we had known that it is a blanket made out of some animal’s skin. The question followed more intensely than the river but by now we had become used to it and were replying back all the strange answers to these shopkeepers, “Haan dekha hai, kya tumne dekha hai”, or “Haan dekha hai, mere ghar par hi banta hai”…
The day ended with a dinner in the hotel and a good night sleep after a tiresome day. But the day was amazing.
Day two:
The morning was very chilly, probably due to a snowfall in some nearby region (as told to us by the hotel staff). We had a nice hefty breakfast (now what do you expect from a Punjabi), and decided to visit the Solang valley and Naggar for the day.
On a personal note, Naggar was just OK. You get to see the house of Roerich, with all doors and windows closed and you keep peeping in from the windows to get a glimpse of nothing! The 100 meter walk uphill is tiring and the end result, again not very impressive. The work of art on display didn’t catch my personal attention. However, the place was very serene, very quiet and this in itself was the best part of the deal.
We moved out of Naggar and headed straight for Solang valley, where the weather had cleared out to try paragliding. We reached the place and the first reaction was… WOW!!
You see a lots of people walking uphill and @ the same time a few flying down the hill…
I just wanted to be up there… We took our tickets and reached on top fully exhausted. The walk uphill was not as simple as it seemed from down. But still the joy of flying for the first time was more exciting… My wife was the first to go… And then came by turn. The pilot who was to go along with me was shorter than me… Anyways… we were all set and about to take off, when he suddenly stopped and we made an emergency stop… Reason: The wind thrust was not enough…
So, he suggests we move up a bit more, for that thrust…
Attempt 2: Same result… This time even worse… As we were about to take off, he again stopped. But this time we were in a higher momentum than last time and had a bad fall to stop ourselves from falling over the hill.
By now, I am not so excited about this paragliding thing… But I still wanted to do it and so agreed with the pilot to go to the highest point of the hill, from where it will be a smooth take off…
Attempt 3: And guess what… Same result. And this time, the fall did some damage… Again he complained of the thrust and we fell really badly this time… The problem was, he being shorter in height than me and the glider was also small. I had given all hopes to fly and was heading downhill (cursing this guy for the three falls and I knew the damage has been done… I was limping). The local guide ran up there seeing all this and asked some other guy who was taller and had a big glide to give it a shot. But I was not interested, probably with the fear of falling… But the pilot was very confident and he held my hand and said, “Sir, Is baar ho jaayega. Mera vishwaas karo!”
And I again believed him. We went to the highest point of that hill, got the gear ready… and he shouted, “Sir, Run, Run, Run!!” And I was running like mad to get that thrust and then that golden moment happened, when he said, “Sir Ji, bas karo” and I saw we were already flying… I cried out loud, “Yipee!!!” It was magnificent. I was flying! The flight was just 2 min long, but it was awesome. The landing was again not very exciting, it is just like a plane landing on a runway… But the difference is that this time it is our own back on which you are landing and sliding a few yards before you come to a still… my wife and folks ran towards me to enquire if I was fine, probably they had seen my first three failed attempts and 2 nasty falls. But I had got all over it and was still in heaven. :-)
It was almost evening and I was hungry… We all were hungry and to add to that hunger was the fragrance of fresh maggi being cooked all around. We enjoyed maggi and tea and started back for our hotel. The sun had settled down for the day as well, but we decided to take a walk on the Mall. It had been 2 days and we hadn’t seen the Mall road. But the damage was becoming more prominent now… I was limping very badly and the ankle was paining severely. We saw a lot of “Maalish Waalas” on the Mall road. We asked one of them to come over to the hotel for the leg massage. He took some oil and started targeting the area which was paining the most. We had dinner and retired for the day.
Day three:
My folks had decided in the night before going to sleep, to cancel the trip to Rohtang we were planning the next day looking at my condition. And I was doubtful towards going as well, knowing it is going to require a lot of walking. But the massage guy had done a miracle. The pain had just vanished. The massage had done the trick. Rohtang it was for the day. We started early morning as they say it gets really rushy otherwise and you don’t get the parking. It was like a convoy of cars going towards Rohtang… Cars and cars going uphill. We were often stuck in a traffic Jam, as the road to Rohtang was not only small but it was not in good shape as well… However, the journey was good, sun shining and fresh cool air falling on your face. “paise poore ho rahe the”.
We reached Rohtang and it was dark out there at 12 o’clock in the day. It was cloudy, foggy and it was chilling. My first experience of Snow… I could not wait to slide and roll and do that thing which every guy and gal and every uncle and aunt and every kid does the moment you step on snow for the first time, make snow balls and have fun throwing them on the people you know and on those, you don’t! :-)
We did exactly the same… Me and my wife walked to the top of the hill, while parents tried their hands on skiing. We slided down the hill on snow using an inflated big tyre tube. Bu now it had started drizzling and we were hoping this drizzle might convert into snow… But it didn’t happen. The drizzle converted into rainfall and we headed towards our cab. Moreover, the lack of oxygen was making folks a bit uncomfortable. We decided to move back. But again on the way back, we were mainly stuck in traffic Jams. We reached back home by evening and had a nice early dinner. Followed by a nice walk down to the Mall Road and a few rounds of card games back in the hotel room. That was it for the day.
Day Four:
The day four had a lazy start to it… No hurry of getting up early… Morning tea inside the bed, again a nice hefty breakfast. Now you don’t really get to see this in any hill station and full credits to the travel agent, he arranged for the local village visit. The path (there was hardly any path per se) was small and through the weirdest of places but exciting… The houses were made of wood and every house had its own set of vegetables and cereals plantation, enough to sustain them. We got to see the chakki (used to make flour out of wheat) which runs on water driven motor and also in house generation of electricity. A simple but effective technique enough to generate electricity to light 40 bulbs. We got the chance to speak to some of the villagers and they were more excited to know about the city than we were to know about them. The village visit for fun, something very different to your normal hill station visits. Next was the waterfall, for which we had to trek a lot. The trekking was really exhausting, especially for the folks and in some areas, I would say dangerous, but the exhaustion was all over the moment we stepped into the ice cold water. We stayed there for some while, when we got the call we were all waiting for: The Water Rifting! We quickly headed back to our cab and headed for the site from where the rafting had to take place. We all got into the gear, got the security tips and were in water. The flow was real quick and in no time we were rafting in grade 3. The guys who row the boat in that water are amazing. We were just having pure fun with ice cold water falling on us and us sailing through it… It was just pure fun, indescribable. We changed to dry clothes, had nice hot cup of tea and headed back for the mall road… It was evening… We did some shopping from there and headed back to the hotel. The evening ended with dinner and a few rounds of cards!
Day Five:
Its time to pack your bags and head back to Ludhiana. There was again no urgency to the day, got up, got ready, had a nice breakfast, I cleared the bills and we were out of the hotel, thanking all the staff for the wonderful time we had there… We started our journey back and as we were passing through the same roads to move out, I could remember all the time we had spent there!
We reached Ludhiana in the evening and we were tired. I guess, we just retired for the day and that was the end of the holiday! Yes, the holiday ended, but the memory of that holiday is going to stay in my heart for a long long time… :-)
And I guess I cannot end this without the final note: Thank You Vidisha!
But then destiny, they say makes things happen for you. The project we had been working for, for more than a year, finished and my manager gave me a weeks off all by herself (Software engineers who find it hard to believe that managers give a week off, I can understand. It was hard for me to digest it as well). But then, it did happen.
I was not really sure of where to go, all I knew was that I had to go some where. I just wanted to take my wife and parents along and go somewhere… And here enters my tour planner, Vidisha… She is a colleague of mine and a close friend as well. And has the love for mountains (especially Manali) as not even the local residents of hill stations would have for that place. She contacted her travel agent and knowing I have not been to Manali, got the quotation for a 4N/5D trip. I chose the accommodation in Hotel Snowline (a 3 start hotel) and got the booking done.
We set off for Ludhiana on a Saturday, took a day off in Ludhiana and started our journey for Manali on Monday morning. The driver was good, aware of the journey (having made numerous trips to Manali) and knew his car very well. The good part was that the mountainous region started in just over 2 hour journey from Ludhiana. The journey was long but enjoyable. The tunnel on the way to Manali is amazing (though we almost had an accident while passing through it), but otherwise that 2-3 min run was fun.
The moment we reached Manali, it was raining and the weather was just awesome. The hotel was just next to the Mall Road. We checked in and the rooms were spacious, neat, had everything one would need for a comfortable stay and to top that, a very humble and hospitable staff.
We freshened up and in an hour were roaring to go ahead. The driver was kind of surprised to see us with cameras and shades on, ready to hit the road after almost 11 hours of journey. But I guess it was the weather that had done the trick… We got the list of “places of visit” from the reception and decided to visit all the religious places in Manali for the remaining part of the day. The first stop was @ Hadimba temple (Wife of Bheem, Mahabharata Fame). The temple was unique, it lay under a huge rock and in case you have some back problems, you might not be able to do the Darshan. On the way out, there were a couple of ladies with white fur in their hands. On investigating, we found, it was white rabbit. We got hold of one and got a few snaps clicked with the Yak and Rabbit.
Next was ghatotkach temple (now everybody knows of him cause of the movie), right next to Hadimba’s. An open tree temple, nothing much to cherish about. Enjoyed fresh baked corn on charcoal and set ourselves towards Vashist temple. The temple was in the opposite direction and so took us some time in reaching there. Vashist was the guru of Lord Rama and the temple has hot springs coming out from below the ground. Many tourists and locals take bath out there and they say it relieves you of all your tiredness. However, we didn’t try it!
Right next to it is the Ram temple and that was the last visit to the temple for the day.
There are two things you will find anywhere you go in Manali:
- The most amazing part: You will find Beas River following you everywhere. The sound of clean water makes you feel fresh.
- The not so amazing part: “Sir, aapne Chingoo dekha hai?” The question we tried to avoid from every single shop keeper you come across, cause by now we had known that it is a blanket made out of some animal’s skin. The question followed more intensely than the river but by now we had become used to it and were replying back all the strange answers to these shopkeepers, “Haan dekha hai, kya tumne dekha hai”, or “Haan dekha hai, mere ghar par hi banta hai”…
The day ended with a dinner in the hotel and a good night sleep after a tiresome day. But the day was amazing.
Day two:
The morning was very chilly, probably due to a snowfall in some nearby region (as told to us by the hotel staff). We had a nice hefty breakfast (now what do you expect from a Punjabi), and decided to visit the Solang valley and Naggar for the day.
On a personal note, Naggar was just OK. You get to see the house of Roerich, with all doors and windows closed and you keep peeping in from the windows to get a glimpse of nothing! The 100 meter walk uphill is tiring and the end result, again not very impressive. The work of art on display didn’t catch my personal attention. However, the place was very serene, very quiet and this in itself was the best part of the deal.
We moved out of Naggar and headed straight for Solang valley, where the weather had cleared out to try paragliding. We reached the place and the first reaction was… WOW!!
You see a lots of people walking uphill and @ the same time a few flying down the hill…
I just wanted to be up there… We took our tickets and reached on top fully exhausted. The walk uphill was not as simple as it seemed from down. But still the joy of flying for the first time was more exciting… My wife was the first to go… And then came by turn. The pilot who was to go along with me was shorter than me… Anyways… we were all set and about to take off, when he suddenly stopped and we made an emergency stop… Reason: The wind thrust was not enough…
So, he suggests we move up a bit more, for that thrust…
Attempt 2: Same result… This time even worse… As we were about to take off, he again stopped. But this time we were in a higher momentum than last time and had a bad fall to stop ourselves from falling over the hill.
By now, I am not so excited about this paragliding thing… But I still wanted to do it and so agreed with the pilot to go to the highest point of the hill, from where it will be a smooth take off…
Attempt 3: And guess what… Same result. And this time, the fall did some damage… Again he complained of the thrust and we fell really badly this time… The problem was, he being shorter in height than me and the glider was also small. I had given all hopes to fly and was heading downhill (cursing this guy for the three falls and I knew the damage has been done… I was limping). The local guide ran up there seeing all this and asked some other guy who was taller and had a big glide to give it a shot. But I was not interested, probably with the fear of falling… But the pilot was very confident and he held my hand and said, “Sir, Is baar ho jaayega. Mera vishwaas karo!”
And I again believed him. We went to the highest point of that hill, got the gear ready… and he shouted, “Sir, Run, Run, Run!!” And I was running like mad to get that thrust and then that golden moment happened, when he said, “Sir Ji, bas karo” and I saw we were already flying… I cried out loud, “Yipee!!!” It was magnificent. I was flying! The flight was just 2 min long, but it was awesome. The landing was again not very exciting, it is just like a plane landing on a runway… But the difference is that this time it is our own back on which you are landing and sliding a few yards before you come to a still… my wife and folks ran towards me to enquire if I was fine, probably they had seen my first three failed attempts and 2 nasty falls. But I had got all over it and was still in heaven. :-)
It was almost evening and I was hungry… We all were hungry and to add to that hunger was the fragrance of fresh maggi being cooked all around. We enjoyed maggi and tea and started back for our hotel. The sun had settled down for the day as well, but we decided to take a walk on the Mall. It had been 2 days and we hadn’t seen the Mall road. But the damage was becoming more prominent now… I was limping very badly and the ankle was paining severely. We saw a lot of “Maalish Waalas” on the Mall road. We asked one of them to come over to the hotel for the leg massage. He took some oil and started targeting the area which was paining the most. We had dinner and retired for the day.
Day three:
My folks had decided in the night before going to sleep, to cancel the trip to Rohtang we were planning the next day looking at my condition. And I was doubtful towards going as well, knowing it is going to require a lot of walking. But the massage guy had done a miracle. The pain had just vanished. The massage had done the trick. Rohtang it was for the day. We started early morning as they say it gets really rushy otherwise and you don’t get the parking. It was like a convoy of cars going towards Rohtang… Cars and cars going uphill. We were often stuck in a traffic Jam, as the road to Rohtang was not only small but it was not in good shape as well… However, the journey was good, sun shining and fresh cool air falling on your face. “paise poore ho rahe the”.
We reached Rohtang and it was dark out there at 12 o’clock in the day. It was cloudy, foggy and it was chilling. My first experience of Snow… I could not wait to slide and roll and do that thing which every guy and gal and every uncle and aunt and every kid does the moment you step on snow for the first time, make snow balls and have fun throwing them on the people you know and on those, you don’t! :-)
We did exactly the same… Me and my wife walked to the top of the hill, while parents tried their hands on skiing. We slided down the hill on snow using an inflated big tyre tube. Bu now it had started drizzling and we were hoping this drizzle might convert into snow… But it didn’t happen. The drizzle converted into rainfall and we headed towards our cab. Moreover, the lack of oxygen was making folks a bit uncomfortable. We decided to move back. But again on the way back, we were mainly stuck in traffic Jams. We reached back home by evening and had a nice early dinner. Followed by a nice walk down to the Mall Road and a few rounds of card games back in the hotel room. That was it for the day.
Day Four:
The day four had a lazy start to it… No hurry of getting up early… Morning tea inside the bed, again a nice hefty breakfast. Now you don’t really get to see this in any hill station and full credits to the travel agent, he arranged for the local village visit. The path (there was hardly any path per se) was small and through the weirdest of places but exciting… The houses were made of wood and every house had its own set of vegetables and cereals plantation, enough to sustain them. We got to see the chakki (used to make flour out of wheat) which runs on water driven motor and also in house generation of electricity. A simple but effective technique enough to generate electricity to light 40 bulbs. We got the chance to speak to some of the villagers and they were more excited to know about the city than we were to know about them. The village visit for fun, something very different to your normal hill station visits. Next was the waterfall, for which we had to trek a lot. The trekking was really exhausting, especially for the folks and in some areas, I would say dangerous, but the exhaustion was all over the moment we stepped into the ice cold water. We stayed there for some while, when we got the call we were all waiting for: The Water Rifting! We quickly headed back to our cab and headed for the site from where the rafting had to take place. We all got into the gear, got the security tips and were in water. The flow was real quick and in no time we were rafting in grade 3. The guys who row the boat in that water are amazing. We were just having pure fun with ice cold water falling on us and us sailing through it… It was just pure fun, indescribable. We changed to dry clothes, had nice hot cup of tea and headed back for the mall road… It was evening… We did some shopping from there and headed back to the hotel. The evening ended with dinner and a few rounds of cards!
Day Five:
Its time to pack your bags and head back to Ludhiana. There was again no urgency to the day, got up, got ready, had a nice breakfast, I cleared the bills and we were out of the hotel, thanking all the staff for the wonderful time we had there… We started our journey back and as we were passing through the same roads to move out, I could remember all the time we had spent there!
We reached Ludhiana in the evening and we were tired. I guess, we just retired for the day and that was the end of the holiday! Yes, the holiday ended, but the memory of that holiday is going to stay in my heart for a long long time… :-)
And I guess I cannot end this without the final note: Thank You Vidisha!
6 comments:
hey..
dat holiday seemed fun..!!
good to read all dat... can remember some part of it from my last road trip to Leh-Ladakh via manali in august dis year ... we stayed in Old Manali tho .. (cheap n good u c..for a budget trip).. but mountains n hills have been always one of my favs apart from the sunny beaches... good to c everyone enjoying life n having some fun apart from the daily rouitine.. you should keep up with such plans.. sometimes one really needs such breaks to refresh..!!
Thanks Ange! :-)
It was good to see u posting the first comment!
TC,
-Sachin
DAT HOLIDAY SEEMED MANY FUNS
GOOD WRITTEN
TAKE CARE.....
BYE BYE
hey dude!
It has been long time since you woke up in front of a window that opened to snow-clad Himalayas! It has been time since cuddled your wife in a local hill dress for a picture at Mall Road! It has been time since nothing seemed more joyous than searching a room with best view. Remember "It isn't time that's passing by..It is you and I"
(Ruskin Bond).
Fit a trip soon!
Cheers!
Storymaker
hey dude!
It has been long time since you woke up in front of a window that opened to snow-clad Himalayas! It has been time since cuddled your wife in a local hill dress for a picture at Mall Road! It has been time since nothing seemed more joyous than searching a room with best view. Remember "It isn't time that's passing by..It is you and I"
(Ruskin Bond).
Fit a trip soon!
Cheers!
Storymaker
hey dude!
It has been long time since you woke up in front of a window that opened to snow-clad Himalayas! It has been time since cuddled your wife in a local hill dress for a picture at Mall Road! It has been time since nothing seemed more joyous than searching a room with best view. Remember "It isn't time that's passing by..It is you and I"
(Ruskin Bond).
Fit a trip soon!
Cheers!
Storymaker
Post a Comment