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| Freshest and the most vibrant colors |
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| The Hadimba Devi Temple |
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| Kids skate boarding down the slope |
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| Gulaba |
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| Honeymooning yaks :( |
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| Charu taking off for her paragliding adventure |
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| The monastry |
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| Beggar with an ID! |
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| The most awesome welcome ever |
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| Our new friends |
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| In the orchids |
Its been a year since i went back to Manali and i still dream about it. Its a place where i can retire and die. From childhood to when i went last year, Manali has changed a lot and i doubt for good. Seems to me that commercialisation can kill all things beautiful. Yet it didn't fail to enthrall me with its pristine beauty and tranquility. I visited Manali after almost 9 years and i felt like a child in front of the Dhauladhar range of mountains. Charu, my best friend and i took a bus from Delhi that cost us Rs 800/-. It was supposedly a luxury bus but broke our backs till we reached Manali early morning around 9am. My eyes couldn't shut out of excitement to catch the first glimpse of snow caped tall handsome mountains. And just when I opened my eyes i saw the first rays of sun beam on the top of the icing on the mountain right in front of me and sparkle like a thousand diamonds in the sky. We couldn't wait to get off and embrace nature. We were in a hotel called Chichoga Inn which was on the other side of the bridge. The view was breathtaking from our room. Me and my best friend had not planned anything and had relied heavily on Google. So google and my last trip to Manali had got us a few places to visit and we started off with Hadimba devi temple. Everything seemed to be so expensive and the auto guy charged us 70 bucks to get there. But then looking at the twists and turns in the road and the amount of risk they take to get there, Rs 70 were nothing. Hadimba devi was surrounded by the usual calm disturbed by the bustling tourists. Angora rabbits and fleeced lambs waiting to pose with you, people wanting to sell all the memorabilia to make it memorable for you. We walked past all that and found a place to eat the famous Maggi! Somehow, the way they prepare maggi is like no other. We ate, rather hogged and food tasted better. The fruits looked fresher, vibrant and juicier than any that I'd seen before. Few kids playing on the road caught my eye. They were skate boarding down the road like pro's. They had invented a game of their own.
I visited most places that i had seen before. But this time around, we went to the Manu temple and one of the most delightful experiences of my life was having a cup of pahadi tea with the local kids right across the temple. Simple children who were more amused than us to meet each other. They would've offered us all the food they had but we settled for Tea. We walked down old manali and stopped by at drifter's inn mostly inhabited by tourists has a cafeteria that serves some awesome food. We discovered these small joints all over Manali for great value for money food. One new place i visited this time was Vashisht for its hot water springs and i was hugely disappointed i must say. The place is of great importance and has a heavy tourist influx both Indian and foreign. But sadly it is so badly managed that i could'nt spend more than 5minutes there. We went to Gulaba Point since Rohtang was in 40ft snow and closed. Gulaba was extremely crowded and so obviously not the same as Rohtang. My faint memories of Rohtang reminds of heavenly mountains covered with snow all around the pass. The pass is so high that if you throw something today it may reach the bottom day after! So we had to miss Rohtang and settle for Gulaba full of honeymooning couples who were dying to see some 'ice'. The one fun thing we did there was snow biking! Charu did a bit of skiing and i indulged in photography. Our next halt was at Solang Valley. Since i was there, i had to.. HAD to do paragliding. We were looted and i knew we were looted but i cared less for the amount of rush i was going to get. We climed up to this point from where we would jump off and i was dead already. Then i saw charu flying. I couldnt wait for my turn and geared up just after she took flight. On my turn the strings of the chute got entangled and i topelled. It scared me a bit but did not deter me at all. In about 40 seconds i was off the cliff and flying! Just wind beneath my feet and beautiful valleys around that seemed to be smiling at me. Just when i had started enjoying it we had to land. Nonetheless, a memorable day it was. One of the few awesome local things we did was eating the local delicacy 'siddu'. Not quiet sure what it was made of
I was so mesmerised by Manali that Charu and i had decided to settle there and leave behind our boring competitive life. We looked for property very seriously. We hunted a broker and went around looking for estates for home stay options. Good lord what went into our heads!
Nothing in the world gives me more peace and introspection than mountains. Like i was born to die here. My pictures speak for the awesome time we had there. Manali is heavenly!
