Manali - 4 Days of Fun, Excitement and Exhilaration

This post is very very very long. I didn't intend to make the post this long. Sincere apologies in advance, if you fall asleep while reading this ;)

Day 0 – Delhi

From the time when we 16 of us knew that we were going to Manali, all of us were excited. We badly needed a break from the class room sessions which continued even during weekends. So, the day arrived when we packed our stuff, missing lots of things from the list the organizers had given us. The excitement was getting built up to an extent where the afternoon sessions went without much of paying attention from our side. So, the session was done with at 5 pm and we got to know that a bright Orange Volvo 9400 was waiting for us to take us to Manali. We got in and we started at around 6.30 pm.

The first stop was at Murthal, where we stopped to have dinner at a Punjabi Dhaba. Even though it was all vegetarian, the freshness of the food items, especially the fresh Makhan (Butter or Ghee, I guess) made it up for the same. The journey continued and after some random and intermittent stretches of sleep, the bus started climbing the mountains. The zig-zag movements up the mountains, overtaking big trucks even at the most dangerous curves, thanks to our graciously old, but really strong driver, gave many instants where one even fails to take breaths. The journey continued in National Highway 21. 

Day 1 – Manali

The early morning was completely on mountains. We had a small break at a hotel and we continued the journey. If one side looked majestic with rocks and trees on mountains, the other side offered depths than may even go down around 200-300 metres in straight line stretches. But, somehow the climbing didn’t make it look so dangerous that we were enjoying the beauty of the water flowing down and also the Sainj power station, where we had a look of the majestic power of flowing water, although the project generates only around 100 MW of power.

We reached Kullu and the roads became narrow such that we had to struggle a bit as the road traffic was increasing. The view of mountains, rivers and trees were so beautiful along Kullu and we had to move around 40 kms further to reach Manali and the stretch got even tougher with small road (A bit ironic for a National Highway!) and more vehicles. But, we reached around 9.30 am at Manali. We had to move out of the bus at the Aloo ground (Guess this was the name), from where we had to catch the SUVs to our base camp. The base camp had all tented accommodation. Even the bathroom and the toilets were tented!

We all got ready and the facilitator, Ms. K, told us about the day’s plan and we had breakfast and she got us to do some team activities, after which followed the discussions. The anticipation about the trek in the afternoon made me want the time to run as fast as possible. Then we had lunch and everyone was ready for the trek.  We had to move around 3 kms up the mountains in Manali and we reached a market place. From the parking spot, we walked up through a road where we got to see the locals who were all engaged in selling stuffs to the tourists.  We walked through some very narrow concrete tracks and there we were at a walkway from where we started our trek.

The initial excitement pushed everyone to rush their first steps on the mountains and after a few minutes we realized that gravity doesn’t leave you so easily when you climb up. We had to stay and control our breaths after moving vertically every 10 metres, but we moved on. At around 200 metres elevation, another facilitator Mr. P, also a trekking expert who were accompanying us explained about the waterfalls we were approaching. It’s called the Jogni falls and he explained about the beliefs around it, how people meditate under the falls inside the cave-like spaces under the rocks. We were not allowed to go in the water, but we went and touched the water and washed our faces and realized why we were not allowed to go in the water. It was damn too cold; it was chilling cold.

Evening was fast approaching and we started our return. The return seemed so fast because this time gravity was with us and a bit dangerous as there was a possibility of slipping, but everything went fine and we were back at the walkway from where we started and within no time we reached the parking lot, from where we got back to the base camp. They call it the “acclimatization trek” to make us familiar with the trekking environment.

The night, we were given roles for the next day’s real trek and we found that we would be given a hand-drawn map and some viewpoints to find our own way and we had to make arrangements on our own about the water, light food etc we were carrying. Everything was explained and all arrangements were made and we were ready for the next day’s trek and we went back to our allotted tents. Two people had to stay in one tent. They gave us the sleeping bags that kept us warm during the night. That was the first day in my life I stayed inside a tent. By the way, did I mention that we spotted a small snake just below our tent inside the rocks, playing peekaboo with us, whenever we were entering and going out of it? 

Day 2 – Kothi to Gulaba

The excitement about the “real” trek made us all get ready in the morning at around 8 am itself (although we were late from the directed time!) and after the breakfast we had to complete an activity before we left for the trek. The activity was tent making, blindfolded with one person, who could see can explain the directions. We did a good job as we found the tent stay put. We left immediately for the trek. The place from where we had to start is named Kothi, 15 kms away from our base camp at Manali (at 2050 metres above sea level). It took a while to reach the place and there we were at the starting point.

The guys who were assigned as the navigators started with map, compasses and viewpoints pics and we followed them. We moved in wrong directions at times and corrected the path with the help of the facilitators who were accompanying us. At the third viewpoint, we had a small activity and then we moved on. The stretch was a steep climb up and we managed to reach a level grounded track. The navigators had some tough time again going up and down for a bit, but we moved through the alternate track, although moving up, which had enough space to walk on. We got into a wrong track, which was a bit dangerous and I found a bit tough as my shoes didn’t hold much grip and the facilitators accompanying us, who are also trekking experts gave me a small tip to avoid slipping and it worked!

After some stretch we realized that we bypassed 1-2 viewpoints and we were ahead of time, when we were running around 50 minutes late after the initial hiccups to find the right trekking trails. Then we reached grasslands going up, where the trails were getting steeper, and then flatten for a bit, then gets steeper for a long stretch, then flatten and it went on. We reached a place where we saw the grasslands broken in the middle and rocks were everywhere. It looked like a landslide. We managed to climb up and we saw a tent there and thought that was the camp site and realized it belonged to a shepherd. Yeah, he was there with his herd of sheep. We realized that we had to move up again around 30-40 metres and we were all dead tired. Did I mention that we were carrying our backpacks with the sleeping bags, 2 litres of water and clothes for the next day and refreshments such as small packets of biscuits, dry-fruits etc.? :)

The final stretch was full of grass and though it was steep, baby steps took us to the camp site which looked beautiful under the scorching sun. It was too hot. We were at 700 meteres above the starting point at Kothi, (which was at 2200 metres) and the place is called Gulaba (2900 metres above sea level).

The lemon juice we got was lifesaver as we were dehydrated to the maximum possible extent. We had lunch and then rested till evening 5 pm. Then we were called for a meeting and was discussing about the trek and many had become so tired and became a bit cynical about the whole stuff. So, there were suggestions on some alternatives for the further trek which they agreed with. I wanted to get till the maximum they had already planned though. But I was not disappointed as we were continuing the trek next day also. The sunset happened in no time and the temperature dipped so fast. We had to get into our jackets and the sleeping bags ensured we slept peacefully. Again, the night was spent in make-shift tents. These tents were smaller. Although there was full moon, it was so dark. So, for lights, we just had torches. And, mine was not working!

Day 3 – Gulaba to Roli-Kholi

Since we had change in plans, the day’s trek was planned to limit within a stipulated duration and the plan was to return to the camp at Gulaba. So, at morning we started after the breakfast. The sky looked dark with clouds and sun was hiding behind them. The stretch from the beginning was like the final stretch of the last day.  The mountain was full of shit, from sheep, wild goats and horses. The grass had nice grip, but the elevation was increasing faster than the day before. 

I was with the guys who were at the front and the time we reached there it started raining. I tried to open the umbrella they gave me and found the handle in one hand and the rest in the other! Raindrops were lashing on us and the facilitators accompanying had a tarpaulin under which we stayed although I was getting wet from all sides as the winds were too strong and the tarpaulin had holes all over it! And everyone was wearing two layers on top and I just had one since I was sweating all along! And my lower was not covering till my feet, so they gave me a lower that was water proof, which helped this amateur (me!) to a great extent.

The rain subsided and we thought of getting back. Ms. K, who was with us, started descending. But, two guys in our group spotted a stretch of snow and wanted go up. They prodded me too. I had questions in my mind and we saw water flowing down so fast due to rains. It was still raining, and I had to hold the umbrella and them too, and I found a bit scary. But, one guys started climbing and I just followed and surprisingly within 5-10 minutes, we were there. The facilitators told us that we were around 400-500 metres above the Gulaba camp, which means at around 3300-3400 metres above sea level. We took hands full of snow, tried all poses while taking pics and was one of those memorable moments of the whole trip.

We didn't really touch Roli Kholi as it was around 200 more metres above (which we would have attempted if there was no rain) and from the current location itself we could see the final destination, Bhrigu Lake, which was in the earlier plan. Now, since we had no other options. We started descending. I found it easier, may be due to the grass grip, even though I was thinking that it could slip a lot due to water. And my doubts came true when I slipped 4-5 times although I didn’t fall and I was enjoying it. The thing that surprised me was that I was with the seasoned trekking guy, which I attributed to beginners’ luck and not me! In between we saw a foreigner family with Sherpas, moving up to Bhrigu lake. with mules carrying their stuff including the stove, tents, utensils etc. There was a 4-5 year old girl along with them, walking like the elders, taking no help. The sight was so inspiring. We reached back at the camp, had nice lunch and the plans were changed that we had to go back to the base camp. 

We packed our stuff and due to rains, many things were wet and with heavier backpacks we had to climb down a steeper descent, to the road from which we had to catch the vehicle to base camp. It was so tough because of the trek in the morning, but we moved down and within 20-25 minutes we started moving on road. We found that by road, we had to cover around 25-30 kms till the basecamp and the hairpin bends and curves were getting steeper and steeper. Around 3-4 kms behind the base, we had to wait in traffic jams and as we do elsewhere in India, our driver went in the wrong lane as it was empty; we reached the camp without getting much late!

After some rest, we had two team activities and had short discussions on the same and everyone wanted to go to the centre of Manali town and some wanted to visit the famous Johnson Café (I heard it for the first time!). We walked down the road and found that we walked a lot without realizing it and some went to the Café and we just roamed around the Manali Food Festival (surprisingly more cloth shops than food shops) and Manali Carnival, which were really small versions of what we expected before we got into them. I observed that only the ones who were selling things in shops were the locals and everyone else outside the shops and was roaming around was a tourist, including us! We got back to the base camp in a taxi, had dinner and slept peacefully. 

Day 4 – Manali to Kullu to Delhi 

In the morning, I was one amongst the ones who woke up so early, took bath 48 hours after last bath and was ready for the day. I found myself an hour early before the time specified for breakfast. The view of mountains from the base camp was so beautiful and reminded me of the song "Puthu Vellai Mazhai" from the movie Roja. And I was surprised to see that everyone else, who enjoyed the view, humming the Hindi version of the same song, "Yeh Haseen Vaadiyaan"!  

After breakfast, we had a couple of activities, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed and by around 12 noon, we had a small discussion about everyone in the group. I was a bit surprised about some comments about myself and we had lunch in between and we started our return journey, on the way which we had the icing on the cake! Yeah, we did Whitewater River Rafting!

This even bettered the snow! The guys who controlled the rafts gave us instructions and asked us to hold tight to the ropes and realized why they mentioned so. The rapids were breathtaking and the experience was so wonderful with chilling water falling all over us and we had a stop in between at a similar end from where we started and after 10-15 minutes we moved to the final destination. We changed to dry clothes and were ready for the return journey. 

The main descent on roads after Kullu was frightening. Our Volvo was moving at high speeds and on the left side of our bus, the depths were around 200-300 metres, and water running deep in between the rocks, but we reached the bottom of those mountains within no time and by around 9 pm we were at the same hotel we stopped on Day 1 morning for break. We had dinner and the journey continued on mountains for 4-5 hours more and we reached Chandigarh and the roads and terrains looked familiar! My sleep was really bad because of the descent and most of the time I was awake. 

Day 5 - Delhi

Early morning, we covered Chandigarh, Karnal etc. We stopped at a “Haveli” themed hotel called “Haveli” at Panipat and reached back at Delhi within 1-2 hours. The SUVs took us back to our accommodation facility and we were all so tired.  After a thorough bath after 4 days and a breakfast, we all didn’t need more reasons to sleep.

This was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I was surprised about my fitness levels and the intermittent courage (don’t know if it was courage or foolishness!) that forced me to take some risks. Although these 4-5 days would not have changed me or others individually, there were a few lessons learnt and had a really good time with the group that was worth it.

I don’t know what will better this experience, but life looks so interesting, beautiful and worthy, when one does something completely different from the usual routine.