Our plan was already modified. Wee had our plan
to travel Manali during the day, but when we found Night Bus access we shifted
our plan and booked ticket for evening time.
We booked our Deluxe Seat Ticket
of Himanchal Pradesh Transportation, Public Pus. In the evening, after visiting
Shimla, we were at the Bus Park. The bus
was scheduled to leave at 8 pm.
Night Travel
We were worried, if Deluxe Bus were what we meant by those
local bus, of India. We were expecting at least a folding seat to sleep in the
night. Other local bus ticket was cheaper one.
But, worst part, we were with similar seats. No folding! Is this what we
mean by deluxe? We were wondering. And after sometime, a guy sitting back
notified, ticket was of deluxe, and since the bus was damaged, they sent this
bus. So, we had two options, either to cancel the deluxe ticket, and buy local
ticket. Or to travel in same bus with same ticket. We had to leave any way at that time, so
didn’t have option of waiting till next day.
Rusen and Kapil, they tried cancelling ticket and buying
local ticket. But, they had limited time, and we had to travel in Deluxe
Ticket’s price at Local Bus. Oh! We then realized we were not only the one.
There were tourists, white skinned, who were dissatisfied too. I noted
‘Kathmandu’ written in their bag.
‘Did you visit Kathmandu before here?’ I asked.
‘Yeah!’ He told excitedly.
‘We are from there too!’ I said.
‘Oh we know, I saw that in his tees’.
Rusen was already wearing the t-shirt of The Last Resort,
and he identified us. We were dumb. However, he used to look at us and smile
while our eyes met.
Night travel in that local bus indeed was difficult. No
space for neck to lie down congested space. I tried to sleep, but must say I
was half asleep. Because, I realized how the bus passed through long tunnel
somewhere in between. I also knew name of some places that came in between.
Morning Time
We were at Manali at something like 3.45 am in the morning?
What would we do? We were all taking our luggage out, when an agent appeared.
Ah, we had no option that morning. All of us wanted sleep too. And good thing
was, we found good hotel, and cheapest price throughout the tour. That was
amazing! Later, we found out, reason for
hotel price being low was due to maximum number of hotels in Manali. We went
there, and slept like anything. We re-woke up at 8 am!
By the time, all of us were to be fresh it was already 10.
And we just missed the bus to Solang Valley! Next bus was after one and half
hour! We took our breakfast. Economy breakfast, we ordered tea, took out
cookies from our kitchen bag, and had it!
My clever act. I found next bus lined up till Pahelgam, and
from there we had to walk 2 kilometers. That was fine than staying at that bus
park, which was worse than Old Buspark of Kathmandu.
Apple Garden with Precious Apples!
With improper sleep, with tired body, we felt refreshed
because we had two reasons to feel so. First, because we got to sleep for 3
hours properly. Second, we had to get refreshed seeing the seniors. Third? We
had no option!
After dropping down at Pahelgam, we had to walk for
sometimes. They told us 2 kms, but it was around an hour walk. Apple Orchards
were there, and we enjoyed the walk. So, while we were planning to pluck some
apples, Kapil notified us that if someone finds, the fine would be of Rs 3000.
Someone must have told him in the bus, or maybe he was using his clever mind!
We also dared to enter into the apple garden for some snaps! We did not dare to
pluck any, but we found one lying down the tree. Oh Newton!
 | |
| That lucky apple of Manali, that got my first bite! Trust me, this apple was better than the apple of Into the Wild. |
 |
| Apple Tree. |
The walk was getting long, and we were hungry! By this time
we all should have known that this distance probably was more than 2 kms. We
didn’t mind, the weather was cool, there were beautiful scenes, and we were
also getting thirsty. And when we found
river, we thought of taking rest. Kapil was usually troubled with his stomach,
he had place to clean it up too. We had apples from Shimla, and we were eating
somewhere near Apple Gardens of Manali, because we did not dare to pluck! Oh! Apples
of Shimla were good too. We had cucumber of Shimla too!
 |
| Don't they look like jana sena of Nepal? |
 |
| The water from here reaches Pakistan? |
Manali certainly is a beautiful city, but for Nepalese it is
just okay in other seasons. I can imagine how beautiful it would be during
winter season. This certainly was not season for Manali. We were in the wrong
season, but we had no option. Our target was Laddakh, not Manali. And roadway
to Laddakh would open only six months. It was going to shut down after a week.
September 15 was the date, all Manali and Shimla people were aware of. Because
after this date, roadways to Laddakh would shut down. Since Manali would be on
the way, we kept it on the place. There was Dharmashala too, we ignored this
place, because we had to spend two more days for that. So, be sure if you
really want to visit Manali, if you are on off season.
 |
| Apples! |
 |
| Kapil was the photographer, Susant was hanging in the phone. |
 |
| Did you see some peoples there? They did not give us single apple. As if apple is worth a diamond! |
 |
| Maybe these honey bees prepare honey out of apple juice? |
 |
| Gaurav, he was not relaxing. He was giving his pose. |
 |
| We forgot the name of this river! oops! |
So on typing entire story of Manali, the post went too long.
I myself was amazed to realize, the place where we spent exactly 24 hours and
too long story. So, I thought of breaking it down to two versions so that it
would not be a troublesome to go through. Next series of Manali’s story will be posted
soon. Stay updated!
No comments:
Post a Comment