Notes of April/May- 09

.26th April 09'- Manali, Himachal Pradesh- India:- Got up around 9 am on the 23th, & suddenly decided to the the first bus out of Delhi going towards Manali. The bus left at 5 p.m from the Chanderlok Building on the main Janpath Road. The bus, being a Volvo make, cost me around Rs.850. It was a 2/2 A'c semi-sleeper which was quite comfortable for a 14 hrs overnight journey, reaching Manali around 8a.m. The Passenger next to was a 5yr old Sardarji whose apparently had a shop quite nearby from where I lived, and insisted i pay him a visit on my return back to Delhi. Got off at the bus stand on the 24th, walked across the mall to a hotel called Solitaire. Pretty decent (Rs.500) with a great view from my room, no.401 (fourth floor). Took the car the same afternoon towards Rohtang pass which is about 51Km away, but could only make it upto to 35km as the pass is not yet fully accessible (Opens fully from Mid-June till November only). Had Maggi & Tea at the stoppage point with the sight of Snow-Clad mountains all around. This small shack was located right at the edge of a small gorge with its food & chips continers displaye outside his kitchen-tent. As soon as i sat facing the mountain, a strong gust of wind blew away his display rack down the gorge. nothing new, the owner said, and soon his helper was own to the fallen spot below re-collecting the items. The view from here in not overtly spectacular, but a must visit when the pass is fully operational, which then would also lead you to Keylong, Lahaul & Spiti. Then the next day, took the car from manali towards Solang Valley, & the drive here was breathtakingly beautiful. Its so short, that you curse at the stoppage point, the maximum a civil car can go, around 26 km from manali.

There is a lot of activity happening here with a few dozen Paragliders & Zorb'ers providing adventure rides to tourist with a spectaular view of the mountains. I took a stroll towards a vantage point overlooking the mountain & sat there for an hour or so. Lit up a joint given to me by a bus boy (local lad) from the bus i had taken from Delhi. He also insisted and accompanied to various points around Manali... notably to the very old Hadimba temple, 1.5 Km from my hotel. Anyways, the joint served its purpose in providing some wild notions and scenic beauty all at once. Have reached back to the hotel in time to catch up with Formula1 race of Bahrain 09, where my favourite drive Kimi Raikkonen is not doing that well and has only qualified 10th on the grid. Hope he makes up some ground and scores some points at least. overall, a poor bad season for Ferrari already with 3 races gone and a Big Zero points to their name.

Will be going back in evening and will post some of the images once i reach delhi.