मनाली Way

Way to मनाली

Road from Shimla to Manali is all through the Himalaya. It’s the ghat section all the way so if you have motion sickness, keep the medicine and plastic bags with you. You will get to सेमंदी,e beautiful sights। At every turn, you will get nice view. The journey is via Barmana, सुंदरनगर, बाजुरा, Bhunter,जगतसुख, Kullu ,on NH21 and NH88। En route, some of the attractions are Shawl factory at Kullu, Satluj-Beas Link project, Prati Vaishno-Mata Mandir, Beas River valley. It takes close to 10 hours with breaks.
En route, you will see the river satluj. At Sunder-Nagar, there is a hydro-electric power station on satluj. The sight is really good. Then starts the highlight of the journey, Beas River. The river flows between two mountain ranges. It is very wide and the water is flowing with good force too. Its very breath-taking sight to see the wide river flowing between two mountain ranges. Beas River is your companion right through the journey as you travel by river-side road.

Shawl Factory

Shawl factory is at Kullu. It hosts a factory and a shopping complex. The factory has several handlooms and artisans are cooperative enough to give demo of building a shawl on handloom. After watching then work, you realize the efforts required for weaving a single shawl. The shopping complex on second floor has an array of material from shawls, gloves to dresses/sweaters. The prices seem to be on higher side though. Nevertheless, the articles are tempting. The fountain outside the factory is quite good. Enjoy the hot coffee by the factory side.

Vaishno-Devi Mandir

This mandir is also in Kullu, a few miles away from Shawl factory. This is a replica of the original one in Jammu. The entrance is very small but the mandir is very good once you walk up some 30 steps up. This is built right on the banks of river Beas. On right side you will see the broad river flowing effervescently and on the left is mandir.
After cross the wide hall, the first is shri ram mandir. A small entrance to cave leads to the devi darshan. The passage is hardly 3 feet tall like a cave and you need to literally crawl to devi idol. While coming out, one is not supposed to show back to devi so crawl to return facing idol. After coming out, take stairs up to second / third floor. On the top there is a shiv mandir. Its constructed as if it’s a cave. A nice nandi idol is outside the mail shiv mandir. The whole scene is very religious. Come out after shiv-darshan and walk to the terrace to view the beas river flowing between mountain ranges.

Satluj-Beas Link project

After Kullu, there is an artificial project that links rivers Beas and Sutlej. Water of Beas was diverted to Satluj river through two long tunnels and one open channel. Pandoh tunnel itself is 10 miles long. This was mainly to increase the storage and power generation capacity of Bhakara project. The project was completed in 1960s decade. The sight will make your heart pound faster.
After kullu valley, there are two roads after the bridge. One on left goes to Manikaran and on right goes to Manali. While Manikaran has hot watr springs, Manali is heaven on earth.


मनाली City

After crossing Mandi, you will get the first sight of snow-clad mountain। Its amazing to see the Himalayas for the first time nay, anytime. The top of the mountain with white shining snow will hold your breath, mind, sight. Well, this is just the beginning.
Manali is a small place. Yet there are ATMs available so you will not struggle for money. But better to carry enough cash since ladies will let the purse loose. Like Shimla, Manali also has a mall road. All shops are located on only one road. As you enter the market, first there is a parking lot. Walk few steps and you will see garden on right with tall trees. This is called Van-Vihar. This was built by Maharaja Bahadur Singh in 1553. On left, are all shops. One can shop for hand-made shawls, woolen articles like sweaters, jackets. Cotton dresses, dress material for ladies is also good to buy. Please DO look for prices in different shops before you buy.

Manali

Road from Shimla to Manali is all through the Himalaya. It’s the ghat section all the way so if you have motion sickness, keep the medicine and plastic bags with you. You will get to see beautiful sights. At every turn, you will get nice view. The journey is via bhunter, Mandi, Barmana, Kullu on NH20. En route, some of the attractions are Shawl factory at Kullu, Satluj-Beas Link project, Prati Vaishno-Mata Mandir, Beas River valley. It takes close to 10 hours with breaks.

Shawl Factory

Shawl factory is at Kullu. It hosts a factory and a shopping complex. The factory has several handlooms and artisans are cooperative enough to give demo of building a shawl on handloom. After watching then work, you realize the efforts required for weaving a single shawl. The shopping complex on second floor has an array of material from shawls, gloves to dresses/sweaters. The prices seem to be on higher side though. Nevertheless, the articles are tempting. The fountain outside the factory is quite good. Enjoy the hot coffee by the factory side.

Shimla

Shimla
Shimla is situated in Himachal Pradesh. It enjoyed the status of Summer capital of British Raj for more than 70 years. It is located at an altitude of 2200 m. The whole city is on mountain laden with oak and pine trees. The trees are very tall and many of them are older than 50 years. Shimla name is drawn from Shamala (Kali mata).

Some of the attractions are Naldhera golf course, Mall Road, Himalayan Zoo, Jakhu hanuman temple. In fact the whole view of the city is very picturesque.
Naldhera golf course
Naldhera golf course is a tourist attraction in Shimla. Its around 5 Km. from Shimla city. Though entry is restricted at the golf course, there is a shooting point where one can go. It’s a flat ground surrounded by towering trees. There is a very steep walkway to the top of the ground. As per guide, many films used the spot as location. One can also enjoy horse ride which gives view of valley from horse back. Its very thrilling ride. A hot cuppa tea/coffee in cold climate at golf course gives much needed relief. The cost of the cup of tea/coffee is quite affordable. Vendors also sell fruit plates which are good to have after tiresome walking. The fruits are topped with chat-masala for better taste.
It’s a perfect spot for snapping pictures with beautiful background. There are artifacts like cut trunks of huge trees, green slopes and hills. A creative mind can add new dimension to photos using these as props.

Mall Road
At the heart of the city, is the Mall Road. This is a road like Laxmi Road in Pune where all shops are located. Shimla and Manali are not only tourist attractions but also places to shop at. The mall road is at the top of the mountain. There is a lift that needs to be taken to go up to the road. The lift is in two parts. First lift takes about 4 stories up and then there is a walk of 5 minutes to second lift. The second lift takes us to the mall road, another 4-5 stories up. If you have a baby, vendors renting prams will rush to you. They charge Rs. 50 per hour as rent for prams. It’s worth hiring a pram because there is a significant slope that you need to walk up.
Mall road is divided into three parts, Central, lower and upper. Central mall road has shops selling branded material. These are supposed to be more authentic shops. There is an uphill way to walk from lift. After you walk for about 10 minutes, there are two ways. One is going up to Shimla church and the other going down to lower mall road. Walk up the hill to see the old church. The road opens on a flat hill top. On right side, you can see a big church. Its supposed to be one of the oldest churches in India. Remove your shoes/sandals outside and enter the church. It is very big with high roof. The huge stain glass windows are beautifully painted. It is very calm inside the church. The church is well maintained and you cannot resist offering prayers. Snapping photos inside the church is not allowed. There is an old clock donated in 1860. It is said that the original architecture did not have a porch and it was build after 1870.
Outside the church, on right side, there is post office building. Parts of movie ‘Three Idiots’ were shot here. Turn right to see a beautiful view of Shimla city. A lane goes down from this point. That’s the lower Mall Road. The shops on that road largely sell wooden artifacts. If you walk opposite to Church, on right, there is a valley view and on left, you can see some shops, buildings in British architecture. A few meters down, there is scandal point. From scandal point, valley looks awesome.

Himalayan Zoo.

This is located at a place called Kufri 15 Km. near Shimla. Kufri is a species of potato and the place is named after potato species because it yields these kind of potato in high quantity. These potatoes are supposed to be laden with less oil and fat. Kufri-potatos are also exported and used in restaurants like for French-fries. Zoo hosts animals of Himalayan origin. There is an entry fee. इफ you you want to snap photos you got to buy a ticket worth Rs.20. However, if you want to take a video, the charge is Rs.150. This is not a typical zoo where animals are in cage. Rather, when you start your journey through zoo, you will notice that it has open forest-mountain. At the border or the forest-mountain, the high iron-net/bars are put up. We can easily see animals through those. However, its little difficult to take a snap through those.
You have to walk down the stairs that starts at entrance. There is a concrete walkway. Its very narrow so got to be careful. The zoo starts with a herd of deers. There are deers in various size and age. There is a long stretch of lad for these deer’s. Monkeys flaunt their tales in a whip coming from no-where. And as soon as you think that there is nothing else in this zoo, you will see white wolves seating lazily. It’s a fun to watch these wolves. You would obviously recall wolf in Mogli-story. After the iron net or residence of Wolves, there are stairs going up along the wolf cage. Those are alomsot broken and there is a iron wire that almost suggests not to go up. Looking at those, you would not think of walking up those stairs. But, if you do not go up, you will miss on something really big.
Take those stairs and walk up to see a cage. That is a cage of leopards. It’s a wonderful sight to view Leopards walking loosely. Walk further to left side and there is a big surprise at the next cage. That one is of a big whitish tiger. This one is pretty active. He moves across his den (or cage?) very swiftly. I was told that this big-cat sometimes roars so loudly that the animals and visitors get jitters.
Opposite to big-cat’s den are cages of beautiful birds which resemble peacock. You now have to walk down the stairs and take right to see some more birds. The cages of these birds are arranged in a circle. Come back again and walk to right. There is a narrow iron bridge. Once you are in the middle, you will see the bears playing. We could see 6 bears. Those are in a big well like trough. The best part is that there is NO iron bar/cage between you and the teddies. So capturing them is very easy and good. While you walk away from the teddies, be careful. The walkway is very very narrow. On the left side, you have a deep valley too.
Get out of zoo from the back door and go towards entrance. On right side there is an old building with green roof. This is a historical monument. Shimla Pact between Gandhi- भुट्टो was discussed and agreed in this building in 1972. Its said that lacks of people were waiting outside to hear the outcome. Now HP government has turned it into a restaurant and bar. Outside this building, you can get hot cup of tea.
If you step outside, there are roadside shops. You can enjoy shopping there. Bargain for good price. Assume that you being a tourist, vendors will tell a higher price.