Manali

Sunday 24^th May 2015

We arrived into Manali at around 5am the sun had just risen and the morning was pale and grey. We got off the bus and were immediately freezing everyone around us was bundled up in coats and gloves and scarfs I didn’t even have shoes on and my toes were fat little icicles.

As we were waiting for the bus driver to open up the back of the bus so we could get our bags when a guy came up to us advertising his guesthouse which was in Old Manali he said if we didn’t like his place then we could just pay him for the ride there.

We went with him to his car and waited while he went to hand out his card to some more people. While he was gone we looked up his hotel on Trip Advisor and he had really good reviews. We drove to Old Manali ad walked to the guesthouse which is set back quite far from the road we checked out a few rooms and decided to stay as it was a good price and all looked really decent.

We dropped our stuff and went to bed for a few hours since it was still only 6am and we hadn’t really slept on the bus since it hurtled around corners so fast it was difficult to stay in our seats.

When we woke up we were starving I hadn’t had dinner last night so was absolutely famished we had a hot shower and went out onto the balcony and ordered eggs on toast we sat and abused the Wi-Fi for a bit then got ourselves together and walked into town.

First stop was a café where we got coffee before continuing on the sky was cloudy and threatened to rain as we walked down the hill into town. We stopped off at a shop and got some peanut butter I even managed to find sugar free stuff (it’s for diabetics! That’s how uncommon sugar free peanut butter is in India)

We also got some hash from a man at a gems shop who clearly used the shop as a front for his drugs business as he knew nothing about the stones he was selling. By the time we left to walk back the rain had started but luckily it didn’t get heavy and we got back without getting too wet.

HP is very plastic conscience and so has several places to refill water bottles for cheap rather than constantly buying bottled water so we stopped off for a refill before heading back to the guesthouse we got lost a few times between all the building and the winding little paths but eventually made it back where we camped on the balcony for the afternoon to read and update my blog.

When we got hungry we couldn’t be bothered to walk into town so just ordered food at the guesthouse. By the time we had eaten it was really cold so after a quick trip to the shop to get chocolate we headed to bed to watch movies rolled up in blankets. We both struggled to stay awake and it was lights out by about 9pm

Monday 25^th May 2015

This morning I woke up early after going to bed so early last night. I finished my book and finally started one that Mark has been pushing me to read for ages. It took him ages to read and he complained the whole way through so I wasn’t very inspired to read it. I managed a chapter before I gave up and rewarded myself with something more of an easy read.

We had a lazy morning with me uploading photos and a blogpost while we ate peanut butter toast. The morning got lazier as just as we were heading out it decided to start raining it was light at first and so we made it to a café without really getting wet but about ten minutes after arriving there was a downpour and we ended up stuck there for several hours.

We started off with drinks and as the afternoon progressed we progressed onto lunch. Mid-afternoon we decided it was dry enough to take a walk and so wandered through town taking an easy stroll before heading back as the rain started again.

We got back to the guesthouse and chilled on the balcony watching the rain for a bit before it got too cold and we ended up in bed watching TV until we got hungry and braved the cold to sit on the balcony and eat before retreating back to the warmth.

Tuesday 26^th May 2015

We started off the day with a joint and some peanut butter toast and boiled eggs. As it has been the last few days the morning started out clear warm and sunny but before long had clouded over and began to rain.

We ventured down the hill a short way to get some coffee and wait for the weather to clear a bit and before we knew it we were eating apple pie and ice-cream for breakfast dessert.

We set out to walk through the nature park to New Manali to see what was going on. The nature park costs 5 rupees but is preferable to walking along the road being constantly honked at. We wound our way through the forest making our own path but it’s pretty small so even with all our dawdling it still only took us about 30 minutes to make it to the other side.

Burnt out tree in the Nature Park

Skull just chilling in the Nature Park

The trees in the Nature Park

dancing in the woods

is it a poo? no its a slug

New Manali was absolutely packed with vacationing Indian tourists we walked along the main street and checked out a few side streets but there isn’t too much to see there. We got talking to an old American lady (with an Indian toy boy) she was telling us how shocked she was to find that hotels in India don’t provide toilet paper, she said she was going to spend three months here I can only imagine it will be an eye opener for her.

We soon grew tired of the crowds and the noise so headed back to the nature park. Inside there is a small bird park that has pheasants in it. When I was in Manali two years ago there was a tiny baby bear in one of the enclosures that had been brought to the park after its mother was killed, I wanted to find out what had happened to it but there was no one around to ask.

The birds are beautiful but looked just as miserable as they did two years ago trapped in tiny concrete cages although I have to say their lunch of fresh fruit and veg did look pretty good.

We meandered back into town and I stopped to look in a shop while Mark charged on ahead I had no chance of catching up to him on my stubby legs so just cruised up the hill to the guesthouse.

I realised this morning that I’m almost out of clean clothes but since the weather was rainy and thundery I decided to just clean the necessities (read underwear) I did that and then sat in a corner with a face mask on that I picked up in New Manali when I stopped in the pharmacy for a few things.

We went out and had an absurdly early dinner since we hadn’t had any lunch and then came back to the guesthouse and ate m&ms while watching Cool Running’s.

Wednesday 27^th May 2015

We had one plan for today which was to check out the two temples in town. We started off well getting showered and having breakfast but then got a bit waylaid when we stopped for coffee (and a pancake) and met an Australian guy called Liam who we ended up chatting to for hours.

The coffee shop was a cool place to hang out and when we left I got some cookies to take away that were freshly baked and still hot from the oven.

Eventually we got moving to the temples stopping off at the Manu Temple first. It’s just up the hill from our guesthouse and is on the spot where Manu meditated after surviving the great flood (sort of like Noah and his ark)

The temple is quite modest it’s big in size but rather empty with just a central square alter with two idols on each of the four outer walls and one idol inside. The building isn’t the original rather it’s built on the same spot as the first temple of its name.

After the Manu temple we walked down through Old Manali across the bridge and up the hill on the other side to the Hidimba Temple. At the bottom of the steps where yaks that for 20 rupees toy could ride on but the rings in their noses and the general look of depression on their faces was enough to put me off, there were also heaps of woman walking around with angora rabbits for people to hold and have their picture taken with. It was all sorts of bizarre.

Yaks!

We walked up to the temple as the sky began to cloud over and the wind picked up. The temple is set amongst pine trees which were all swaying in the wind. The line to go inside the temple was insanely long so we just took a few pictures out front and then retreated before the rain started.

The temple is old having been around since 1553 so it would have been cool to go inside and see the idols inside, there is also an open air temple where pilgrims make offerings to a sacred tree so we walked to see that. Surrounding the tree were dozens more yaks and double the amount of woman with rabbits as well as one woman who had a lamb. She tried to get me to pay her for a photo with the lamb and even after I told her I was from NZ where there are more sheep than people she still persisted with the notion that it was some sort of once in a lifetime opportunity. (It wasn’t even a super cute lamb!)

We walked back to the guesthouse where we sat around for a bit smoking before deciding we were hungry and heading out to get food. We were meeting Liam at 7pm but since we hadn’t eaten for a while we decided to go early and have two dinners since we are absolute fatties.

We stayed out late eating all the food and the boys were drinking all the beers by the time we left it was the latest we had been out in months and well past our bedtime.

Thursday 28^th May 2015

Today we were up and at it earlyish for a change we had said we would meet Liam for coffee at 10am and since we are so slow moving in the morning this proved to be a bit of a challenge.

We got there and since we were at a bakery had a piece of cake and a chat then after a while decided to get moving with the day. We planned to walk to Vashisht its only 3km away and the Lonely Planet reckons it’s a nice 30minute walk.

Being the special cases we are we somehow missed the path that we were meant to be on and weaved along on these tiny dirt tracks through an apple orchard for an age before we saw the road down below us and made our way down to it.

Along the way we picked up a friendly dog who was over excited by the walk and if she was behind me on the path she kept head-butting me in the back of the legs more than once I almost took a tumble down the hill it turns out that steep narrow paths dogs and jandals are not a good combination for an easy walk.

Down on the road we followed the river along until we came to a rickety bridge by this stage we had walked far past the town but the views of the mountains with waterfalls cascading down and the general peacefulness of the deserted road was wonderful.

The bridge was in two parts one part going over a slow moving patch of river that wobbled when you walked across and then a slightly longer bridge of slightly better construction (only slightly) which was over a raging torrent of river the whole bridge moved when you walked across it was actually rather scary and when we got to the other side you could see the bridge was just held in place by stacks of rocks supporting wooden beams.

We walked into a small town which is past Vashisht where we found a turn off leading to a huge waterfall I was busting for a wee but every time I found a good spot for a nature wee people would appear we got to the bottom of the waterfall and I went bush down a hill ad had the best wee of my life.

We climbed higher up to get a good view of the falls where the pool at the bottom was calm enough to wade in but the place was rammed with people so we didn’t stay long we found a forest path that lead into town and headed that way through the forest until we arrived in the town.

We poked our noses over the wall to see into the hot springs inside the temple we would have taken a dip but for once the weather was blazing and the idea of a 41 degree hot pool didn’t appeal plus the baths are segregated and apparently the woman’s bath isn’t much to look at.

I did go across the way into the Rama Temple which looks ridiculously old from the outside and is tiny on the inside. I made friends with an Indian family who loved my tattoo and then we got caught up taking millions of photos with them.

We stopped for lunch at a cheap Indian place and all ate too much followed by coffee and then the walk back to Manali. We didn’t want to back track so we headed through town and then found a path down to the river unfortunately we had to walk along the road for a time and the cars were out in force honking and getting up in our grills.

When we reached New Manali we left Liam who needed to buy something in town and we headed back to Old Manali through the Nature Park. We stopped along the way home for freshly baked cookies which we munched on the balcony. By the time we reached the guesthouse I was exhausted and ready for bed, but instead I had a shower to lively myself up and sat on the internet for a while until we went out about 8pm to meet Liam for dinner.

We met up and walked across the river to a restaurant that is supposed to have the best food in Old Manali but it was pricey and none of us felt hungry enough to justify the prices so we headed back across the river and ate at a little backpacker’s hangout.

By the time we got back to our accommodation it was late and I fell into bed and slept through until late the next morning.

Waterfalls

Mark crossing the first wobbly bridge

The big dodgy bridge

Mountain town

Walking up to the waterrfall

The waterfall

raging river

view from the base of the waterfall

Waterfall

Yhe woods we walked through from the waterfall to Vashisht

Its sad that this sign is needed!

Rama Temple Vashisht

strangely this seemed to be a stop off point for people to paddle in the river...

Friday 29^th May 2015

We had a slow burning morning having breakfast and doing laundry before heading into town. As soon as we came out of the little alleyway our guesthouse is down we realised something was up. Everything was shut we couldn’t even get water.

We walked down through town and noticed a few cafes were secretly open we went in one and asked what was up. Since we have been in Manali there has been a strike of all the taxis and rickshaws the government has introduced an extortionate tax on one of the mountain passes popular with tourists doing day trips up to see the snow or go hiking, paragliding etc. the taxis are all striking but there isn’t really any organisation so I doubt it will achieve much. The shops all closed today in solidarity to the cause (except for the ones who secretly opened and most likely made a mint)

As everything was closed and the day was overcast and miserable we really didn’t feel like doing much so after eating all the freshly baked gooey cookies we headed back to the guesthouse where we watched TV all afternoon snuggled up in blankets on the balcony.

In the evening we headed out for an early dinner and saw that a few places were opening up for the evening trade. We found somewhere to eat and then headed back for more TV in bed.

Saturday 30^th May 2015

This morning was yet another slow start and another day of not really accomplishing much. After having breakfast on the balcony and watching the clouds come down to eventually cover the snowy mountains we walked into town for some coffee and cookies.

The coffee shop was rammed and super loud  and soon got tiresome Mark drank too much coffee and ended up having to go to bed for a lie down.

Eventually in the afternoon we got moving and headed to the nature park for a walk in the woods just as we walked in it started to rain and we didn’t have our jackets so luckily it only came down in bits. We walked all the way through and then turned back and went the other way as the rain started to come down a bit heavier.

I was super early but we decided to have dinner anyway we checked out a restaurant that I went to a lot when I was in Manali two years ago but the standard had gone downhill a lot the service was great but the food was a bit average and the portions were tiny so we ended up going to have second dinner and sharing a pizza.

By 7pm we had showered and were in bed watching TV and eating chocolate

Cows eating rubbish

one of the old style houses in Old Manali

if you look really close you can see the mountains!