The bus ride was not exactly the best kind of ride cos it was a local bus and hence it stopped many times to pick and drop people. People squeezed in Indian style and it was raining throughout the journey, so the closed windows made it pretty stuffy. No more local buses for me after this ride. Reached Manali at around 4am which was way too early, so we had some chai tea first to wake up and made our way to the guest house where Mariana and friends stayed the previous time they were in Manali.
Way too early! the sky is still BLACK!
Reaching at 5am, it was all quiet until the housekeeper came out and opened an empty room for us. After shower and rest, we went out for lunch, buy bus tickets and then down towards new Manali through a nature reserve beside which the Ganges river ran. Water was cleaner and clearer than the one in
Varanasi though! The nature reserve was a really nice place to rest
and relax though! Next stop was new Manali town where we walked around
exploring, drew and exchanged money and ate Baskin Robbins ice cream!
So nice to relax and chill. Went back to hotel to do some reading and
writing and laundry. And we also prepared our towels for laundry
service (Rs10~SGD 0.30 per piece) cos I haven’t washed my towel for a
good 1 month probably.
Haha. And during this time, I arranged for my mountain biking trip the following morning with Raju Sharma who quoted me Rs1200 for a morning 28km ride. So that will be my morning exercise and sightseeing. Dinner was taken at the chill out cafe with wifi and the chicken sandwich was good!
the residential area near the guest house
Internet cafe for dinner!
Went to bed a little earlier cos mountain biking was at 8am! Woke up the next morning thinking that the biking would be manageable, like it can’t get any harder. Took a rickshaw towards new Manali to meet Mr Sharma at Mount View restaurant. Since I was early, I walked around a bit and saw things
like a family going camping, a guy dressed in jogging gear and took a
quick peek at a Buddhist temple in the city. After walking, I went
back to the restaurant entrance and it was not before long a man
approached me and asked me if I was going for mountain biking. Not
surprisingly, he was Mr Sharma and we walked towards his office. And
when I reached, the was another man there and he introduced himself as
Ravi and he was quick off the mark to say that he saw me earlier that
morning. I recalled for a while and he was actually the guy in jogging
gear! Such a coincidence! Haha. Some sights of new Manali…
NEW Manali!
"The Mall" at Manali- no cars allowed. GOOD!
Buddhist temple
Shops in Manali
The yellow TREK
They got 2 bikes out and one of them was a Trek! Cool! They asked me to test the bikes and choose one and I chose the orange trek. Haha. Brand plays a huge role in decisions I guess! After protective gear and equipment check, we were off! The route which I thought would be manageable turned out to be an intense ride! The upslope seemed never ending at times but the beautiful
scenery made up for that. I felt as if I was cycling in Switzerland
given the greenery and mountains. The ride was quite tough and i had
to take quite a few breaks to catch my breath while Ravi had no
problems at all. Shows how unfit I am now!! A lifestyle of just eating
and sleeping mainly.. Haha. Took a few photos while we rested and we
talked about some personal topics like BGRs while we rested. Very
interesting guy, reminded me of Charles from Mt Abu. They have dreams
but always hold things back like marriage because of money. But well,
they are entitled to their own thoughts. Haha. But I like how he was
frank and does not really pretends in front of customers like me cos
he was taking smoke breaks here and there. And I think I roughly know
where he derives his strength from. Haha. A stick sometimes can do
wonders!
Nice view and ride!
Prayer flags on the hills!
Scenes like this leaves you speechless!
Ravi and me
Zorbing and paragliding area
Paragliding means another thing to Indians.
Then we cycled up and up till an open plain and valley like
area where people did paragliding and zorbing. Rested there for a good
20mins before heading back to the office. The ride this time was
downslope and boy was it fun! Not much effort needed and most of the
time was just free wheeling and enjoying the wind and speed. So the
climb was worth it! Haha. He said our speed was like about 50km/h,
which was way too cool. I don’t think I’ve achieved that speed in my
singapore rides.
Wooden keychain man
Reached office at around 1230 pm and this made the whole trip about 4 hours so 1 hour was about SGD 7.50 cos in the end, I only paid Rs 1000 instead of Rs 1200. Haha. Tricked the boss into believing it was 1000 in the morning. In the office, we had chai tea and they showed me some pictures and videos of previous treks and bike rides they have done. Said my goodbye at 1pm and headed back to the hotel and on the way, made some keyrings with name calligraphy for friends.
He painted this.Nice.
Since my legs were so wobbly, I took an auto rickshaw back to the hotel where Mariana was waiting. Haha. Lunch was next and we tried the Korean cafe near our hotel. Had bibimbab and kimbab. Side dishes were not fantastic but well, guess this was the best Korean place in this area! Haha. Went for desert next but main idea was to use the free wifi in the cafe. Haha. Apple pie was good! And probably it’s because the northern cities like Manali are the ones producing apples for the whole of India. Apple pie in Shimla’s cafe coffee day couldn’t be called apple pie at all cos the apple was non existent! Haha. And one thing I noticed about the north is that they have very good bakeries making good and nice breads and cookies at a reasonable
price!
Kimbab with Wasabi!! POWER!
the girl who cant use chopsticks
After desert, picked up our laundry and went back to the hotel
area wanting to explore the south side. We thought that there was
something cos there were so many people walking up and down this path.
All I got was plucking 2 apples from a tree to eat in the hotel room.
Haha. Quite fun! Apples were not very crunchy and nice but well, it
was free!
Isreali Dinner- Falafel
Needed to pack and get ready for the trip to Leh that night, so packed up and went for dinner. Tried Israeli falafel which was pretty nice! And on the way, bought cookies and bread for the trip before going back to the hotel to rest cos the bus journey was at 2am and reporting time was 130am at the English bakery. Mariana lost our Chai bet “I’ll not sleep” she said but she slept in the end. Haha. Funny. Walked down to English bakery and waited for the bus which was pretty punctual given Indian standards! Haha. and soon, our wonderful 19 hour journey to Leh began….
