A week in Manali

The room

The art of holidaying evolves for everyone over time. Earlier, holidays were more about activity, sightseeing and checking off everything there is to see in a place. Now it has evolved into something that values time, values each day, each hour and every activity done over the period of 1 week. 2 of my friends and me took a bus from Delhi to Manali. Reaching there Monday morning, we decided to chuck the prebooked hotel and took up a small cottage in the hills in Old Manali. At 100 Rs per day, this was one of the best cottages that I have ever stayed in. Overlooking the snow capped peaks and situated within an Apple orchard, this place was ideal for a lazy holiday.

Walk to the lake

The day we reached, we hired a car and went white water rafting in river Beas. The snow melted water was extremely cold. A 14km ride and 600 per head was worth the bone shattering swim. Later towards the evening, we visited the Dussera mela in Kulu which is held every year for 20 days. The next day was mostly about long walks, coffee shops and trek preparation.

The lake

Beas Kund lake is a popular trek that starts from Solang valley and is usually completed in 3 days. Situated at a height of 4471m, the trek to this glacial lake is a steep ~1000m climb in about 7-8 kms. Terrain is mostly through boulders, snow mounds and ridge crossings. Difficulty: Moderate. We decided to start from Dhundi and finish the trek in a day. We had taken about 6 hours to reach the lake and another 3 to return to the base. We actually had to take off our shoes and cross a river during the trek. The lake is surrounded on all 4 sides by snow capped peaks and is a delight to the eyes. Completing this trek in 9 hours gave us inexplicable satisfaction and incurable enervation. We had slept through most of the next day.

The next three days, we ended up holidaying in the most amazing way possible. There is a small cafe along the way to Manu temple called the Drifter's Inn. We had spent more than 5 hrs each day at this place playing every board game possible. Scrabble, Jenga and Monopoly were declared the winners. The cafe served some of the best continental food. Completed reading "A fine balance" by Rohinton Mistry and slept for more than 10 hours each day.

Focus on Jenga

Scrabble time!

Thats all about the week that was. A calm and peaceful Diwali it was!