18/10 - Day trip to Manali

We got up, went for breakfast and while we were eating we decided that we would only do a day trip to Manali and come back and sleep in the same bed again, instead of having the hassle of taking our bags and finding an hotel… Our decision made the hotel employee smile, because for the past 3 days we keep pushing back our departure!! Just before leaving I messaged Patricia and John telling them that we will be back for dinner if they wanted to eat at our place again.

We went down to the village centre (via the short cut) and waited for the bus to Manali. The ride took around 1h15, the road was not that great and we kept stopping everywhere.

In Manali, we went to the taxi stand and the guys told us that yes it is still possible to go to Leh by road, they even have a guy who is willing to go tomorrow morning at 8am. We asked for the price, much lower than we were expecting Rs12000 (around £120) instead of Rs20000, for two days, in a jeep with a driver who speaks GOOD English. The will even come and pick us up in Naggar! And the overnight stop will be Jispa (and not Keylong which is the usual stop – but the 2^nd day the journey is way too long then).

Once the deposit paid, we headed towards the 2 Temples we wanted to visit and also thinking about buying coats and maybe a scarf because it is supposed to be freezing. We stop in a small place for lunch, which was super spicy!! but nice.

 
On the way to the temples we met Ahmet (the owner’s son on his motorbike with a friend, going to play Badminton in the clubhouse), we told him about the taxi we hired, he was happy for us.

The first Temple was Hadimba, to reach it we needed to go through some kind of tall tree forest. It looked more like a hunters hut than a temple. They had a lot of antlers hanged on the outside wall. There was a crowd in front of it (it is Sunday) so we decided not to get inside. Around the temple there were quite a few tourist attractions: Yak that you could ride for a photo, women dressed in minority clothing with HUGE furry albino rabbits people trying to sell us Saffron but in hushed tones as if it was some kind of a drug. It was kind of interesting.

The second temple was a bit farther away, we had to go to old Manali, which you reach by crossing a bridge. There, the atmosphere of the town totally changed. It was more relaxed, less hassle from vendors. You could still see traditional houses. Old Manali attracts a lot of “hippies” apparently, and thus the shops that goes with it.

We reached Manu Temple, which in my opinion was one of the nicest temple we have done so far. First of all there was no one in it, moreover it was really bright inside, the sun was entering through the gates, maybe we were just there at the perfect time of day. Inside the temple was an inner temple that you could walk around and on each side you could find 2 statues of Gods.

Outside the Temple, we met Pom’s doppelganger (my beloved dog) but this one was white!

Finally he went back to town to purchase winter coats. I found mind in the Old Manali and after bargaining I got it for half the price, Rs500, the inside is made of fleece and it is really warm and cosy (not really attractive though but who cares!). Damien found a soft scarf and finally after a long while found a jacket for a reasonable price Rs450. (Technically both of our winter coats cost us less than £10).

We wanted to head back home (Naggar), but the buses had stopped for some reason and we had to take a bus to Patlikuhal and then see from there. The trip was much faster than the one on the way in, in 45 minutes we were in P. and we found a shared taxi (but no one to share it with…) and headed to Naggar town centre. The guy wanted to charge us extra to go up the hill to the castle, so we decided to walk via our short cut.

By 7.30pm we were back “home”, we got ourselves ready for the morning and had a nice dinner with Patricia and John. Our last dinner in the hotel and maybe our last dinner with them. It was nice and relaxed. Before everyone went to bed we took a picture of the 4 of us and said goodbyes.

5^th and last night in the double bed in Sheetal Hotel, in Naggar.