The Story of how I backpacked with my parents..! [Part 2]

Read the first half here - The Story of how I backpacked with my parents..! [Part 1]

April 11, 2017

Cold weather. Cosy blankets. Holiday time. No tension about anything. No alarms. I opened my eyes to a view with mountains covered by snow, the sun shining brightly on one side, the sound of multiple waterfalls which was formed because of the melting snow, sound of throat-infected crows (credits to my mom for identifying it! :D ) and an apple orchard in front of our room. What more can I ask from this amazing paradise on earth? Good Morning Manali!

I was lying in my bed and dreamt if I could stay in this place forever, but my dad pulled my blankets and dragged me out of the bed. Being the early-to-rise family, my parents wanted a cup of coffee to enjoy the beautiful climate, but the entire town was asleep. Hill stations indeed have a very late-to-rise policy. We used this time to click pictures :D After multiple walks to the kitchen, I saw Vijay uncle in the corridor and had a brief conversation with him. I was surprised to find that he also belonged to my dad’s old people group (lol he was in his 50’s)! He explained how his family would move to Manali during the holiday seasons, yes, the North End Inn was their holiday home. How lucky they are! He also told how the entire place was filled with snow just weeks before we came and gave suggestions for places to visit.

Our plan for this day was to visit Snow point and we had booked the cab previous day only. Bathing became a big problem because the hot water started freezing by the time it reached our tap. Result? We skipped our showers and got ready for the snow day. The driver called by 9.30AM sharp, but we were still in the middle of our makeover sessions. Ordered poori, aloo paratha and pancakes for breakfast in the hotel only, and it felt so great in the cold weather. Mr.Dhilip, the cab driver was waiting for us outside the hotel and we flew directly to Solang valley. On our way to Solang, we tried to spot our homestay, but it was scary to look from the other end because the house looked like it was hanging at the cliff of the mountain. We saw shops all the way who rented winter clothes and skiing costumes, but it is totally useless on a sunny day. This might have come handy if we had gone to Rohtang pass, which was closed due to bad weather and high snow. We saw tourists renting costumes at every junction and wasting their money on dirty used clothes. Sometimes, it is better to think practically, rather than doing touristy things and I felt proud of myself in not becoming the prey.

It was a 14KM ride to Solang from Manali. Solang is a quiet town with few similar structured and coloured houses at the base of snowy mountains surrounded by grasslands. At the end of the town was a small junction where snow existed at the base of the mountain, and this junction was popularly known as ‘Snow Point’, identified mainly for the tourists who had never experienced snow in their lifetime. However, the so-called ‘snow-point’ would keep changing every year based on the density of snow! You could either take a horse ride to the point or trek/walk to the destination in style like us! Being a tourist place, we were surrounded by multiple vendors who charged 550 per head to torture the horses and bear our weight on them and most of them preferred this way rather than putting some effort on their God-gifted legs. If my 58 and 48-year-old parents could walk to the snow point, you could also do it! Please do not become a slave to the overcharging vendors and trouble the innocent animals.

We hired two gum boots for my parents and gloves for three of us at 100Rs. (good bargain, right? Tell YES to make me happy :D ) The gum boots were mandatory to save yourself from slipping in the snow and gloves to save your hands from getting frozen. Then we started our walk towards the much-awaited snow point. We were surprised to see old grannies walking, while the young honeymoon couples moving comfortably on top of horses. I had to motivate my mom throughout the path because she is typical ‘mom’ :D , but my dad surprised me by leading the group and walked without any hesitation. After 2 hours or so (didn’t keep track of time because I enjoyed every moment), we reached the crowded snow point with tourists dressed in their skiing suits, enjoying their time with friends and family. You could sense positive vibes around this place because everyone became a kid on seeing snow, including my mom and dad.

People were riding snow scooters on one end, skiing and sliding on the other. We also joined this group and walked slowly hand-in-hand on the slippery white ice. Neither shoes nor boots were helping us because it was difficult to balance our weight and I had my first fall. Even though it hurt my bum initially, but the fear of falling flew away and I walked around the place with confidence. Another life lesson learnt, which I am not going to explain here because this isn’t a philosophical article ! ;) Dad and mom also were not exempted from the fall at different occasions, and fortunately they haven’t broken their bones. Dad was little scared and he stayed at the base looking around the happy people, but mom gave the best company when I missed my friends. While I climbed on the snow and made it to the top only to see a group of friends enjoying their time, my super mom surprised me by crossing the slippery surface despite people’s warning. Mom threw snow and brought me back from my depressed world. We built our own scary snowman, clicked a lot of crazy pictures and had our own childhood times. We felt incomplete without my sister at that time, and missed her badly. I wish if only she was never married, yet life happened. While ascending wasn’t difficult, descending in the snow gave lot of challenges and I was responsible to safeguard my mom too. Time flew away and it was 2PM, yet we didn’t feel the hunger as we were lost in personal happiness.

Bade goodbye to the snow point and started our return walk towards Solang. I fetched fresh water from the stream which was so cold and damn sweet. The return walk wasn’t tiring because we were descending the mountain and the weather was also pleasant. After visiting snow point, we decided to skip Kothi because it was another small village on route to Rohtang Pass. The cab driver waited for us at the base and we extended our plan to visit Vashisht – the temple with hot water spring. On our way, we halted at Nehru kund, a place where Nehru used to drink water every time he was around the town and the water was supposed to have lot of healing effects. We also saw a theme park ‘HimValley’ and hurried to Vashisht as hunger started. Finished our lunch at Meena café opposite to Vashisht temple where we ate roti, paneer butter masala and coconut rice. Vashisht looked like the hippie side of Hampi with lot of spiritual foreigners.

There were two temples opposite to each other, where one of them is famous for having natural spring – the source of super-hot water even in the cold weather. One could also take a bath in this natural water if interested, or only wet the hands and legs like us. There were separate sections for male and female and hence safety wasn’t a concern here. Around 5PM, we got dropped in the hotel and my parents went to took a nap while I dreamt about my friends and wished for some magic to happen and bring them to me. Then I refreshed myself in hot water (yes, I took a shower finally! :D ) and dad & myself planned to have a walk around old Manali. 

Since mom was tired, we let her to sleep and the dad-daughter time was the best among the entire trip. The sun was about to set and it started getting cold and dark at 6PM. We found a bakery called ‘English Bakery’ and halted for some interesting conversations on life over a cup of tea and apple pie. Dad loved the little hub and I enjoyed the personal space and the memories it gave me to take for a lifetime. Not to forget mom, we parcelled carrot pie for her and walked our way back to the hotel after stopping at Manu temple.

We ordered the famous fresh water Trout fish curry and white rice for dinner, which was supposed to taste the best and you don’t get it in most of the places. But the curry wasn’t prepared in the best way and my expectations were broken into pieces. Yet, the happiness gained over the day helped us with a good sleep.

April 12, 2017.

Be a Roman in Rome! We made it a point to get out of our bed late after the previous day’s experience. Yet, dad and mom woke up and got ready, but I didn’t have the mood to get out of my blanket only. While our breakfast was getting ready, we explored our homestay and clicked lot of pictures. Then we headed out on our Manali exploration by foot J Our first halt was in Manu temple since mommy did not see it. The town got its name after this person Manu. We also met two Tamil families who also happened to come from my hometown Neyveli. World is indeed small!

Then we walked to the famous Hidimba temple – the temple shown in all the famous movies like Roja and Yeh jeewani hai deewani. We had a shortcut to visit Hidimba from Old Manali which was mostly used by the local people and found our way to the temple located inside lush green forest ‘Van Vihar’. Yeah! We weren’t tourists anymore in this town :D People who are familiar about Mahabharatha, the name Hidimba would have rang a bell and for the rest, Hidimba Devi was a strong tribal lady from the areas of Manali (kaatu vaasi - demon), who attracted and got married to Bhima, one of the five Pandavas. They had a son Gatothkach who played a major role in the Mahabharath battle and contributed to the Pandava’s success. Dhungri village in Old Manali holds the pride for being the abode of this mighty warrior Gatothkach.

Peace prevailed around this Hidimba temple mainly because of the ambience. It was located amidst dense forest and the structure of the temple only will make you admire it more. This place had always been in my bucket list to visit with my best friends (my gang of four!), but I never expected that I would be here with my parents. With lot of prayers and hopes, I walked out of the temple. Our next plan was to go to the Mall road and we had another shortcut across the vast Van Vihar. Had lunch at a restaurant called Pangi behind the mall road, who served South Indian thali and Punjabi thali. Then it was shopping time where my mom purchased shawls for everyone but I didn’t find anything interesting to get for my friends. Then we spent some time in Van Vihar talking non-sense and killed our time, which ended up being some amazing memories.

We drank badam milk and took an auto to our hotel at 6 PM as our bus to Amritsar was scheduled at 8 PM and we can’t afford to miss it. Packed dinner from a hotel which became the source for many problems on our return travel. HRTC buses were usually on time and I bade goodbye to the beautiful hillock, hoping to come back soon. I slept quickly as we were tired after the long day and woke up at 10.30 PM when the bus stopped for dinner. I didn’t feel hungry but my dad forced me to eat the parcelled veg pulao and roti.

Our initial plan was to stop at Mcleodganj, which was located on the way to Amritsar and spend a day there, but I cancelled in the last minute considering the tight schedule. The journey wasn’t as pleasing as expected, because the food and the curvy roads started to play with my Dad’s stomach and he kept vomiting multiple times throughout the travel. I became so scared on seeing his condition and luckily, he slept after some time. In the event of taking care of my Dad, I got a chance to view the vast hilly areas and the dangerous hairpin bends. Kudos to the amazing drivers who ply at higher speed and have so much control on the steering. I made it a point to take this road AGAIN during the day time on a road trip with my fantastic four. We could only hope that it will happen and the rest is left to God.

April 13, 2017

The hills disappeared and the temperature increased massively as I woke up in the morning to the vast paddy fields of Punjab. Despite travelling in an AC bus, I could feel the warmth and got super scared about the weather. Reached Amritsar at 10AM and the bus stand was super crowded. Language started to become a problem, because nobody speaks any language apart from Hindi/Punjabi/language unknown to me. We took a cycle rickshaw (man-driven) to our hotel but the check-in time was only at 12. Since time wasn’t a problem to us after dropping Mcleodganj plan, we relaxed and chilled in Amritsar’s hot weather. Luckily, the hotel guys gave a room at 10AM itself. After refreshing, we walked to the bus stand and had lunch at a small dhaba. Roti, dhal and curd rice was our only feasible options to test our stomach, because we didn’t want to risk ourselves towards the end of the trip.

Again, due to abundant availability of time, we decided to take a bus to Wagah border but the people warned us to not to do it as it will take a lot of time. We explored the bus stand from one end to another in search of cab, and unfortunately, the taxi stand was right outside the restaurant where we had lunch. They charged 800 initially, but on requesting to switch the AC on, the rate increased to 1100 and we had to pay the toll money as well. Another travel lesson learnt here to confirm on all these before getting inside the cab. It was a dry ride to the historical border, yet the place was worth it!

Wagah border, the boundary between two countries India and Pakistan, countries who will never get along well in the history of mankind and we were sitting right over there to witness another remarkable evening where the flags will be brought down after a small ceremony. Instructions before you start your journey to Wagah - First, carry an umbrella and leave all your belongings in your hotel/car because you cannot carry big bags. Second, reach very early. The ceremony starts around 4.30, but it is best to reach around 3PM to get comfortable seats, else you might miss the entire function. In the entire trip, I regretted for not knowing Hindi here, because the commentator kept talking a lot and the crowd cheered but I was unable to interpret them.

The ceremony started with a performance by the Indian soldiers who showcased their brave talents, mainly those which come with a tagline ‘DO NOT TRY AT HOME!’. They lit fire on themselves, broke bricks, did multiple things and the highlight was when a jeep ran over a soldier, yet nothing happened to him. Then songs from Chak De were played and all the women from the group were invited to dance in the middle. The actual ceremony began when a group of soldiers entered. The flags were brought down and the day came to an end. Patriotic vibes were spread across the entire group and I could still remember the loud chant ‘Inquillab zindabaadh! Vandhe Madharam!’

The ceremony got over by 6.30 PM and we got dropped at the Golden temple to kill our evening hours. But this was the best decision because we were surprised by fireworks at 8PM. The Sikhs were celebrating their Punjab new year together in the temple with fireworks lighted from all the four corners of the temple and diyas lighted around the pond. The golden temple in the middle of the water was indeed shining with the effects of the lights and spread positive effects across the city. Since the temple was crowded, we finished our dinner at Bharwan da dhaba and headed to our hotel in auto who charged 10 per head.

April 14, 2017.

It was a bright sunny morning. Thanks to the air-conditioned room, else our life would have been miserable. We woke up late and had complimentary breakfast in the hotel. Refreshed and packed our luggage to head to another hotel near the bus stand. The switch between hotels arose because of the last-minute change in plan to cancel Mcleodganj. Had lunch at the popular Kesar dhaba where we ate roti and subzi which was floating in a bowl of desi ghee. At the first sight, being a south Indian, it didn’t pull our attention, but the taste was much better than any roti curry we had outside. The desserts were outstanding and it wouldn’t be nice to finish a meal in Punjab without a cup of cold thick yummy lassi. After lunch, we walked across the streets to reach the Golden temple. The Sikhs indeed worshipped a book and this book was safeguarded inside a beautiful golden temple.

Wheat halwa was offered as we came out and we also got an opportunity to offer the same back to the temple. So, the concept of donation works here like, if you purchase the prasadh for 100Rs., you could contribute half of it to the temple and take the remaining half home. Basically, this implies the unity and equality in the society. However, I regretted forever for missing the Langar which is famous for the amazing food. I mistook the wheat halwa for free food, but late realization and researching told that there is a specific hall inside the gurudhwara where food is prepared by the volunteers and served around the clock. Let’s hope that I go back at least for the free food again! ;)

Jallianwala Bagh is right outside the temple and this place had lots and lots of terrible stories which made me to stand shocked. I went around and read every single story in the garden, which gave goose bumps. The bullet marks on the wall and the Martyr’s well where thousands of people jumped to escape from the shooting – our senior citizens had suffered a lot to gain the freedom which we have right now. Then we had early dinner at Brother’s dhaba and headed to our hotel and slept at 8PM.

April 15, 2017.

Since we had to catch an early train to Delhi, we woke up and refreshed quickly. Wanted to purchase bread for breakfast but none of the shops were opened. Hoping that we could buy something from the pantry inside the train, we started our return journey. The train slowly started getting crowded and the general passengers also occupied the reservation compartment. With the weather getting hotter as time flew and lack of food made us to go mad. Although we managed to munch on some pop corns and chat items, we missed proper food. Next travel lesson learnt! Always book AC coaches while travelling in trains in North India, especially during day travels and do not depend on rail food items. Even water wasn’t sold anywhere and somehow, we survived the entire journey and reached Delhi by 3.30 PM.

We landed in Delhi and drank as much water as possible. Then we headed to a small restaurant near McDonals inside the station where veg thali was available. Filled our tummy and headed to venture on our next mission to find the right metro and reach the airport. Delhi is well connected by metro stations, but one should be aware of the stations to utilize it properly. We took a metro from Old Delhi to New Delhi railway station and then switched to the Airport Express metro. Again, it was a different experience and a big relief came when we reached the airport. I managed to organize a trip successfully! Yayy! Moment to be proud about, right?

We checked our luggages into Vistara flight and explored the Delhi airport. Bade farewell to the capital of the country and flew back to the city of IT hub – Bengaluru. One amazing unexpected journey with my parents came to an end. Proud father! Proud daughter!! Love you Dad and Mom. You are the best. Always.