When Travel Turns into Passion…

Destination Point:  Manali

One of the most popular tourist places in Northern India situated along side Beas River is called Manali, Valley of Gods. The term stands for Manu (Manu Rishi) + Aali (Home) and I bet you his home (Manali ) is just MAGICAL in nature. Manali is one of the oldest towns of Kullu Valley. The place surrounds with the the aura of ROMANCE everywhere, right from the hustle-bustle of mall road to the very calm, traditional, firang (foreigners) dominated old Manali to the woods/villages around/beyond Manu temple to the walk path around Hadimba temple. It can easily be called one of the ROMANTIC destinations of India. The place is ideal for families as well as young couple looking for some hide and seek with the flavor of romance on top of it. Manali is largely visited by the honeymoon couples (me did so Read story Snow at Manali and Naggar | Honeymoon Trip ) and in summers people from all walks of life (children to old) run to seek pleasant weather from low hot burning lands of Northern India. The Hadimba goddess runs the Manali town and is the center of worship of the people living at Manali. The almighty goddess also governs the tall mountains along with raw nature and it’s only after her permission that one gets to enjoy this beautiful place to the core. When people think of Manali the second keyword that comes is of course Rohtang Pass which no doubt is a must visit place if you go to Manali.

Some views of Manali…

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After a long long time of my life almost 26 years , this is the year in which I would finally have a chance to materialize my dream, the drive to Leh Ladakh. The plan is to leave on 30^th July, 2010 but weather is freak this season. Rains, floods, snow, landslides, road blocks, curfews, turmoil, hoodlums etc all are in the way of me and Ladakh. But, despite of all these facts the plan to leave towards Leh Ladakh is kept final. I know on the trip there would be a lot of changes but here is the finalized itinerary of the trip…

Night 1 July 30, 2010 / Day 1 July 31, 2010

Delhi – Ambala – Ludhiana – Jalandhar – Pathankot – Jammu – DayalaChak – Chalaan – Udhampur

Day 2 August 1, 2010

Udhampur – Jawahar Tunnel – Khanabal – Srinagar Bypass – Ganderbal – Sonamarg

Day 3 August 2, 2010

Sonamarg – Zozila – Drass – Kargil – Mulbek – Namik La – Fotu La – Lamayoru – Hangro Loops – Nimmu – Leh

Day 4 August 3,2010

Leh (Permits early morning) – Khardung La – (Nubra Valley) Hunder – Diskit

Day 5 August 4,2010

Diskit – Turtuk – Diskit – Hunder

Day 6 August 5,2010

Hunder – Agham – Shakti – Chang La – Tanksey – Lukung – Spangmik (Pangong Tso)

Day 7 August 6,2010

Spangmik – Lukung – Tanksey – Chang La – Shakti – Karu – Shey – Leh

Day 8 August 7,2010

Leh – Upshi – Pang – Sarchu/Darcha/Keylong

Day 9 August 8,2010

Sarchu/Darcha/Keylong – Tandi – Khoksar – Rohtang La – Manali

Day 10 August 9,2010

Manali – Mandi – Sunder Nagar – Ropar – Chandigarh – Ambala – Delhi

Although Plan B is to come back via Srinagar only if the road conditions of Rohtang still remain same as of today.

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It’s McLeod Ganj  this time, which is 10 KMs uphill from Dharamshala. With this trip log I present the last of the Nostalgic Moments series, in which I traveled with my friends with everything planned, with booked rooms, no places in mind to see just the destination was known, an unknown tourist without any knowledge of the place, where everything was supposed to be a holiday with least preference to adventure. But, as everything has it’s own significance so did these trips which were as good for me as today’s trip which are full of adventure and unknowns . It was a great pleasure sharing these trips with you guys and I know the friends involved in the series did really liked them. If any chance you missed the previous trips, here is a list below.

• Delhi to Manali | Nostalgic Moments – 3
• Delhi to Shivpuri | Nostalgic Moments – 2
• Delhi to Nainitaal | Nostalgic Moments – 1

Well as I told you throughout the series, I didn’t recall much of the moments and would be sharing mostly the pictures but of course it was a 3 day trip in June 2007 to beat the scorching heat of Delhi Summer.

Trek to Laka Glacier…

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Kalpa located in Kinnaur Valley of Himachal Pradesh, I never thought would be that beautiful what I witnessed reaching there. The place is just majestic and the views of Kinner Kailash range from almost any of the hotel at Kalpa would just make your jaws drop at any day. We were extremely lucky to witness such fanatic weather at such awesomely beautiful location in Kinnaur Valley. It was summers almost (April end) and we witnessed a good 4-5 hours of snowfall which really made our trip. But, of course not to take any credit from the place where we stayed “Kinner Villa”

Kinner Villa offered great vistas of the entire Kinner Kailash range flavored with Punjabi style food. We enjoyed the stay over there and if interested in knowing more on how we reached this hotel you may also check link below for further details of our journey –

• Kalpa, Kinnaur Valley | My Travel Story

Entrance of Kinner Villa…

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It’s time again to refresh some Nostalgic memories of travel and this time in the series I present you my maiden Manali Trip. I had never been to such heights nor I had seen snow ever before, so this one for sure was very exciting for me. Although I have been to Manali twice after this trip as well but this trip for sure had some quite nice memories to cherish. I hope you didn’t miss any of the first two previous parts of this series. If yes, you can check them here….

• Delhi to Shivpuri | Nostalgic Moments – 2
• Delhi to Nainitaal | Nostalgic Moments – 1 

Well as I said it was my maiden trip to Manali and I never have a slight idea how it could look and feel. I was very anxious to know about the same. It never would have happened without 8 of my friends who made the plan to visit this beautiful valley in Himachal Pradesh and took me along with them. The funniest part was the start itself when we kept one of our friend waiting for more than an hour and on phone giving him the status “JUST 5 MINUTES JATIN” …Well but when we reached the place to pick him near Ashok Vihar, he also had a surprise for us. He was waiting there with a big heavy suitcase and we were already 9+1 along with driver without any carrier on Tavera …The biggest problem was how do we fit in this…somehow we managed to fit it although uncomfortably and off we went…Since it was long time back in January, 2007 I don’t exactly remember everything so I would be happy to share the photo with you…

Splendors of Snow…

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