A trip to manali

Hey guys,

So this blog is all about travelling .Some days back I went for a trek to Manali in Himachal Pradesh. I am really excited for blogging my whole trek experience of Manali and let me tell you that this was my first trek ever. I had never been to any trek, not even a small one and trust me guys it was a great experience.I was not alone I went through a trek group .The trek was for 8 days and 7 nights.

Day 1

We chose to travel by plane from Pune to Delhi and to go further to Manali by Volvo buses .So my 1st day went in travelling. In the journey I got to know the other campers in my group ,as we all were strangers to each other at first.

 Day 2

In the morning of 2nd day we arrived in Manali. The city is as beautiful as we see in pictures. We went in summers, so the climate was very pleasant . We headed toward our base camp which was located in Shuru village in Manali . It was a huge area and there were around 40 to 50 tents. It was not only our group but many campers from different places and of different age group had a stay there.The campus and surrounding was great . We had acclimatization trek in the evening so we could get used to the height and climate. So basically it was a small trek of 2 hrs via Shravani Devi temple to Arjun Gufa. So that was it for 2nd day we returned back tour base camp.

Day 3

3rd day was really tiring.In the morning we headed to our camp 1 Hamta hills (8360 ft.)it took 4 to 5 hrs to complete the trek. While trekking we had a lot of fun climbing up though those beautiful apple orchards and the forests of blue pine, cedar, oak, fir and chestnuts. The natural and fresh air we were breading was just so rare.I remember we saw vultures, first a single and then a group of 6 of them. And I was really amused with a bit fear and the thought went in my mind that, are they here coz of us.I know that was stupid of me and we moved on . The another thing I noticed while trek was the rocks, they all had super shiny surface like all of them were dipped in glitter. That was amazing.At the time of lunch we reached to our camp. There were same tent arrangement . We played some games and in the evening we went for acclimatization walk for the same reason. We had a special activity in the evening, that was Zip Lining. It was great fun and we all were getting to know each other even better .At night we had planned for haunted stories and you know what I am really scared of ghosts. but still I had a great time.

Day 4

It was same as day 3, we headed to our next camp at Kharimindiyari/Soroutoo at 10230 ft. it took us  4 to 5 hrs. Though the distance we traveled was much smaller than 3rd day ,but we were moving to the higher altitude so the oxygen level was getting low . So our 1 step was equal to 4 steps of regular walk.One can feel every inhale and exhale and every second you realize you are breathing when you are at high altitude. When the tree line started to end we saw some small patches of snow and we were really happy seeing scenario . Not much time later we were dealing with the same snow with a great difficulty. We had to cross a whole big patch of snow and it was way too much slippery. And the other side of mountain was a valley. So none of us wanted to slip over the snow , slide down to the valley and go straight to shuru village again. Or up in the heaven. So all of us were steping very carefully through the snow. It was the most thrilling movement of my life. But finally we reached our camp from where one can see the beautiful Dhauladhar ranges. But at evening it started to rain heavily and we were very thankful to the local campers who handled the whole situation strongly.At night we played cards and enjoyed a lot.

Day 5

 We had a lot of fun with snow and had an epic snow fight. After having a delicious hot soup at 10230 ft. we started our trek back to our first camp at Hamta hills. We had some really great tasks and activities there. And night we again planed playing cards. And the last round finally came to an end at 2 a.m at night. It is really great experience when you travel with some totally crazy strange people and end up being such good friends .

MANALI AT NIGHT

Day 6

 We returned to our base camp at Shuru . Returning down was much easier and we enjoyed every movement with each other. We found a super cool head skeleton of a cow , we sung many famous 90's Bollywood songs , we also found cave of snow leopard ya I know it sounds scary. Finally we came back from were we started .We congratulated each other for our achievement. At night we had some really fun segments and had our last walk through those beautiful mountains just to say a good byee to them.

Day 7
This was the most exciting day because we were going to Manali mall road. I have decided that I am not going do any sort of shopping and only spend my money on the Tibetan food. Only food! But I ended up spending all my money on shopping and left with nothing.You know who can stop a girl from shopping. Though i tired Momos .From mall road we directly headed to our travels and traveled to Delhi again.







Day 8
We arrived in Delhi at 10 o'clock in the morning. We visited some historical places that was really boring because of the high temperature and we were not able to face it. So we went straight to the airport at 1 o'clock though our flight was at 6:30 pm. We checked in our luggage and had a nice window shopping. Finally at night we arrived in Pune, Maharashtra. And our journey ended here.We got so emotional while leaving the airport and promised to stay in touch .

It was a great experience in Manali .This place taught me many things . The trek ,the people around me gave me some best memories to carry. I never thought I could do this , like going so far somewhere in mountains with some stranger and live 7 days of my life with them, I never thought I could complete the whole trek without giving up . I learnt that I am stronger than I think and I felt  proud of myself. I suggest you to go somewhere out of your comfort zone, wander somewhere in the beauty of nature,challenge yourself and know your worth.

I hope this blog will inspire you to get out of your daily boring life and do some adventure!

Love,
Ishita.