Biking Through Manali

            So, from a long list of the places to mark our footprints on, the " Fellow Traveler" and I finally pinned down Manali in February 2016 to explore together. Though we both had individually been there before... But I guess we wanted to revisit the place through "Our" eyes.

Day 1:
       With full excitement and a McDonald's in our gut, we hopped onto a comfortable Volvo from ISBT Delhi at 9:00 pm. After about an hour and a half the driver stopped at the world famous  Dhaba at Murthal ;-) for a yummilicious dinner. I must admit that the journey was pretty much comfortable, though I was a little apprehensive about travelling through bus. Each time the driver took a 10-15 min break, we hopped off to get a sting of fresh breath.

On Our Way To Manali

We couldn't contain our eagerness as we approached the snow capped mountains. Finally after few naps we were greeted to a pleasant cold morning at the Manali bus station 9:00 am. The guy from our prebooked Hotel Silmog, was there at the stand to drop us at our lovely stay. It was around 1 km away, just walking distance from the mall road.

Silmog Hotel's Reception area

     Our stay was very comfortable, with a good courteous staff. The room had a small and a cozy sitting area along with a balcony  and the splendid view of ice capped mountains was like cherry on the cake. The snowfall had just happened a day before and was unfortunately expected to happen a day after we planned to leave. But still our hopes were high, as one never knows the plan of mother nature.
     After a heavy breakfast of paranthas and sandwiches we just went by to take a stroll and plan our day. Just a walk away our eyes laid on a shop and immediately I could sense a spark in our souls...It was Bike On Rent shop...I have never experienced riding on a  bike on mountains, though the "Fellow Traveler" is an avid biker. So, It was like a dream come true for me. We immediately struck a good deal and the beast was ours now for next two days :-)

    After freshening up, we decided our itinerary..So, the first day we limited ourselves to Naggar palace and old manali and basically just enjoying the cool breeze on our faces from 360 degrees while riding the bike which is not experienced in 4 wheelers. The second day we decided to ride till Solang valley and trek for few kms till Anjani Mahadev Shivling Point. Since Rohtang pass was closed because of the snow fall, so that stood cancelled. We could only extend our visit to Solang Valley and Gulaba. Third day we decided again to trek the magnificent path leading us to Jogini temple and falls.
     So, here we started our ride to Naggar palace, with my leather jacket on to get the complete biker look :-p and a road map in my hand to guide the " Fellow Traveler".As he has a habit of riding the older version bullet where the gears are placed opposite in comparison to the newer versions, I had to constantly remind him that. Manali being a valley, one gets to observe beautiful and serene mountains all around.

To Naggar Palace

I couldn't stop myself to make lots of videos on our way to the palace, with lots of apple orchards coming our way, patiently waiting for the spring to flower. The path mesmerized me completely, with our bike riding uphill and downhill to reach the palace. The Naggar palace was a little disappointing, since there wasn't much to see or do in there. The palace seemed to be a little unkept.

Dummies Huddled in one of the rooms in the palace

 We sat at the rooftop of the palace just to enjoy the place and its scenic beauty around with a hot cup of tea and 2 minutes instant noodles, which is a dish by default in such places :-).

Rooftop View From The Palace

After half an hour or so, we left the place dissatisfied yet excited to continue our bike ride. By the time we rode back to manali mall road it was 5 in the evening with the weather getting more chilly and me missing my warm koroshiya knitted muffler.

Somewhere Over The Mountains

      We rode our way to old manali from the mall road in search of good cafes as shown by mr. google. But Alas! the old manali remains closed in this season, which mr. google forgot to inform. :-( So, we settled with a much heard about place in the mall road by the name of Jhonson's Lodge, which is a must go in manali. Their cafe was a perfect place to be, to wind up our day and get a little tipsy. ;-) We had an  amazing  pasta and a lil spirit to raise our spirits and talked and laughed our heart out.

       We retired for the day a little early than usual after a yummy light dinner at our stay, to get back in action next day early morning.

Day2:

        Next day early morning our eyes opened to a fresh pleasant weather, making us all the more excited to start with our day.

        After the routine daily chores we headed for our favorite paranthas and sandwiches accompanied with a big mug of hand beaten authentic coffee. We were suggested by the hotel owner to lead towards the Solang Valley and trek further to the enchanting Anjani Mahadev Shivling and also we decided to touch Gulaba which lies on the way to rohtang pass. The road was closed after gulaba.The hotel owner was kind enough to lend me his rubber snow boots and I was lucky to fit into them...

Way to Solang Valley

           Packed in 3 layers with the rubber boots on and our heightened excitement, we rode our way to through the windy Solang Valley. One gets the privilege to witness the picture perfect sceneries on the way. With the air so fresh as if it has passed through several filters; for once I wished that like camels can store water for days to come,  we had lungs to store this air till our next call from the mountains.

Enjoying The Picturesque View Around

           After about a 12 kms smooth and an enchanting ride to solang valley, we decided to trek our way to the Anjani Mahadev Shivling which was about 3 kms. Though lot of other options were available, like going through horses or mountain bikes or bolero...but it would have been a sin reaching there without walking on the snow, balancing yourself, clicking lots of pictures and gasping for air a little. Besides I feel bad for the nature and the snow when I see SUV 's brooming their way up and turning the ice black. After say about 2 kms of walking uphill, there was a maggi and a tea point, where we treated ourselves with a hot cup of tea. Rejuvenated, one can very well see the shivling which was about 12 feet high, naturally made of snow.

Steep Way to Shivling From the Tea Point

           From the Tea point to the shivling, there's a distance of about 1km, completely steep and snow covered. Looking at the steepness, I got a little petrified, but the "Fellow Traveler" kept my spirits up. Falling, rising and enjoying, we managed to reach the top. It was completely mesmerizing being there. Replicating the one at Amarnath and it stood tall at about 12 feet. The guy at the tea point enlightened us with few facts about it, one being that it's height reaches till about 20 feet high. The story behind this shivling as they say is...As the name suggests, this was the place where mata Anjani prayed to Lord Shiva for a child, and happily shiva gave her a boon of strong, intelligent Lord Hanuman.
          Being in such divine places and appreciating nature's different faces always makes me dumbstruck..I always feel short of words to describe my inner feelings regarding the beauty of mother nature, but happy that i get a chance to be one with her.

Divine Anjani Mahadev Shivling

          To reach back to the tea point, there was no choice except to sit and slide, freezing us downright but fun at the same time. With a feeling of contentment, we walked back to the trek point where our beast lazily rested there. Lot of vendors and guides were loitering around, to make the tourists feel more comfortable.

          Hopping again onto our bike we planned further to go till Gulaba, facing lot of black ice on our way. The bike used to jiggle a bit while running on the black ice, making me super tensed, but without falling from the bike we reached gulaba. We met lot of bikers coming down from south of India to manali on bike. The "Fellow Traveler" exchanged few facts and notes with them about the route and experience. While coming back downhill, as predicted by the "Fellow Traveler" i surely had my first fall on the black ice from the bike just at one of the turns..Oh God! I got super scared thinking that we might slip into the chasm beside..But the Fellow traveler's experience saved us both :-)
           Slowly and steadily feeling the breeze on my face and watering eyes, we reached back to the mall road, hungry for the much heard about Trout Fish. Every second eatery joint had a board exhibiting the Trout. For once we thought of purchasing the raw fish and getting it cooked at The Silmog Hotel, but got to know that the government has officially banned fishing in manali, thus it is not available in the local raw meat/fish market. After a lot of speculation , in order to get an original and authentic flavour, we joyfully ended up again at "The Johnson's Lodge". The waiter served us our Trout after taking good 30 minutes to fry the pre marinated fish on a low flame. It was one of the best fish that my palate has ever experienced with glass of red wine, celebrating the day we got together as soulmates.
           After a hearty early evening snacks, we strolled a little on the mall road, remembering how it has changed over a period of time and returned the beast to it's owner with a heavy heart, knowing that the trip is on it climax. We called our day off with a dinner again at our hotel only, since we were in love with chef's talent.

Day 3:

          The following day, we packed our bags to board the volvo in the evening. The hotel guy was kind enough to let us keep our bags with him till the evening, since we had planned to walk to the Jogini falls in Vashisht village. Till a point, the auto dropped us. We were supposed to walk our ways to the falls beyond that. I am a firm believer of the thought process that "if you look closely, the journey is always more interesting than the destination itself. So the walk till the falls made my belief more strong. Apart from the alluring scenery around us at all the mass tourism places, I always feel that the mountains have much more to offer if we walk and explore the place. Encountering remote villages with uninhabited mountains in between we walked our way up to our destination.

Remote Village 

Manali Helipad Clearly Visible From Vashisht Village

        Though the way to the falls is not well marked with hoardings, but the local people seem to guide u willingly. After a walk for about half an hour we faced a fork end road and a sound of gushing water making us sure that the falls are nearby. The " Fellow Traveler" and i ran into an argument about which way leads us to the fall. The fellow traveler started walking on one path and i followed him cribbing about his decision and WOAH.. to our surprise..we came across to one of the most exquisite waterfalls. It seemed like one of those three leveled waterfalls we usually see in wallpapers or posters.

"Fellow Traveler" at Three Levelled Picturesque Fall

             I secretly thanked God and my fellow traveler for getting us here by serendipity. A localite revealed that these are not Jogini falls and we are on the wrong way. Drinking the beauty of this picture perfect place, we raced towards the Jogini falls. Soon After we reached there to yet another enchanting falls cascading down casting its spell. There was a small temple nearby dedicated to mata Jogini. Seeking blessings, we tried capturing the breathtaking falls and spending some time in tranquility.

Jogini Falls

Himalayan Vulture Hovering Around

            Henceforth we decided to walk our way down till our hotel in order to get the essence of the place well. The walk back was uneventful yet pleasant. There were few shops selling pashminas, blankets, other woollen accessories and a single shop of hiking and trekking accessories. A good walk for about 2 hours made us reach the Beas River, which was not as gushing and strong as it was 20 years back. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed swaying my feet in the river and spending some valuable time there. Though a picture can say 1000 words but no matter how much one clicks, nothing compares to actually being there and capturing the scene through your eyes and storing in your memories.

Beas River

     Lazily, we marched towards the mall road, to hog my favorite chinese food at a well known joint -  Chopsticks. Though the restaurant was buzzing with happy foodie people, but somehow our experience with the food wasn't upto the mark. We felt that it was little stale and felt uncomfortable after that. We bid our wishes  and good byes to the hotel owner and the warm staff after getting freshened up at the hotel itself. They dropped us back to the stand and we boarded the volvo back to Delhi with a heavy heart and an uncomfortable stomach at 6:00 pm. The driver stopped for the dinner at around 11: 00 pm at a deserted place in a restaurant which  had very limited choice of food, making me decide to skip the meal and try to get a good night's sleep to carry on with our jobs the subsequent day. The next morning Delhi welcomed us back to our engaging schedules with a bright sunny day.

           

The Nanda Devi Fascination

The Nanda Devi Fascination http://wayfayrerdiaries.blogspot.com/2016/03/interest-to-explore-realincredible.html

The Nanda Devi Fascination

       My interest to explore the real Incredible India started way long back as a teenager. But surely the fetish to get close to nature became more strong with a heavenly trip to Auli from Delhi via Rudraprayag with my "Fellow Traveler" and 8 other family members in the month April 2014.

Day 1:

    At 5:00 am we started our trip merrily settled in a tempo traveler, with rains growing our enthusiasm for the same. The night before just seemed to slipped in matter of seconds as the excitement was too much in our close knit family. Leaving Delhi traffic before the sunrise was our plan for sure.

    We were supposed to reach Rudraprayag, our first stoppage before reaching Auli, by the evening, keeping in mind that we had 2 elder family members too :-).

    The route taken was from Delhi- Haridwar (Rajaji National park)- Rishikesh- Devprayag- Rudraprayag making  it 382 kms .

    We took ample number of breaks in between. (Fortunately) There was a big traffic jam just before entering Haridwar, so our driver suggested that we should divert ourselves to Rajaji National Park.

    That was a very pleasant turn. All of us jumped to our windows in hope to witness some wildlife, but alas! Though photography is not allowed inside the park but we couldn't resist ourselves to park beside the stream of holy river Ganges gushing through, and getting ample number of pictures. (Since the "Fellow Traveler" is really fond of photography)

Rajaji National Park Road

       We continued further with our journey taking small but lots of tea breaks. Our driver Sunil skillfully drove well following all the twists and turns the road offered. Our zest grew more as we ascended and encountered DEVPRAYAG, the first prayag of famous panch prayags. Prayag literally means confluence. So DevPrayag marks the beautiful confluence of  the two holy rivers, the Bhagirathi - the chief stream of the Ganges and the Alaknanda. We jumped out of our tempo to bow down to this holy confluence and binging at the famous maggi and neembu pani point ;-) Many were taking a holy dip in this confluence with lots of small temples of shiva and ganga mata. Lots were indulging in river rafting, getting adrenaline kick out of it.

  

DevPrayag Confluence point

                               

     Travelling further we were fortunate to witness the RUDRAPRAYAG, marking the confluence of Alaknanda river and Mandakani. As the legend says that this prayag is named after lord Shiva, who performed the famous tandava over here. 

    Soon after, we reached our abode for the night by the name of Shivanandi Lodge around 7:00pm. The elders got a little scared as it was completely dark that time and to reach the cottage we had to walk down a little rugged path. i personally found it fun unlike the elders. The staff was very courteous and warm. The place had a very warm feeling to it. The temperature was cool and we received a warm welcome with a bon fire and a soothing tulsi tea. The place is very well built and has an earthy feel to it. The sound of gushing Ganges was very comforting, making us curious to explore the place next morning. The place is run by 3 guys from Bangalore. Shalab gehlot was there with us to parch all our quests regarding the place and its wildlife. I would give 5 on 5 to that place, but all the foodie people were a little disheartened, since the food was simple, bland and organic. But we all were too tired to complain and soon slept off after a relaxed chit chat in a cozy dining room.

ShivaNandi Lodge

                         

ShivaNandi Outer Area View

 DAY 2:  

     The "Fellow Traveler" and I are always too excited to never miss a fresh breezy early morning.

                                 

View from our Room

            After a good night's sleep our room opened to a clear blue and white morning with majestic mountains welcoming us and the flowing river calling us to become a teenage once more to play in the water. We were greeted by Shalab with a hot cup of tulsi tea :-) and henceforth trekked down towards the river that was about 1 km. The chilly water felt lovely in the cool weather and we all posed a lot to get that perfect DP ;-)

     

       After few minutes I just excused myself from the crowd and became aware of my five senses at once on the flowing water, the gushing sound, the fresh smell, the tingling feel. After an hour's play we again marched upwards, starving. A good hot water bath and freshening up is all we needed before a good breakfast and checked out the place towards AULI around 9:00 am.

   

       We started our journey again to cover a distance of 342 kms. Enjoying old hindi songs and the mountains en-route to Auli was a treat to our eyes and ears. We all were happy like a child every time to see a Prayag except Nanadaprayag which doesn't come on the way.  

    The road to Auli diverted from Joshimath. At Joshimath a guy from our hotel by the name of Devi Darshan Lodge came to greet us and direct us further.  Our lodge was a perfect home away from home stay with a big dining/lobby/entertainment room at the entrance. This room was exquisitely done, with huge glass walls done on three sides, wanting you to stay at this place ever, with lots of heaters and a carom board, books, computer and big couches and a dining table. After a long exhausting road trip, encountering unexpected heavy rain we all were a little disheartened, since we planned to go to a trek to Gorson meadows from our lodge. The staff was super courteous and served us with hot sumptuous meal. Ours was the only family staying in the lodge at that time, making the place all the more comfortable. We all had a good night's sleep with an electric blanket provided with comfortable beddings, since it was freezing. 

                              View From Devi Darshan Lodge Lobby                         

    

DAY 3: 

    As usual we got up around 5:00 am...and to our surprise as we entered the dining cum lobby area made of glass walls, it was one of the most beautiful view my eyes could lay on. The sky was fortunately clear and the mountains were completely white with a blanket of fresh snow. The golden eagles flirted with these White Mountains spreading their wings and flying high.

Golden eagles Viewed from the Lodge

                       

     We helped ourselves with morning cup(s) of wide variety of tea kept in the lobby along with few muchings. Mukesh, the Sherpa who is a trekker by passion and caretaker of the lodge introduced me to the most alluring mountains I have ever laid my eyes on..The Nanda Devi. My heart was full of gratitude towards these prepossessing mountains. after clicking lot of pictures of these mountains I decided to bathe at the earliest and go to a quite place to spend some time with the Nanda Devi, standing tall at 25,643 ft above sea level, which made me feel so minuscule .  This is the second highest mountain in india, first being Kanchenjunga. The peak name means "Bliss Giving Godess", since it protects the fragile ecosystem. The nanda devi national park has been declared as a UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE in 1988.

Nanda Devi In Early Morning

      Mukesh suggested that we should go to the Gorson meadows today, headed by him, which was around 3 kms from a gondola point. Apart from 2-3 layers of woolens worn by us, he gave us extra wind cheaters cum jackets to protect us from chilly weather. 

     Our fun trek with our lunch packed started soon after a hearty breakfast. The elders relaxed at the Gondola point where hot maggie and eggs were served too. We were supposed to trek from 11000 ft above sea level till 13000 ft above sea level to reach the meadows. "Fellow Traveler" and I am an enthusiast trekker. The mountain was covered with thick layer of snow, making it adventurous to trek on it and fall every now and then. 

Gondola Ride to Reach the trek point

                      

     

       There was a small temple in between the mountain which was considered to be a mountain forest god and was a ritual to pay gratitude there before continuing our trek. 

Forest god temple

                         

View from the trek

         After a trek of 1 km, our clan kids gave up and decided to halt our trek. Mukesh kept our interest alive by introducing few snow games like chest slide, which was really fun to do. There was a beautiful range of mountains with interesting names very well visible from there. The huge pine trees on our way to the trek made it all the more intriguing.

                        

On Our way to trek

                          

      After playing in the snow and an amazing trek, we headed back to our lodge. They treated us well with hot kettle of tea and yummy pakodas :-). Now sky gazing is something i look forward to, in such places. It seems like you are so close to the sky and it never is so mesmerizing in the city for reasons well known.  Mukesh shared lots of stories related to my favorite mountain

     One can spend a good quality family time in this lodge, which has really lessened nowadays. Also if I compare to some hotel, I would always prefer such a stay when with the family since it makes you feel at home, instead of just single room.

     We all dozed off early after a good family dinner since had to leave for delhi at the earliest next morning.

DAY 4:

      With a heavy heart and no intentions to go back to our our hectic schedule, we left Devi Darshan lodge at 5:00 am. Mukesh and other staff packed few sandwiches and maggie for us for our breakfast which we intended to have in tempo itself, so as to save time and get back to the hustle bustle city life.

      The journey back was uneventful, but we all were carrying with us unforgettable memories of this trip. The Nanda Devi mountain and its stories left a deep impact on my mind and heart. 

       With few breaks we reached Delhi by 11:30 pm exhausted but with new plans to carry our journey of life.