With sunrise an 5am and sunset at 8pm, we had to leave early, Manali was calling, and we were more than happy to get on and get going... So off we went, through Punjab, where every excellent piece of highway, unfortunately, had a detour that took us mud-plugging for a few hundred metres, but it was cool...
Then came Manali Ghat, a brilliant series of twisties, accentuated by the river Beas flowing in the valley alongside... Save for a traffic jam due to a truck spill that would've taken hours to leave behind, had we not been on bikes, the way was a-ok...
Now heading towards Mandi, we had all fanned out as the road widened, and narrowed, and widened again; through corners and crowds... About 40 kms later, I decided to check status... 4 were far ahead, 2 were far behind. And after a forsaken 180° fork in the road, I barely headed onto a freshly paved road, and had a small spill on the loose gravel.. Minor bruises, ok. Back up, and about just abt 4 kms ahead was the waiting party, just 2 of 4, again.
As we headed up to the final ghat that led to Manali, the mountains appeared taller, the air crisper, the roads curvier and the river too had gotten more vocal... Clouds lined the afternoon skies - a warning of the approaching downpour. A couple of softdrinks later, and the 2 remaining bulls having caught up, our group of 5 headed out...
What followed was truly out of sheer fantasy - movies or video games whatever turns your crank... Steep mountains with unbelievable rock overhangs on one side and a sheer drop into a river of freezing cold rushing white water on the other, all on a twisting road with a breathtaking view...
The others were up ahead at a riverside restaurant for a cuppa tea and some bites.. As light rain fell from the darkening skies, we decided it was never too soon to leave, for the last thing we needed was doing another long bit of the very same terrain in darkness... And left we did, only to stop again for a link-bridge that spread over the raging river... A few clicks later, we were on the move again. Coming up was a tunnel that signalled our arrival at Manali - close to 30°C as we entered, there was a massive drop in temperature as we proceeded through what was almost 2 kms of dark mountain shaft, with the steady thump of the Bulls echoing in full glory as we neared the other end. Then came the light at the end of the tunnel, followed by the chill of the cold mountain air. As unbelievable as it may seem, the temperature must've dropped at least 10°C from one end to the other, as we exited the tunnel... The view was heavenly now, and for the very first time for so many of us - in the distance we could see a snow-capped peak!
The air was alive with excitement as we plodded on towards the ice, feeling it's call urging us to push harder, move quicker.. Manali beckoned. We rode on, the Beas noisily rushing past in the opposite direction, and with rafting points coming up, we slowed again to take in the scenery, and more pictures...
The growth of cottages, bungalows and inns made it evident that we were now approaching the city. We found a nice, rather new place with fantastic accomodation, but were forced to look elsewhere because of the asking price. But then, that was a good thing, cos we hadn't actually entered city limits yet, and the toll gate we had to go through made that pretty obvious. Thankfully, a hotel agent had his pull, and we moved onto the place we were supposed to put up at for the next day... Traffic was a pain, and after a few winding roads and turns, we were there - a quaint little place with all we really needed to stay the two nights. One of the guys was called "Cookie", and everyone got cheap thrills in yelling for him every few minutes, and so it became something that would remain a part of the trip from then...
Sightseeing, finally after all the unpacking; it was pretty late, and the city started shutting down by 20:30... After a hot chicken dinner, it was back up for us and we called it a night...
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