Manali diaries

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Enriching, revealing, fulfilling, rejuvenating – the list of adjectives can grow rightly long when it comes to describing road trip experiences. While they say, it’s the journey and not alone the destination which matters, how wonderful does it get when on the last day of your trip, you are absolutely sure that you are going to go back for more!

Considering my inclination to not spend any long weekend lazing in the cocoon of my house, I consider myself a travel enthusiast with an avid interest in road trips, preferably the ones where in I drive through and through. So this one in Aug’17 was no different – I know it’s the not so friendly rainy season, but did that stop me from venturing out yet again to the hills? Having a fair amount of experience of driving for long hours at a stretch, I wanted to choose a destination which assures conventional roads but a comparatively off beat destination. Staying in NCR, you do have some good options and after having done some research, I decided to go to Old Manali this time. The choice was driven by the fact that though quite some time back, I have been to Manali (New) a couple of times, so was somewhat familiar with the terrain which I preferred given that this time, it was just the two of us – me and my life and trip buddy, my wife 😊



Day 1 (the drive):

While doing long road trips, it’s important to start the journey at an hour which ensures that peak traffic can be avoided as much as possible. Plus it’s pertinent to be prepared for the consequences of heavy showers which can lead to unimaginable congestions on roads. So after loading ourselves with some stock of our favourite snacks, some biscuits, chips and dry cakes, we started off from Greater Noida on 11^th Aug at 4am. As anticipated it was an absolutely smooth run of around 1.5 hours where in we took the traditional popular pit stop at Amrik Sukhdev. I have been aware of this place for more than 10 years now and somehow the quality and taste of the stuffed breads (aaloo parantha) hasn’t changed one bit. A quick bite there and we were ready for the first long stretch. A small tip for long road journeys – eat light, do not take too many and too long breaks, just enjoy the drive and keep going. Considering the outcast sky, we were quite apprehensive about sudden rains and as soon as we reached Kiratpur Sahib (that’s where the hills start from), we were hit by a heavy downpour. Now in these conditions, however skilled you are in manoeuvring your ride, it’s always advisable to pull over alongside and wait for visibility to improve. So in the next couple of minutes when we saw a small dhaba (you have plenty of these on this belt), we stopped for some Maggi and tea and of course for the rain to mellow down a bit. Now when you order your favourite Maggi at some random place like this, be careful with add on stuff. We like ours with vegetables so asked for the same, but guess that was a mistake. What we got was a bowl with plenty of vegetables with some light coloured thin substances (those were the Maggi remains) floating in a good quantity of water. And as was evident from the looks, it tasted horrible too. It takes special talent to ruin such easy items and this guy seemed to be brimming with that. The rain had subsided by the time we finished off our tea, so we resumed our journey with no intentions to halt until we reach Mandi.




The next few hours were uneventful; we did take a couple of very small breaks to straighten our legs and to capture some nice views. It was evening and almost 14 hours since we had started when we finally reached Manali. The couple of hours delay was due to some construction work going on the roads which had caused traffic congestion. And as is the trend with any road trip (frequenters would know it), the last 30 odd kilometres wouldn’t just end! Exhausted and hungry we were so looking forward to reach our hotel room. To reach Old Manali, you have to cross New Manali and passing by the road along side Beas river, glancing around I got nostalgic identifying the hotel in which I had stayed with the boys’ gang in my singlehood, 5 years back. Going further, as soon as we crossed the main car parking lot, we were surprised to see the place which had got so commercialised with all those trendy branded stores which one finds in the cities too. I mean if you are one of those who consider hill stations as a break from the regular city life then I am afraid, New Manali would disappoint you. The place was so crowded that we wondered was it really an ‘off season’ and were so glad that we had decided to stay in Old Manali which people claim, still has retained its natural beauty and charm. After a short drive of about 8 kilometres through narrow winding roads, we were in front of our hotel ‘Treebo Celebreti’, where in we got warmly greeted by the staff. Since we were very tired after the long drive, we decided to freshen up, have some quick snacks, explore the property and call it day. Upon looking around, the first thing that caught our attention were the abundant apple trees, all loaded with fruits. Believe me, the sight was an absolute bliss! And to top it up was the sound of Beas gushing through right in front of us.




Day 2 (the ride along Beas):

When on a trip, wake up early so that you have plenty of time to make the most of daylight. A small walk in the hills, in early hours is very refreshing and builds up an appetite for a good breakfast. For us, it was a traditional one – some bread, omelette, parantha with curd/pickles and tea. Our hotel had a fantastic lawn area where tables were laid and while eating we made the plan for the day. This time of the year, you will find plenty of people flocking from all over the country, in fact world in Manali, who are headed towards Leh/Laddakh. For those who don’t know, it is the journey of a lifetime and the experience of riding through one of the most difficult terrains in the world is worth cherishing forever. A decade back, I was an avid biker and when you see so many riders around, a part of you calls out from within to go for it. Upon inquiring, we kind of got lucky with one of the hotel staff renting out his Yamaha Fazer for INR 1,000 (including fuel) for the whole day. It was quite a good deal and fitted in our plan quite well. A quick shower and we were ready to hit the road again with no particular agenda or check points in mind. So when you try to ride after almost a decade and that too on hilly roads, it tends to get super shaky in the beginning. We went quite slow trying to adapt to the conditions and after doing about 10 odd kilometres the rider in me was back for good!



We kept riding along side Beas towards Kullu, enjoying every moment of the mesmerizing sight – beautiful green hills, gushing water and clear sky! After covering about 30 odd kilometres we reached a small eating outlet where in they were serving trout fish (a local delicacy) along with beer. I mean what else I could have asked for while taking a halt. Normally they would catch a fish straight from the river and grill or bake it for you but considering the rainy season which had made the river go wilder, they served us one from their farm. For all you foodies out there, trying out local delicacies is definitely fun but do ensure to order for a small or minimal portion initially, as there are high chances that you might not like it. For instance, I was familiar with this trout fish and kind of liked it too but my wife rejected it upfront since it had a strong odour. Apart from the food, the entire set up was very nice – tables laid right on the river bank and greenery all around. Now the sky was getting overcast again, so we decided to head back to Manali. It was early evening by the time we got back, so after a light lunch, we decided to stroll on the Mall road. There are some fancy outlets there selling woollen stuff but honestly nothing worth mentioning exclusively. While riding back to our hotel, we stopped by a place where in the flow of water was a bit on the normal side. We climbed down the road to a place where in we could play around with water and then simply sit on the rocks for some time. Finding a small stall selling Maggi and tea there, we dared to order again and this time it was nice and kind of perfectly complimented the set up. After spending about an hour there, clicking loads of photos and capturing some nice videos, we headed back to our hotel where the staff there had organized music and bonfire in the lawn area. We freshened up and got ourselves a table, set up our drinks and were ready to spend the rest of the evening there.




Day 3 (near-by places):

We repeated the morning drill and had a few chats during the breakfast with folks leaving for Leh-Laddakh. This was followed up by a rejuvenating hot shower to get rid of the enormous amount of dust that we had managed to accumulate from the previous day’s ride. This time we had a few places on our checklist – Vashisht (hot water spring), Hidamba temple etc. We are not one of those religious ones but since we were right there and with nothing very special to do, we decided to get a bit touristy and this time we took our car. All these spots were not very far from our hotel but what the staff did not tell us was the ordeal involved in finding a place to park the car. It was so horrible that we gave up after almost reaching Vashisht and dropped the idea of Hidamba temple too. One thing which caught our attention on the road to Vashisht was a small Tibetan food outlet which was built of wood and looked quite inviting. The table and benches were made of logs of wood and we couldn’t resist pausing for some snacks. A smiling face served us steaming hot chicken momos with a local bottled guava juice. It was phenomenal and we kind of forgot the hassle we had faced just a while back. While going downhill we stopped at a place where we could play on the river bank. We had seen this slightly crowded place from our hotel room balcony too, so now this was checked off our little list. We came back to the hotel at around 4pm, parked the car for good and decided to walk around a bit. It was nice to see how the locals there had set up small, yet nice and visually appealing stores, mostly food outlets. We stopped by in one such place ‘River Music Cafe’ which was located right on the river bank. While in Manali, you simply can’t ignore the omnipresent sound of water and I believe the owner here must’ve got inspired by this to name the cafe 😊 Since it was our last night there, we decided that we will skip the hotel dinner and will come out at night again to try one of these joints. After having some noodles there when we came out, we saw a narrow road gliding upwards with a small sign board ‘Manu temple’. Believe the board was warning enough for us not to step further 😉 After checking out a few more places, including the Clubhouse which is kind of a small mall with a restaurant, some recreational game set ups (including Go-karting) and some small stores selling fruits based delicacies, we headed back to our hotel.



At around 9pm, in light drizzle we went out for dinner. The only nearby road that we hadn’t explored so far was the one leading to Manu temple, may be more due to the morning experience while attempting to go to Vashisht. This time we were on our foot, so unanimously decided to check this off our list. And that’s when we got to see the best part of Old Manali! The small winding upward road was far from giving a religious feel. It was a completely new world and totally different from what I have so far in many hill stations. It was loaded with fabulous outlets of clothes/accessories and loads and loads of eating joints serving all kinds of cuisines (Russian, Italian, Tibetan etc.). We walked into a store and were pleasantly surprised with the variety of stuff that was exhibited. Right from cool T-shirts to trendy shorts, harem pants to amazing blings and probably everything one needs to travel, trek, ride etc. And all these items were not those which you will normally find in city malls or even streets. Now this definitely felt exclusive to Manali! The road was flocked with young crowd from all ethnicities and we could hear live music playing in every other outlet. In some there was karaoke going on while others were decked up with attractive lighting with live band performing. Just one thought crossed our minds – how come did we not come to this place before. 15 minutes there explained why anyone would simply love to go to Old Manali. Only if we hadn’t passed off the evening doing silly things in water (yes, we were sure that being here would have been far more fun than repeating the river bank thing) or only if one of those several people that we had been checking with, about what to do in Old Manali, would have been kind enough to let us know about this place. After absorbing the atmosphere there, we walked into an outlet, Cafe 1947 which was hosting a live band. Cheerful faces, nice songs, terrific ambience; it was all so perfect! We both are not huge Pizza fans but the description that the waiter gave of their specialty – a fully loaded wood fire pizza, we just couldn’t resist ordering it, along with some chicken salad. The food was phenomenal and honestly it doesn’t matter if you are a non-vegetarian or not, this place has something for everyone! After the sumptuous dinner we started walking back to our hotel sighing at least 5 times on the way about why we did not explore that part of Old Manali before, which kind of made us decide that we were going to come back!

Travelling to hill stations is somewhat risky in monsoons with frequent landslides which could be very damaging. One such had taken place just a night before in Mandi, which was on our way back to Delhi. So we had decided to leave by 9am and halt only after crossing Kiratpur. Thankfully the journey back home was uneventful and we were home by 10 pm. Overall, it was a fantastic trip which we definitely will repeat, may be with some friends next time 😊



Some useful information:



Best time to visit Old Manali: Mar-Jun to escape the heat, Jul-Sep, if you want to see lush greenery.

How to reach Old Manali from Delhi/NCR: By road - either drive down or hire a cab. Else take a Volvo bus ride to Manali (there are loads of them).

Where to stay: If you are not one of those who prefer only resorts, book any decent hotel near Manu temple road (advisory – don’t spend too much on hotel, there is lots of stuff you can spend on there).

What to do: Although it is best not to have an agenda at all, but still it’s nice to be touristy at times. Apart from what all we covered (and mentioned but did not cover), one definite addition to the list if you aren’t travelling in the monsoons is Rohtang pass (do obtain permit before hand).

The unmentioned: Feel free to read between the lines. All kind of ‘stuff’ is easily available, provided you have the sense to look for in the right places ;-)

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