To Manali: an endless road
The road it seems had no end. We crossed mountains, paddy fields, villages, bridges rivers. Often curious people tried to look through the glasses of our car. I wanted to capture all moments but the camera's battery did not last long.
After traveling almost 2 hours post lunch, the mountains started becoming steeper. The road was so narrow that hardly two cars could travel side by side. It was a dangerous drive as one side of the road moved way down and a river could be seen from the top. Driver informed that it was the famous "Satluch" river that originated in the hills of Kulu and all along the next way it would accompany us.
The view of the mountain ranges together with the river made the site a majestic one. I could not resist but captured many snaps of the same. This side of the mountain was rather a dry one with less vegetation. The earth was dusty and the tall pine or deodars were hardly visible.
Through the narrow lane we moved away slowly and suddenly at one road turn a temple surprised us. It was a temple of Devi Durga and the environment made the place a special one. Tourists, monks gathered in side the temple and a divine atmosphere was created.
After spending couple of hours we started again. We crossed Mandi, Bilaspur one by one and around 4 o'clock in the after noon we could see the snow capped mountains of Kulu. Driver informed we were approaching Kulu valley and our joy was boundless.
There was a change experienced in the surroundings also.Lush green trees were visible and the environement became a lot cooler. Satluch was still with us.
At 4:45 in the afternoon we reached Kulu. Manali was still some 50 KM far & we decided to have tea. After a long tiring day the tea gave us enough refreshment and we got many information about the place from our cab driver. At 5 o'clock we started again. Hills of Manali were becoming larger and to my surprise small apple gardens were also crossing our way. Earlier this i never saw an apple tree so i was quite excited seeing those.
River Satluch was flowing happily and beside it different types of activities was visible. Rafting and other water sport was among those. Our driver cum guide informed that they were better visible during the day, so we had no other options but to wait.
Slowly we approached Manali. We called our hotel owner and inquired about the location. After some time we entered a quite crowded hill city. Several hotels, restaurants, shops were there at the road side. When we reached our hotel it was already getting dark. We checked in to our room and placed our baggage in the cupboard. When we open the window we were astonished to see a big snow capped mountain in front of us. It would be our companion for the next few days.
The sun was already set and things became silent in the small hill station. After refreshing we had our dinner. We thought of going for a walk but found it was already raining. We came back to our room and went under the blanket. After a long tiring journey we finally reached Manali. A mixed feelings of both sad and happiness was there. I was thinking about Shimla and at the same time Manali was peeping through my mind. We slept without any effort hoping to get up early to explore majestic Manali.
...to be continued.....
The road it seems had no end. We crossed mountains, paddy fields, villages, bridges rivers. Often curious people tried to look through the glasses of our car. I wanted to capture all moments but the camera's battery did not last long.
After traveling almost 2 hours post lunch, the mountains started becoming steeper. The road was so narrow that hardly two cars could travel side by side. It was a dangerous drive as one side of the road moved way down and a river could be seen from the top. Driver informed that it was the famous "Satluch" river that originated in the hills of Kulu and all along the next way it would accompany us.
The view of the mountain ranges together with the river made the site a majestic one. I could not resist but captured many snaps of the same. This side of the mountain was rather a dry one with less vegetation. The earth was dusty and the tall pine or deodars were hardly visible.
Through the narrow lane we moved away slowly and suddenly at one road turn a temple surprised us. It was a temple of Devi Durga and the environment made the place a special one. Tourists, monks gathered in side the temple and a divine atmosphere was created.
After spending couple of hours we started again. We crossed Mandi, Bilaspur one by one and around 4 o'clock in the after noon we could see the snow capped mountains of Kulu. Driver informed we were approaching Kulu valley and our joy was boundless.
There was a change experienced in the surroundings also.Lush green trees were visible and the environement became a lot cooler. Satluch was still with us.
At 4:45 in the afternoon we reached Kulu. Manali was still some 50 KM far & we decided to have tea. After a long tiring day the tea gave us enough refreshment and we got many information about the place from our cab driver. At 5 o'clock we started again. Hills of Manali were becoming larger and to my surprise small apple gardens were also crossing our way. Earlier this i never saw an apple tree so i was quite excited seeing those.
River Satluch was flowing happily and beside it different types of activities was visible. Rafting and other water sport was among those. Our driver cum guide informed that they were better visible during the day, so we had no other options but to wait.
Slowly we approached Manali. We called our hotel owner and inquired about the location. After some time we entered a quite crowded hill city. Several hotels, restaurants, shops were there at the road side. When we reached our hotel it was already getting dark. We checked in to our room and placed our baggage in the cupboard. When we open the window we were astonished to see a big snow capped mountain in front of us. It would be our companion for the next few days.
The sun was already set and things became silent in the small hill station. After refreshing we had our dinner. We thought of going for a walk but found it was already raining. We came back to our room and went under the blanket. After a long tiring journey we finally reached Manali. A mixed feelings of both sad and happiness was there. I was thinking about Shimla and at the same time Manali was peeping through my mind. We slept without any effort hoping to get up early to explore majestic Manali.
...to be continued.....
Good snaps and nice beautiful and short description
ReplyDeleteArijit