Day 3: Manali

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I woke up at 6:10 am in the morning. As I brushed my teeth the first thing I did was to open the curtains and get to the balcony. This is a sight of a lifetime! While in Manali, I recommend anyone to stay in this hotel because these guys have the perfect location to view the mountains and the valley. Breathtaking views! We all spent our early morning looking at the landscape and by 7 am drizzle started. We showered and got ready to sight see Manali. Today was mainly allocated for local sights. By 8:30 am all of us were ready for breakfast. This was a great experience. You get donuts, oatmeal, croissant, french toast and then indian fare such as subudhana kichidi, alu fritter etc. The vadas were so crispy and well done. You can order them separately next to the omelette stand. Pranav, Praveen and I had spicy omelettes indian style. Another very good breakfast. We met Khemraj, the waiter, who seems to have hiked the himalayas as tour guide. He was giving us some tips on timing and locations to visit. One thing we got from him is that to leave early for sightseeing. Since the roads are very narrow and bad, traffic jams up in the city after 7 am. The hotel packs some modest breakfast if you need takeout. We decided to pursue that option for the next day trip to Rothang pass. We left the hotel around 9:30 Am. Our first stop was Vashist temple. This is the muni vashist (Lord Rama's guru). It is a small temple. Inside the temple complex, we noticed a shed labeled 'bath'. Later we realized that it was a hot springs. Adjacent to this temple is the Rama and shiv mandir. By this time it had started drizzling. Outside locals were handling furry rabbits. They allow tourists to hold them for few minutes for a fee. Pranav and Praveen held the rabbits and posed for pictures. We headed to Hadimba (Arjun's wife)temple. Before you get to this complex, there is a Ghatodhkatch temple as well. It is strange to see temples for these characters in the Mahabharata. Hadimba temple is adjacent to a big park as well. One end of the park borders Beas river. There was a long line for the Hadimba temple. It is set in a cave like structure underneath the ground. One has to kneel down to pray inside. Not more than 10 people can be inside at one time. After visiting this temple, we walked toward the river to wait for our driver to pick us up. As part of river sports, some tourists were engaged in 'river crossing'. A steel cable goes across the river. Each end of the cable is on either side of the shore. A pulley will take to the middle of the river and the guide will pull you back after few minutes of hanging above the roaring waters. These guides didn't seem like a proper outfit. I am sure there is no insurance and such here. We watched this for some time and headed to a Buddhist monastery. It was beautiful and quiet place. There was a big flower garden outside. Our next stop was the Manali nature park. This is the one close to the temple. We walked toward the water front. It should be about 2 kms or so. We had to climb down to get to the water. After spending some time there, we headed back to the busy shopping area of Manali. We decided to skip lunch. Shops are numbered here. There were hundreds of small shops selling various kinds of local arts and crafts. There is a section that is dedicated to Tibetan vendors as well. After shopping, we headed back to the hotel by 5:30 PM. We ordered tea in the lounge. For about an hour or so, we were able to soak in the views and walk around the resort before dinner.

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Comments

[Neha Dixit]

nice post