If we had the time, we would have stayed much longer in Manali and done a lot more hiking into the surrounding mountains. If you have the time, do allow yourself enough time to explore. Oh, and the bagsu cake from the German bakery is TO DIE FOR!!
On the Northern India backpacker trail, you hear "Manali" mentioned a lot from other travellers either going there or coming from there. As such, we were expecting it to be super busy and cliché, but, it was, in our opinions, much nicer than Dharamsala and we instantly wished we had have spent less time on Dharamsala. I mean, all we really did in Dharamsala was chill out with friends, fight traffic, people watch, inhale polluted air and go from café to café. In Manali there was so much more to do! Yes, there are also cafes (with AMAZING views of snowcapped mountains), and yes there are lots of places to shop (although very different shopping to the heavily Tibetan influenced shopping in Dharamasala), but there is no pollution. Once you arrive at Old Manali (you can also stay in the busier “New Manali”, or across the river in Vashisht) it’s so peaceful. The roads are so narrow that cars can barely get through and if you happen to be in a car, you are likely going to be stuck for hours without moving an inch! The buildings are beautiful, the village is so photogenic, the locals are welcoming, and the mountains are just breathtaking!! We found a wonderful family owned guesthouse on top of a hill overlooking the village below and the mountains in the distance. It had the most perfect verandah with cushions to go along with the view, and we spent a great deal of time being inspired by the nature around us. Our favourite part of Manali is the beautiful stretch of forest that lies between the Old and New sectors. With the river flowing beside it and the super tall trees above, birds flying about, cows grazing… It’s the perfect park. And such a breath of fresh air from the dirt and smog of most of India. We spent almost every afternoon at the park walking with Gypsy and just loving being in Nature in the middle of a city. After our walk we would stroll back home via a café. Perfect. Over in Vishasht there is a beautiful waterfall you can hike to, and some public thermal springs you can bath in. It’s super popular on weekends though, so try to go during the week unless you want to feature in thousands of photos with random strangers. If we had the time, we would have stayed much longer in Manali and done a lot more hiking into the surrounding mountains. If you have the time, do allow yourself enough time to explore. Oh, and the bagsu cake from the German bakery is TO DIE FOR!! Oh, and you can do super touristy things like sit on a yak aswell!! Or try to take a super touristy photo of your screaming toddler sitting on a yak!! :)
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We expected Pratap Nagar to be small. But I don’t think we expected it to be quite as small as it was. It was a really quaint and cute town, with literally 1 street, with just the essentials. 1 barber, 1 chai shop, 1 stationery shop, 1 corner store, 2 restaurants and a couple of tailors. We wandered around the town and into the surrounding villages, mingling with locals, playing cricket with the kids, drinking too many chais… It’s such a peaceful place. The village children are so creative in their fun. They play cricket with sticks and tennis balls, and scale poles to get the ball off the roof if they have to! The town almost has it’s own economy even! Prices are just crazy. A glass of chai = 5 rupees, a samosa = 6 rupees (a little cheaper than normal), a 40 minute haircut and shave = 50 rupees (that’s 80c!!) etc. It’s not a rich place that’s for sure, but there is a lot of community love there. Everybody knows each other and looks out for each other. We spent a beautiful, peaceful week, doing nothing much apart from drinking chai, doing yoga, playing with the children, hiking and staring at the mountains.
Roh did a few hikes around the area, until he started seeing fresh tiger poo… The guide at the guesthouse had warned him it was a 50/50 chance to see one, but he hadn’t quite believed him until he saw the poo!! Beautiful walks, with no one else on the trails, lots of flowers and butterflies and peaceful seclusion! But take a stick… Everyone knows travel in India is slow. You expect things to be delayed. So when we decided to head to the Himalayas to stay at a commune 4-5 hours from Rishikesh, we expected 5-6 hours. We didn't expect 7.5 hours!!! And the crazy thing is, we didn't even encounter any delays!! It simply takes 7.5 hours to drive 80 km.. It took 3 hours to get to the city of New Tehri. From there we could even see our destination - a tiny village called Pratap Nagar, high up (3300m) on the mountains, on the other side of the dam. Awesome! We are nearly there we thought! We just have to drive over the dam we thought.... No... We had to drive AROUND the dam.. Did I mention how BIG the dam is?? All of the roads are switch-back hairpin turns going up and around and down and around and up again. It took forever... The scenery was mind-blowingly beautiful though! And so humbling to see farm land carved out of every surface no matter how steep the gradient. Women and children would just appear out of nowhere to jump on the bus, or disembark somewhere with no visible buildings around. It was just amazing. And when we finally arrived, 7.5 bum-numbing hours later, we were met with an amazing view. something we were not expecting at all, and suddenly, it was all worth it! Wow... Maybe we will stay awhile...
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NAMASTE!We are Roh and Rob and we are backpacking around India with our toddler Gypsy. Follow our adventures! Archives
January 2015
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