Disclaimer: As this is first time i’m writing a blog that too in English so if you have free time then only read this warna badme na kehna time waste kara diya.
So let’s start…….
Planning Before start of trip:
After searching about 100 hotels on MMT, oyo, GoIbibo etc. we booked the hotel named Gezellig inn,Vardhan Hills,Manali. Most funniest thing about this hotel is still i or many more don’t know how to pronounce it’s name.
Most important part of trip is to reach destination i.e. Manali. After searching 20-25 buses on different online platforms we booked bus from RailYatri.
The purpose of mentioning these two details is that many people including me don’t know how to pick or choose from different options so these two option for hotel and bus is great. Believe me view from hotel is beautiful and bus journey from Delhi to Manali was comfortable.
Seriously speaking jitne kam sabdo me mene ye before trip planning likhi hai usse kai jyadda time ye final karne m laga tha.
Chalo Badhte hai aage or trip start karte hai.
DAY 0
Boarded bus from RK ashram Marg metro station around 6:00 PM. It took around one hr to left Delhi. In kurekshetra we had dinner. After that we slept on recliner seats of bus and jab aakh khuli to samne the manali k snow covered mountains.
Oh Sry, Day 1 me enter kar gaye.
DAY 1
Reached Manali around 9:00 AM. The moment we step out from bus hamare saath wahi hua jo har jagah hota hai, sabke saath hota hai i.e. gang of taxi operators, hotel representatives etc. reached to us and started convincing us for day wise tour packages and luckily one of them succeeded in this.
Oh i forgot to mention one important detail, as you know kuch paane k liye kuch khoona padta hai so in order to have valley view from hotel room balcony we booked this hotel which is far away from city centre or mall road. So every time we paid extra money to cab operators for pick and drop from hotel. But if we weigh these two i.e. valley view and extra cost incurred in taraju, surely valley view will be winner with huge difference.
So around 9:30 we reached the hotel and after freshen up around 11:00 we left hotel and started our first day tour. As i mentioned earlier first day tour was of local sight seeing. Firstly we went to Himvalley amusement park and did nothing as most of the activities were for kids and those activities which were meant for adults like paintball etc. were not available at that time.
So in order to have proof of visit we took selfie with entry gate. Next stop was Vashishtha Temple. Natural hot Spring(Garam Kund) is available here.
Around Temple you will find so many local women’s carrying mountain rabbit’s insisting you to have a pic with these rabbit in return of 20 RS only.
Next stop was Hadimba Temple. In temple area there are so many sports activities at affordable price like archery etc.
Adjacent to temple there is Dhungri Van Vihar.
Entry fees of this is 10 rs. Once we reached end of van vihar we found that thing for which we came to Manali i.e. Barf(Ice) or meri team k bahut se logo ka barf dekhne ka sapna pura ho gaya. After enjoying snow ball fight in winter what required most is garam garam khaana or yaha hamari bhoog mitaai The World Famous 2 Minutes Maggi ne. Sometime i wonder when there was no maggi what was they were selling in place of Maggi. Next stop was Manali Club House. Entry fees is 25 rs but its not worthy. As most of the activities was for kids. After roaming entire club house we didn’t find anything interesting. Even we didn’t clicked any selfie here(like we did in himvalley amusement park) as we don’t want to remember this place. So basically till now if you were reading thoroughly then you might be thinking what’s going on. Seriously speaking we felt the same way. So we decided to google search for the places to visit in Manali. Result was surprising. It suggested what we already visited. So finally one of my team member asked one of his trustworthy source who recently visited Manali about places to visit in Manali and in answer we got Rocky’s Cafe.
Without a second thought or wasting a single second we headed towards rocky’s cafe but but but our cab driver doesn’t know the location so again we had to trust google Maps. Cab dropped us around 500 m before rocky’s cafe because driver denied to go for unknown reason. So by foot we had to cover 500m. 500m of hilly area is not equivalent to 500m of plain area in terms of calories burnt. So we started this small trek. Even we were using google maps still we were asking direction from locals. And funniest thing is most of them denied existence of such cafe. But our source of information was trustworthy so we continued our trek and somehow we manged to reach cafe. And believe me what i saw on reaching there is mesmerizing. The View, Aroma , Weather, Food everything was perfect.
This place is perfect gateway for those who want to relax and enjoy the nature. So finally after spending around one and half hour we started feeling positive vibes from the trip till now. But as soon as we reached our next stop i.e. Van Vihar Manali these positive vibes turned into -ve .
In this there is 2 km long circuit trail. Our next stop was Tibetan Buddhist monastery. -ve vibes followed us here too as this place was closed . We were late. But yaha fir se hamare team k kuch members ka ek aur sapna pura ho gaya i.e. spinning those Prayer wheels.
our next stop was Mall Road. Here you can find almost everything from food to weed. Yes you read it right, Weed .While roaming on mall road someone pass by me whispering hash chaiye hash chaiye . This was like bullet passing by the ear. The moment my brain was able to process this low Decibel signal it directed my eyes to search this interesting human being. I turned back and saw he was at about 1-2m far from me. I smiled , he smiled back and then from talking through gestures i declined his deal. Day 1 local site seeing tour completes here. Cab dropped us at our hotel. Around 8:00 PM we were at Hotel. Night view from balcony is great.
Chalo so jaate hai ab and milte hai next day.
DAY 2
Good Morning !!
Manali don’t have sunrise or sunset points like Lal Tibba Sunset point of Mussoorie. But you can definitely enjoy the sunrise from this hotel balcony. After having delicious breakfast we left hotel around 10:00 AM.
Our First stop of day 2 tour was Solang Valley.
We bought a package of activities available in valley i.e. skiing, tube ride and yak ride. The beauty of this serene place can’t be described in words you have to feel it.
Enjoying snow ball fights, making snow man is what you can do with this smooth ice.
Skiing is the main attraction point of Solang Valley. Around 6 hrs we spend here but i cant describe those hrs in words.
So moving forward our next stop was Nehru Kund.
Don’t know why its famous for, maybe cab operators use such places to increase there count of places to visit in order to get more money.
Our next stop was Mall Road again. As we had time today so we started shopping for our loved ones. Seriously speaking people of Manali are strict as compared to people of Nainital, Uttarakhand. There is little story behind this statement which i desperately want to share with you and then you decide whether i’m wrong or right.
Manali Story: So on day 2 we went to shop near mall road circle for buying poncho, after 10-15 min of searching suitable poncho from those which were on display we asked them to give new piece of the same as it was dirty and in reply she gave strange look and started arguing whats wrong in this piece, if you wanna have this take it else leave. We got surprised by her behavior as being from Rajasthan,dealing with customers like this is not acceptable, we treat customer as GOD. Finally we had to take dirty one.
Nainital Story: Yaha bhi wahi hua jo har jagah hota hai, sabke saath hota hai, as soon as we stepped out from bus at bus stand taxi operators, hotels representatives rushed toward us and as always we hired cab for two day tour and finalized amount. On end of day 1 tour he dropped us on mall road and said good bye. I was shocked, why isn’t he is asking for money. I took a pause for 4-5 sec and then asked him about what amount to be paid for today from total amount and in reply he smiled and said “bhaiya kal to milenge hi“. I again asked what if we went to place from where we came without giving you money and in reply he said nothing and went straight away. This much of trust is unbelievable in this era. Believe me we didn’t gave him our id or he doesn’t even know in which hotel we were staying. He got nothing to track us. He treated us the way we treat customers in Rajasthan.
Now you decide whether i’m wrong or right.
Maaf karna gusse me idhar udhar nikal jata hu. Fir se track p aate hai.
So where were we??
Yeah, we bought that poncho and left that shop. Remember that Hash or weed guy from day 1?? While roaming on mall road i again found him, i waved at him but he didn’t recognized me. Because its his daily job but how can i forget him, i don’t came across such guys daily.
I’m not a shopping freak , but in past someone said that in order to have memory of trip always buy something related to place, so now i started buying so called place specific fridge magnets.
Believe me its a good idea to follow.
So now its time to get back to hotel. As we have one extra day remaining we decided to go to Kasol and Manikaran. Good Night!!
DAY 3!
Good Morning!!
Around 10:00 AM we left our hotel and started journey to Kasol and decided to do paragliding. As i had already tried paragliding in Mussoorie , experience of which was bad cause time of in air was just 1 min so in order to keep alive thrill of paragliding inside me i decided not to do it here and try it in Bir Billing in future.
But one of my team member who was in Mussoorie also, tried paragliding here too cause wo PSU m kaam karta hai. While booking they said in air time is approx 15-20 min but in reality they meant time including drop off to take off site from booking location + paragliding in air time + drop off to booking location from landing site. But moreover they enjoyed too. Even one of my friend tried to mimic that popular guy from paragliding viral video i.e. 500 extra lele par land kara de……….
Moving forward our next stop was Shawl Factory Outlet.
If you were reading thoroughly till now, you must be remembered that didi from poncho shop and the relevant story. From the very first conversation with the saleswoman at this outlet i was able to figure out that she also belongs to strict saleswoman category. Being a happy go lucky type person dealing with strict peoples is not my cup of tea. So i played my trump card i.e. i shared our shopping experience at mall road with her and luckily she knew approx everyone who is working in that shop on mall road so she agreed with us that they are strange people. From this very moment her way of dealing with us was changed drastically. After buying while leaving shop i said to that saleswoman that “Aunty, aap bhi strict to ho waise” and in reply she smiled and laughed. She took my words as +ve compliment and didn’t got angry that’s the best part of this small conversation.
Our next stop was Rafting Point. As we had already done rafting in Rishikesh we didn’t tried it here.
Now our last stop was Gurudwara Shri Manikaran Sahib. Here you can find natural hot spring.
And its said by elders that by taking bath in this kund saare paap dhul jaaenge. Ab to nahana banta hai.
So after bath we had lunch in langar. The rice served in langar is boiled in one of these hot spring kund here itself.
Here you will also also find hot cave which works as sauna bath. The only difference is that it’s natural.
And from Manikaran we left for Bhuntar where our bus for Delhi was waiting.
End Of Trip………
Thanks if you read it fully.
Blogpost's By Anoop 