7 Days in Ladakh - Day 1 - 19th Oct - Manali

We allowed ourselves the luxury(?) of waking up at 9 am and ordered a cup of bed tea to help us overcome the drowsiness and cold. As soon as we unfurled the curtains we saw the first view of Manali(we had reached at dark); Alpine meadows with snow clad peaks as a backdrop made it seem like a painting hung on the wall - too good to be true - an expression which was used almost regularly on this trip !

(Checking out the view from our window)
We thought of taking a morning walk up the Mall and have breakfast before coming back and taking a shower.
I just loved this aimless walk around the main bazaar on this really sunny Sunday morning. How I wished every Sunday to be the same!
Time seemed to stand still as we sat on a bench on the sidewalk gazing at the passers-by; few old wrinkled faces, some smoking a beedi and all wearing their round Himachali caps, groups of gypsy womenfolk dressed in the their traditional attire with heavy silver jewellery, a bunch of kids giggling away with the innocence that only a child could have.



Philosophical thoughts aside, we lazily dragged ourselves to the nearest restaurant for traditional Punjabi breakfast - Stuffed paranthas with white butter. I can't begin to express how delighted I was to savour these delicacies in Manali(it's proximity to the state ensured most tourists were Punjabis') , though Bangalore had it's fair share of Punjabi joints but there was simply no comparison with the real deal.

Next we went back to the hotel, freshened up, and went to our hotel's terrace for a photoshoot.



The view was breathtaking to say the least, and it motivated me enough to pose as if I was getting my portfolio done.




Finally we decided to go for some local sight-seeing - Hidimba temple was the main destination which almost every visitor to Manali was supposed to visit.
It was a good 4 kms of walk from the Mall, and as we reached the gates we saw a couple of Yak-wallas and women with rabbits, all to entice the enthu tourist for an interesting pic.
Not a bad idea actually, since I quite liked the pics anyway.







The temple was said to be about 500 years old and built by the local king in honour of Hidimba, who was the sister of the Demon Hidimb but attained the status of a Goddess by her penance; also the wife of Bheem and the mother of Ghatotkacha.



The location of the temple is ideal, amidst huge pine trees and green meadows.







We found some more beautiful places to shoot on the way back

By the time we reached back it was almost 4 pm, so we grabbed a quick bite and proceeded for some shopping in the Mall for the trip ahead: gloves, woollen socks,caps etc. all could be had for much lower prices(by Bglore standards)

Next we went to a travel agent to get our tickets for the Manali -Leh trip for the next day; we had 2 options- A) Get a full taxi for 6000 and B) Get a shared one for 1500 per seat, with of course the problem being we couldn't know if we would get the window seats (which was a MUST), and if by a stroke of ill luck(of which we have plenty) had we gotten the rear end seats then even God couldn't have saved us from motion sickness ( on top of mountain sickness)

So we mutually agreed on A) being the only practical option, and we haggled the price to 5000 and also managed to have the journey broken down in 2 days rather than roughing it out in 18 hours flat.(which they had originally suggested)

All done we went to the local Tibetan market to shop for some gifts for the family - I bought 2 shawls for my mom and a stole for my sis - As with most north Indian bazaars bargaining was the order of the day and the thumb rule was to quote 60% of whatever the seller quoted.


After a heavy dinner we bought some eatables and vodka for the trip, put an alarm for 5 am and slept by 12 am.