Scorching hot, holiday for Sruthi
& Sujani (Ofcourse for me also) made us to think to move out somewhere.
Another reason is Sruthi won’t get long leave if she joins TCS !!! We thought
that this time we 4 will not go alone but certainly somebody else also should join
with us. Recently Sridhar went to
Hyderabad with family, Srikanth and Bama family went on a South trip, Usha and
Ravi family are going for a south trip – big question mark was ahead of us but
Anand came for our help. Initially we
want to go to Nainital but Anand did not want it. By this time Sruthi told that her friends
(about 8 of her class mate) from Chennai are coming and they are going to
Manali. So we (self family &
Srikanth Family) also decided to go to Manali.
This is a second trip for me & Raji and 3rd trip for
others.
The road distance from Delhi to
Manali is about 550 Km. Initially we thought of hiring an Innova which may
accommodate 8 people but subsequently we changed it and booked a Tempo (Force)
Traveler (10 seater) for us. It was spacious and to accommodate all of us freely. The only problem came to our mind was – speed
of it. Our last experience with Tempo
Traveler, when we went to Haridwar, two
months ago, was pathetic. It never
crossed 30 km speed ! But this time it
was something different and the driver was good and it run with Good speed
(Even it touched 80 Kmph)
13th June 2013
Srikanth started at about 0415
hours from Dwarka and reached Vikaspuri by 0445 hrs to pick us. We started our journey by 0500 Hrs. Weather was hot even in that early hours. The highway (NH-1) was fantastic with 6 lane
having a big divider and road was well maintained. Our vehicle was running at about 80 Kmph
speed. Srinath, Anand and Sujju started
to continue their sleep. Observed almost all drivers in this stretch followed road
rules and had sense of driving. We crossed
Murthal at about 0700 hours. If anyone
wants to have breakfast/lunch, this is one of the idle places. There were many Dabba available here and you
can get taste “Parotas”. Further we
crossed some of the important place like Panipat, Karnal etc. At these places, NH road runs on elevated
road and there was no traffic jam inside the town. These places were well developed now compare
to what I saw about 5 years back.
Stopped at Karnal for breakfast
at 0800 hrs and had “Aloo / Piyaj Parota” as usual (after reading the menu card
for more than 10 min.). During our stop,
rain started and we saw heavy rain for more than 15 min. Once the force of rain reduced, started our
journey further. After Karnal, road condition was bad and we have to take many
diversions as many flyovers are being under construction. On the way our driver took a “SHORT CUT”
road, but it became a Long route with a very bad road condition. Rain was also very heavy and we lost about 2
to 3 hours in the journey. On the way we crossed Ambuja and ACC cement
factories and Satlaj River.
About 100 Km from Mandi, you will
reach Beas River and you can cross the dam also. Try to be there by 1700 hours so that you can
enjoy the flow of water out of dam. The
road goes along the river side of Beas and it will be a wonderful scene to look
into. After Beas dam, you will be
crossing a HUGE tunnel (about 3.5 KM long) and will reach a small town
Aut. From here Kullu is about 30 Km and
Manali is about 70 Km. Main issue we
noticed on this highway is sign board mentioning distance. There is total confusion as we saw distance
was increasing when we travel further. So don’t go by this signboard on
distance and believe only direction.
Reached Manali at about 2100 Hours and checked in the hotel “Snow
Princes”. It was on the highway,
opposite of river Beas but about couple of KMs before Manali Mall road. Hotel was Ok.
14th June 2013
Waited for Sruthi’s friends to
join us as everyone wants to do river rafting.
Rafting service is available between Manali & Kullu and cost was
about Rs. 600 per person. It may take
about 4 hours to complete the rafting.
We waited but later it was informed that rafting service was cancelled
on that day as water level and force in the river is increased and it was
dangerous to do rafting. So our first
program rafting was cancelled.
Next we planned to go to Solang
valley (about 25 km from Manali). As
Sruthi’s friends were not ready, we utilized that time to visit Hidamba temple
in Manali (about 2 km from Mall road). Auto is available and they charge Rs. 10
per person. There was a huge line to go inside the temple and we just managed
and satisfied to see the God from outside itself. In front of the temple, people are keeping புஸு புஸு
rabbits and yak. Sruthi and Sujani took
photo keeping rabbit in hand & Anand and Srinath took photo by sitting on
the yak. It was about 1200 hrs, we
started for Solang valley and reached there by 1330 hours. Rain started its play by pouring for some
time and off for some time. Para
gliding, rolling inside huge balloon, ropeway, horse riding and normal other
rides were available at Solang valley.
Anand and Sruthi wanted to do Paragliding
(Rs. 1000/- per head). We all were standing on the ground and they went along
with expert over the hill (about 500 feet high). The way was very shabby with
mud but they manage to go to the top from where they have to come down using
parachute. There was a large crowd to
come down and we were waiting and every time someone started to come down we
started to take video. Within 15,20 minutes, rain again started and they
stopped paragliding. At last once again
when rain stopped, Anand came down safely and enjoying. Now, we were waiting
for Sruthi to come, but saw 2, 3 people falling immediately after take-off. We thought it may be Sruthi but even after
next 40 minutes or so she did not come.
Rain also started we were more worried.
Srikanth and Anand started to climb the hill in the rain to see Sruthi
but they could not find her. At last she
came down after an hour. She told us
that because of rain, the starting point became muddier and she was taken
further high to start the flying and waited for rain to stop. Anyhow she also enjoyed the flying. Lastly we came to know, the person (ofcourse
everyone) with whom we booked for Paragliding was having only one parachute and
he took it back once Anand came down and that is also one of the reason for the
delay. In future people should note this
and they have to book with different people if there is more than one person. In the mean time, Anand and Srinath went for
a horse drive also.
Next we went in the ropeway (Rs.
500/- per person). The rope way travel
is for about 5 minutes (oneway). From
the top, you can see natural beauty. At
the top, small shop is available to give Himachal traditional dress on rent
(Rs. 100/-) and one can wear and take photos.
Sruthi, Sujani and their friends enjoyed this also.
After completing this we thought
of coming back to Manali just to roam around the Mall Road. The return traffic was mad and we could
manage to cover 2 Kms in more than 2 hours.
No space for parking vehicle near mall road and because of heavy rain, we
came back to hotel without visiting Mall road.
Before coming back to hotel, our
driver suggested to book vehicle for next day to go to Rohtang Pass through his
“known” source. We paid advance for 3
vehicle (including for Sruthi’s friends—Rs. 2800 per vehicle) and we were
assured that will be ready by 0530 hours near his shop. Recently Manali local authorities banned
taking our own vehicle to Rohtang pass and everyone should use only local vehicle.
15th June 2013
Started from hotel at 0400 hours
and reached the place where we were asked to come to catch the vehicle. We were asked by the shop keeper to select
our dress (Rs. 250/- per head) to be used in rohtang pass. As we did not find good quality and also as
all the dresses were wet, we told that we don’t need it thinking we can get it
from some other shop. Immediately the
shopkeeper blackmailed us saying he did not have any vehicle and returned back
the advance amount. We were stuck and
forced to select some of the “good” dress for us. Even after that, there was scarcity in
vehicle and we could not get 3 as he promised.
We lost our patience and atlast somehow we managed to enter one of the vehicles
forcibly and started at about 0700 hours to Rohtang pass. Rain started pouring. The distance from Manali to Rohtang is about
52 KM and we thought we can stop for breakfast in Mahri where early many shops
were available. This time all shops were
closed and nothing available. Even there
is no wash room available on the way and everyone suffered a lot. As thousands of people are going to Rohtang
Pass daily, government should atleast ensure to have some wash rooms on the way.
The journey was good but having stops in many places because of traffic
jam. We could manage to cover half way
by 1100 hours and our vehicles were stopped by Security persons stating there is
heavy jam ahead and there is land sliding also.
Waited for an hour and decided to come back as rain started pouring heavily
and not finding any sign of clearance of traffic jam (About 3000 vehicles were
standing in front of us). On the way back, children could stand on ice in one
place and they can say that they saw ice block.
Again there was traffic jam
everywhere on way back and atlast we could manage to reach hotel by 1700 hours
without going to Rohtang pass. This is
the third time for me to go to Rohtang but never succeeded.
16th June 13
Vacated hotel at 0500 hours and
started our journey back. Again it was a
long journey of about 15 hours back to Delhi.
This time we came on right road and journey was comfortable. Reached Delhi by 2030 hours
Entire trip was good in terms of
climate and journey but this time we could not see many places because of rain
and traffic jam.
There was a remarkable increase
in tourist visiting Manali compare to my last visit. You can say HEAVY vehicle congestion and many
people are visiting. No control on
traffic at intersections leads to long traffic jams.
One has to try to get some hotel
nearer to Mall road so that atleast you can go round a walk.
Book vehicle to go to Rohtang
only through your hotel and he may be answerable to you and will arrange it for
you in time. Don’t get deviated by other’s promises.
Have something to eat / drink with
you when you go to Rohtang pass.
