We Land in Manali!

We reached Manali at around 11 AM, and were soon surrounded by locals for hotel booking. I had then taken charge as the primary bargainer for the group, with NR pitching in as the deal closer. So we checked out some hotels, finally settling for Summer Inn. A cool newly constructed hotel on the other side of the Beas. We sank in after the long journey and set out for lunch. Chandratal was our first hangout and I still do relish the taste of the Navrattan Pulaav!!! It turned out that it was THE best eating joint in the picturesque town :) AS , the incorrigible carnivore, picked out the most exotic non-veg dish, supported by the "not_so_characteristic_bong" AB. One reason why I did not have nervous dining moments on this trip was that veggies were in a majority , thanks CV and NR :))

We decided to do the local sight-seeing on foot. ( yo yo! We managed to save a crucial 400 bucks on that). Manali is a typical hill station, with a Mall road that spans the width of the town, which is barely 6 kms long. The Mall road here does not have the charms of the one at Shimla, I was sure about the fact. Manali does not have the magnificent British architecture, the Spic and span roads, the brands on display , the army majors and the giggling college/school girls of Shimla, but where it beats the erstwhile summer capital is its sheer abundant natural beauty.

Here is a glimpse of the same!


Snow clad mountains surround the town on three sides , and our luck, they were still snow clad when we reached there in march end. Deodars and Pine deck up the terrain and the slopes are still bereft of the ugly concrete construction, unlike Shimla. It was holi time in Manali, ppl were generally nice to tourists, except for a gulal case when the jacket of AB was rendered a liberal artist's masterpiece :)

Hadimba Temple, was our first halt. It was a 500 year old structure with beautiful wooden carvings. This depicts the unique architecture and facade of the Hadmiba Temple.



On the way, NR clicked me holding a furry rabbit :P,

jaip 030
Originally uploaded by Nikee.

I for a moment thought it was a baby Yak there , how foolish of me :P. By then we were having great ideas of packing a trek, a rafting expedition along with the skiing plans into our itinerary. so the quest began for "service providers". but we soon realized that the Beas was not bountiful enough for rafting and there were really no laid out treks for amateurs in Manali( unless you were adventurous enough to have a tete-a-tete with wild bears !!!!). So , till evening we were only skiing the next day.

In the afternoon, AS and NR( the dirty duo :P) pushed the case of bath in the Hot water Spring at Vasisth. We traveled about 5 kms on climbing terrain, only to realize that people were busy washing off holi colours in the sacred spring with soaps flowing thick and high, it was not only the curative sulphur...oomph.. all our fervour to take the purifying bath died down and we settled for mango juice, one each. The walking & climbing fitness ability was Me, CV, AB, AS and NR in that order. NR's insistence on taking an auto to hotel was met with little support. So that was our not so fruitful trek. This one we clicked after the disappointment with the Beas in the background :)



We booked the taxi with Kaku, who turned out to be an excellent choice, one of many such cases when our luck turned just the right way on the trip. Dinner ,after a lot of indecision, was at Sa-Ba, the poor cousin of Chandratal. AS was left again with no option , but to eat "anything arbitrary veg". The group liked the Pan-cakes he ordered though!!! We followed up with NR asking for time out to call his GF, an activity that he carried out with increasing frequency and our frustration increased in direct proportion of that:P. AS entered a Kashmiri Shawl shop, and soon we were giving good business to the guy. AS bought a pashmina shawl, so did AB and I bought a Koti for someone, who it was!!! Keep guessing !!!