Manali - Day-01

I reached to Manali bus stand at around 9.30 AM. It was beautiful, but the image I had of Manali, was full of deep valleys. But, it was more like plain hills. A well developed area.

I took an auto to my hostel, he took 300 Rs for merely 4 km ride.

I reached the hostel, the staff asked me to wait since checkin time was around 2 PM, but anyhow they gave me room at around 12.00. Staff was nice.

In the meantime, I ordered paranthe from their cafe, and a masala tea, both were good. But little pricier.

A guy approached me in cafe. Chit chat. Came to know, he came from Bengaluru for 4 day trekking. Crazy. Abhishek. I was wondering, how much craze people has for trekking, and solo travelling. He was from Amazon.

I entered my room, I was thrilled to experience dormitory for first time. It was cool, a 4 bed room. I took some time to adjust my luggage, as room was small, and I had only small half bed. I tried to sleep first, as I did not sleep well in the bus. I hardly slept for around 1.5 hours, but it was good sleep. I wake up, thinking its 6 PM in evening. I was feeling headache.

I was excited to be there, and I went outside, to feel the local area. I stopped at a local shop, where I asked for shampoo pouch, and oil. There I had a maggie, and a tea.

Then, I decided to goto mall road. I just moved a little, and a guy met me, on road. He was a student, and very talkative. We just talked and kept on walking. After sometime, we were going there together. In between, I clicked some pictures. That guy was cool, he said he used to talk to local guys for their business problems, and kept giving pitches. Pretty cool.

And the guy was going on a trek. He had good knowledge of travel, treks, finances. Pretty good for a college kid.

We reached to mall road, it was just like any market area, little crowded. He went somewhere, saying lets meet at around 6 PM. I said ok. I went to buy a water bottle, for warm water. My bad, I left my bottle at home, in Delhi. I bought it for good 600 Rs. It was good.

I looked for a shop for good coffee, but couldnt find one. Then, I decided to took Eno, for my acidity and headache. I thought, it will calm down acidity and headache. But, I think roaming in fresh air worked. Still, I had headache till night. Then, we came back through same road. The road in the near area was pretty dark. It was old manali road, a village kind, bit far from main city. This is the area I was looking for.

I was mesmerised by the natural beauty around, fresh air, roads, walks. I felt very fresh, and healthy.

And, I reached my hostel. I ordered a thali there, which was good, tasty.

My plan was to wake up earlier next day, at around 5.30, and go find a place for meditation, and walk.

I could not sleep again in hostel, it had some noises.