Falling in Love with Manali

I have been wanting to go to Manali since my friends kept telling me about Manali and Leh. However, without taking leave from office, the Manali-Leh journey is impossible. I also told myself, perhaps there's no point going to Manali in mad rush because I wouldn't enjoy it. Hence, after 2nd week of internship, I let go the dream to go to Manali, while my friend still found tour here and there to go to Manali.

In the middle of internship, I've realized that four of us who did internship in Bahadurgarh had different interests, so we decided to split. Me and another girl decided to go to Palampur at the end of internship. It's something on tea garden and so on and so forth. We bought only the return train ticket because we planned to catch interstate bus from the terminal to go there.

In the last week of internship, the other girl found out that the two guys would go to Kathmandu, Nepal. Suddenly she said, "Umm, are you going to Kathmandu? coz I've seen Nainitol and Kaljuraho so I'm scared that Palampur will be the same." At that point, I knew that there was no point forcing to go to Palampur. I didn't have enough budget to go to Kathmandu and I don't think I'll go to Palampur alone. Hence, I told her not to worry about me, coz I'll stay in Delhi for the last weekend. I really didn't want to withdraw any extra money.

However, I felt that it would be a waste to stay in Delhi for the last weekend coz I'll need to pay for the hotel alone. I searched on the bus to Palampur, but the good bus only has one way: Delhi-Palampur. I was also worried that Palampur will just be another tea garden like the one in Indonesia. I dunno how and why, at the end, I searched on Manali and they've got volvo bus Delhi-Manali-Delhi. I've decided to withdraw some money, just enough to go to Manali and to book the bus.

I've found some trekking agents from wikipedia and emailed them. One of the mail failed, but one replied me. In my mind, I didn't want to find guide on the spot because I'm not sure how the situation in Manali.

Friday evening, I took the Volvo bus from Janpath. It was a very nice bus, a semi-sleeper bus. There was a mixture of guilt (because the bus was expensive, Rs 1000), and fear (coz I sat on the first row, I saw how the bus driver overtook the trucks) and worry (coz it was an overnight bus and the road was soooo dark). I was also questioning myself, whether I would enjoy trekking alone coz previously, I always did trekking with either family or a big group of friends.

On the way to Manali, 5 am

I reached Manali around 8.20 am. 1 hr 20 minutes later than scheduled. As predicted, many people approached us, the tourists, offering auto, car, and so on and so forth. Every auto-driver wanted to charge me Rs 100 even though I knew that Old Manali was only 10-mins drive according to the guide. Then, I approached Jean-Pierre and Anthony, new friends in the bus :) I thought, we could share the cost!! yeay! Coz they were looking for guest houses and Old Manali has lots of guest houses.

I stopped at the bridge and tried to find Himalayan Caravan Adventure. I walked to the right and did not find it, I asked around and they didn’t know about it, so I walked to the other direction. There was a HUGE writing on the wall “Himalayan Caravan This Way” and yeah...I found it!

It seemed like no one was in the office. An uncle greeted me. Too used to be surrounded by people who tried to cheat me in Delhi, I was a bit suspicious at the beginning. Apparently, the uncle was the owner of the small hotel next to the office. He knew Ravi, the guide that replied my email from Himalayan Caravan and the uncle offered me to have a cup of ‘chai’. Hehehe. Soon, I did feel that my decision to go to Manali was right. I had a nice chit chat with the uncle. He showed me pictures of Manali and I noticed that he likes reading! Hehehe. I saw lots of books on the reception table. I also met some Westerners in the hotel who have been doing expedition to some summits with Ravi. One of them pointed at their photos in the office. The office wasn’t locked, so I also noticed some thank you cards for Ravi and the company.

After waiting for a while, Ravi came and I put my backpack in the office. Then, I met Arun, a little boy who had flexible muscles and performed some acrobatic movements to entertain people and asked for money. It seems that the little boy has known the European tourists before coz they looked close with each other. I took picture of him and with him. He’s very cute!!!

Arun

I started trekking around 9.30 am. I didn’t have any ideas how far it is. I just knew that it was categorized as “easy trek”. I love Manali. These three words are enough to describe how grateful I am to be there, how Manali is not only another ‘mountain area’. The people are nice and they greet each other. On the way to Goshal Village, Ravi talked about something to the men who were breaking the rocks. If I’m not mistaken, he said something like the rocks are unstable and have collapsed once before just after they built the new road.

breaking the rocks for building houses

So far the journey was “ok”, meaning I didn’t feel tired. Ravi pointed at the hills where we were walking to and pointed where the waterfall was (which I couldn’t see), my response was only, “Wah...”, but my mind said, “Can I reach there? It looks far, considering I must be back by 4pm to take the bus back to Delhi.”

marijuana

Goshal Village

I was very happy when I crossed the bridge and met some women who were breaking the rocks. The view was just sooo beautiful. Then, the ‘real’ trekking began. We climbed up the hills. It was quite tiring, but when I paused and looked at the view behind me, I was just too happy too feel tired. I couldn’t believe that I was in Manali and I was surprised that I enjoyed trekking with ‘stranger’ who then became a new friend for me. I paused two times to take some panorama view. Then, Ravi waved at me from the rock up there, so I couldn’t wait to climb up too!! Just the week before, I was amazed by the view of Udaipur City from the top of the hill which we reached by cable. A few weeks before, I was also amazed by the view of Delhi from the top of Tughlaqabad Fort. Two months before, I was amazed by the view from the top of Nandi Hills. However, climbing up and walking all the way up there, looking at the small spot down there and telling yourself “you were there and you doubted yourself, but now you are here!”, was totally a different experience. When I looked at the beautiful view, I also felt a feeling of ‘nothingness’, how I’m soooo small compared with the mountains. Another thought that kept coming to my mind was, the nature was sooo beautiful, how can you not believe that God is the creator of these things? How can you explain this beauty ‘only’ with magma activities, earthquakes and plate movements, without referring to the Mastermind of all these things? The beauty of nature is really an evidence of God’s presence and I couldn’t stop saying thanks to Our Lord.

when I paused in the middle..taking a breath..

We continued walking up till we reached the waterfall, Joghni Waterfall. Ravi said, there’s no way to reach this waterfall except by trekking. There was a temptation to think that I conquered the hill or the nature, but as I thought about it, I couldn’t conquer the nature, I could only befriend the nature. Trekking is a befriending effort with the rocks, the trees, and the bushes. I know nothing about trekking, but as I tried to hold some rocks, as I stepped and tried to feel the land, as I held some trees and avoided the thorns, I realized that I tried to be a friend for them and I must have trust on them too. At some other points, I found myself skipping happily on the pathway. The silence up there kinda helped me to listen to my heart.

Joghni means Angel. The waterfall is a holy place. I was so happy to be there that I suggested to Ravi to have lunch there. I was sitting there and trying to write something on my travel diary, but I could only write “I Love Manali” and huge smiley faces! I was speechless. When I was eating the sandwich, I was tempted to pick a flower for myself, but I stopped and decided to take the photo of the flower. There were lots of flowers and butterflies up there and I wanted other people to enjoy their beauty too.

After lunch, we walked nearer to the waterfall. When I closed my eyes, I heard the different sounds of the water. Okay, let me correct, not “heard”, but “listened”. Some sounds came from the water that just came up from the rock up there and some sounds came from the water that crashed the rocks. I love the sound of the waterfall and I love the splash of the water!

As we walked further from the waterfall, there was a point when the sound was suddenly ‘blocked’, then it became a total silence with only the sound of the birds. We needed to go down some slopes. Climbing up is tiring, but going down is more scary for me. It was slippery!!! However, the fun thing about going down is I must ‘feel’ more. I must feel the rocks more, must listen to Ravi’s guidance more, and I must see more details too because some trees have thorns and I couldn’t hold some parts of the trees.

Then.... “tradaaaaaaaaa” (sound effect!) We reached Vashist Village around 2.30pm and we visited Ravi’s friend’s house. Wahh his friend’s house is COOL! He has lots of snowboarding equipments. Wahhh..

I walked around the village and visited the temples for a while. There was a hot spring bath, but I didn’t bring any towel, so I didn’t try. Some people asked me, “Korean?? Japan??” or “Konnichiwa”. I asked Ravi’s friend, “Do I look like Korean?” He explained to me that there are a lot of Koreans visiting Manali (other than the Westerners), so all non-Westerners are just labeled as Koreans. Hahaha. If there are more Singaporeans or Indonesians, maybe they’ll ask, “Singapur?? Indonesia??” Anyway, Vashist Village is more touristy than Goshal Village.

On the bus from Manali to Delhi, I cried a bit. It was silly, I know...., but Manali was just soo beautiful. I think only mad girl like me accomplishing 14 hours journey only to spend a few hours in Manali. I didn’t even manage to see Solang Valley. However, at the same time, I felt sooo grateful that I had chance to ‘feel’ Manali, not only to ‘see’ Manali. It was such a great time to chat with the Hotel Dream River Uncle (I’m sorry I dunno his name), the Isreali hiker who was surprised that I’m 21 years old (and I was also surprised that he’s at my dad’s age! Hahaha), to listen to Ravi’s stories. I guess he is another example of how a job is truly a vocation. While many people migrate to the cities, there are people like him who choose to stay close to the mountains and help other people to see the beauty of the mountains. It was a simple and ordinary encounter between tourist and locals, but Hotel Dream River Uncle’s and Ravi’s friendliness really touched me and I see them as new friends.

I would like to visit Manali again, someday.... not in one day, but minimum 2 weeks, from Manali to Leh. Hopefully I would be able to visit villages around Kaza too. My friends who did internship in Ecosphere, Kaza, showed me beautiful pictures of the villages around Kaza. Hopefully I would be able to meet Arun again. Hahaha. I wish the hikers could also visit Indonesia. I’m sure they’ll love Mount Bromo. Hehehe.

Thank God for the great experience. Manali was a perfect wrap-up of my internship. Both Udaipur and Manali are the best places with the best people that I visited in India. However, I didn’t regret to work in Haryana coz it is the best place to walk out of my comfort zone. It’s cliche, but it’s really a training ground for me. As the internship ends, I keep telling myself, quoting the queen’s sentence at the end of Anastasia cartoon, “It’s not a perfect ending, it’s a perfect beginning.”

All the best for final year, Ferninda!! ^^