It was 12th August 2009 and i had just reach home from my work place. I asked rimi for going on a holiday. We then decided to go for Manali and reached Manali on 15th early morning. I was sleeping in the bus but suddenly i woke up hearing the ripple of river beas. The picturesque beauty of standing tall pine woods and the play of clouds in light and shadow with blinking sun makes me feel that i am in some new world away from busy city life. My wife was completely tired because of the overnight bus journey.We took room in lord regency hotel and the room was facing the river beas at the backdrop of dense pine wood. We took rest that day and then in the evening we went to Manali's the famous "Mall Road" 
The main market area of m Manali is known as Mall Road. Its is a straight road and shops are located on either sides. It is the main shopping attraction for tourists. The place gets crowded in the evening and one can buy shawls, Kullu caps, and other himachalli handloom staffs. Many hotels are on this road and thats why it is the busiest part of the town.
Day two (16th August 2009)
Day two (16th August 2009)
We started our day by hiring a taxi from mall road and went for day long local sight seen. We first stopped at Tibetan Monastery which is situated at the middle of the town. We then continued our journe
y up to Hidimba Temple.
y up to Hidimba Temple.
About Manali
Manali is named after the Brahmin law-giver Manu. The word Manali literally means "the abode of Manu". Legend has it that sage Manu stepped off his ark in Manali to recreate human life after a great flood had deluged the world. The Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh in which Manali can be found is also known as the "Valley of the Gods". The Old Manali village has an ancient temple dedicated to sage Manu.
It is also believed that the Hidimba Devi lived in the jungles of Manali. The story of Hidimba Devi is recorded in Mahabharata, a famous holy book of the Hindus. The Hidimba Devi Temple in Manali is the most famous temple dedicated to Hidimba.The British introduced apple trees and trout, which were not native to Manali flora and fauna. It is said that when apple trees were first planted the fruits were so plentiful that often branches, unable to bear the weight, would collapse. To this day, apple - along with plum and pear - remains the best source of income for the majority of its inhabitants.
In the last 20 to 30 years Manali became famous and the town began to spread and grow in size. Initially there were only few shops and not a single hotel in Manali. Today, this once quiet village has transformed into a bustling town with many hotels and restaurants.
We came in the late evening to the hotel. Had spend the entire evening sitting at balcony with a glass of whiskey ,hearing the wavy sound of river beas and gleaming reflection of moonlight on the flowing water.
Day three (17th August-2009): Rohtang PassWe started our journey at 10:00 hrs and reached rohtang pass at 14:30 hrs.
About Rohtang Pass
Rohtang Pass (Tibetan: Rohtang La) (altitude 13,051 ft (3,978 m)), is a high mountain pass on the eastern Pir Panjal Range of the Himalayas some 51 km (32 mi) from Manali. It connects the Kullu Valley with the Lahaul and Spiti Valleys of Himachal Pradesh, India.
The pass provides a natural divide between the sub-humid/humid Kullu Valley with a primarily Hindu culture (in the south), and the arid/semi-arid high-altitude Lahaul and Spitivalleys with a Buddhist culture (in the north). The pass lies on the watershed between theChenab and Beas Basins. On the southern side of this pass, the Beas River emerges from underground and flows southward and on its northern side, the Chandra River, a source stream of the river Chenab, flows westward. The pass is open from May to November. It was not particularly high or difficult to cross on foot by Himalayan standards, but it had a well-deserved reputation for being dangerous because of unpredictable snowstorms and blizzards.
thank u for refreshing my memories of one of the most memorable trips that i had .......
ReplyDeleteHey beautiful pics.Your blog rocks!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeletenice pix ,nature at its best.
ReplyDeletewas really intrested to learn about manu as it seemed so similar to the stories i read in the bible about a man name Noha who was instructed by god to build a ARC,as soon there will be a great flood n he housed all the types of plants n animals so that when the flood waters recesses they can repopulate the world.was checking it out on the net, made me think about the history of the world and how ancient myths have similaraties between them,they may not me myths after all, made me think of our origins.
check this out...
The Matsya Avatara of Vishnu is believed to have appeared initially as a Shaphari ( a small carp) to King Manu (whose original name was Satyavrata ,the then King of Dravidadesa, while he washed his hands in a river. This river was supposed to have been flowing down the Malaya Mountains in his land of Dravida. The little fish asked the king to save It. Out of compassion he put it into his water jar. It kept growing bigger and bigger. Manu first put him in a bigger pitcher and then deposited it in a well. When the well also proved insuffucient for the ever-growing fish he placed it in a tank. As it grew further, Manu put the fish in the river. When he found, the river was also insufficient, he placed it in the ocean. Finally, it nearly filled the vast expanse of the great ocean and informed the King of a deluge which would occur soon.The King builds a huge boat, which houses his family, 9 types of seeds, and animals to repopulate the earth after the deluge occurs and the oceans and seas recede. At the time of deluge, Vishnu appeared as a horned fish and Shesha appeared as a rope, with which Vaivsvata Manu fastened the boat to horn of the fish.
According to the Matsya Purana, his boat was perched after the deluge on the top of the Malaya Mountains , This narrative is to an extent similar to other deluge stories, like those of Gilgamesh from ancient Sumerian Mythology, and the story of Noah's ark from Judeo-Christianity bible.
cheers bro..