It was mid November..... Diwali vacations going on.... so why to miss on an oppurtunity to go on a long holiday??? My dad booked ourselves for Manali and we were ready to go. Hey wait... take those sweaters with u.
We live in south Gujarat and Manali is of course very far off from there. After great planning and making different decisions, we decided to go to Manali. Obviously, the mode of transport was the biggest problem. We did something like this--- Took a 3 hr flight from Mumbai to Chandigarh and then through a taxi, reach Manali through various scenic spots and about 200 kms of Ghats in the 300 km of total stretch. There are many other ways too but we opted for this one as it was less time consuming and more enjoyable. We had already contacted a travel agency to book a taxi for us. It was Indica (my favourite and preferably right for high altitudes). It was the mesmerizing beauty of the high hills of Himachal and the Beas river flowing deep down the Solang Valley which just refreshed us from all our tensions and pressures in just a 7 hour journey.
We reached Manali at 10 pm and just went to sleep in the Snow valley resorts we had already booked. Its a good place to stay. The hotel is situated at a very high altitude and from their , we could see the beautiful sites of the stupendous hill station.
We went for local sight seeing. We went deep inside the markets full of warm clothes and many a handicrafts. The temperature outside was no too cold and we managed to keep us warm in our cardigans. We saw the long trees growing upto sky high which made the environment pollution free. We saw the wooden Hadimba Devi Temple. The woodwork done on it is very fine. We visited the Central Park there. I was tantalized by the scenery of green hills situated all around and the sound of Beas river as it flowed past us- it was simply amazing. Some rounds of boating and we were out. I got a setback when we were told that the river rafting can’t be done as the water in the river was shallow. We visited the Suraj Kund where the natural hot water comes out from inside the sulphur beds. That place has been made as a bathing place.
Visit to Manali is never complete without visiting Rohtang. We visited it. I was feeling very adventurous by every feet we were ascending. The sight becomes more and more useful as u go up. Rohtang is just about 50 km drive from Manali. But it takes not less than 3 hours to reach there. The reason being frequent landslides and some slow driving at the steepest roads as u go up.
Well, we reached Rohtang- About 13500 feet above sea level. The snow covered mountain which I saw from my hotel room window was now where I was standing. This was infact my first encounter with snow in my lifetime!! And there was no reason why I would not be happy. We played there for about 45 minutes. We were told that this was the pass which was directly linked to Leh which was about 400 kms from here.
Manali situated at 6500 feet above sea level- is thus a complete package for a holiday. Its rightly called the queen of hill stations. Its well maintained. All the roads here have been constructed and maintained by Border Roads Organization(BRO). So dudes- what r u waiting for. Pack ur bags and set of this summer to refresh urself to MANALI.