Shimla, the top notch tourist destination in Himachal received the first spell of snowfall on the New Year’s eve; with tourists waking up in the morning to see the Queen of the Hills covered with a sheet of white snow everywhere. It is pertinent to point out that Shimla is receiving this much of snow during early days of the year in two decades with 3 degree temp.

Along with the much awaited rainfall, the snow fall in this region starting early has delighted the local people – for the tourism industry has been suffering for quite some time. According to the met office, the snowfall in Shimla is beginning with 15 to 20 centi-meters and more of it is predicted to come in the near future.

Similarly, the other tourist locations of Himachal namely Manali, Palchang and Solong Nallah experienced the start of snowfall for the season with 50 to 75 centimeters. Snowfall was reported to be heavy in Rhotang Pass, situated at a height of 13,050, ranging up to 150 centimeters.

The adjoining tourist destinations of Shimla namely Kufri, Kharapathar and Narkanda received snowfall ranging from 80 to 100 centimeters in a single night. Strong icy winds along with intermittent rains lashed locations in the mid and lower hills; 120 mm of rain was reported in Dharmpur of Mandi district; 99 mm in Palampur; and 90 mm in Kandaghat.

In the northern Himachal region, Dharmasala and its suburbs received the first spell of snowfall along with rains on 1st of January 2011. Himachal Pradesh being the holiday paradise during winter for thousands of tourists, they welcomed both. One could see many tourists rejoicing and playing by throwing snow-balls at each other; tourist huts covered with snow; cars and trucks wading through rainfall and snowfall.

According to reports appearing in the media, the entire district of Khangra has got good rainfall, which was particularly pouring for two days in McLeod Ganj area. As for snowfall, the upper regions like Kinnar and Dharamkot received it in good measure. Kinnaur is covered with 3 feet of snow and it is about 6 inches of snow in Dharamkot villages.

In Jammu and Kashmir, the Trikuta hills where the Mata Vaishnodevi is located has received significant snowfall first for this season. Around this shrine, where thousands of pilgrims flock every year, reportedly 3 to 4 feet of snow has accumulated. As for temperature readings – Sringar recorded minus 0.5 degree C as minimum temperature; Qasigund minus 0.6 degree C; Leh and Kargil of Ladak region recorded minimum of minus 23 degrees C.

The cold conditions in North India as a whole, prevailed significantly with the capital Delhi experiencing minimum temperature falling to 3-4 degrees C; Punjab and Haryana received rains and still minimum temperature raised by 5 degrees; Chandigarh 5.7 degrees; Amritsar 4.8 degrees; Patiala 4 degrees; Karnal in Haryana recorded minimum temperature of 3.4 degrees C; Hisar 1.8; Ambala 6 and Rohtak 5 degrees C noted on 06 Jan 2011.

Overall it is predicted that the higher reaches of Himalayas namely – Shimla; Kufri; Kasauli; Chamba and Palampur districts will receive more snowfall this year.

My hubby (Amitesh) was very desperate to go somewhere for holiday, especially on hills. Poor thing – he was bored of the routine Delhi life. He was asking for “Valley Of Flower”, but I don’t feel good traveling in hills. He was insisting that option somehow. Finally we settled to go on short trip to CHAKRATA which by no means I was aware of – “God” only knows. As a surprising co-incidence, his close friend and family were also planning to go somewhere and contacted us. And all of us unanimously finalized our trip to Chakrata.

When I was skeptical about this unknown destination, Amitesh assured me …heavens…it will be an experience of the life time… bundle out your suspicions …so I did.

We 5 people, me, hubby, his friend and family moved ahead towards Chakrata on 27th July, 2010 at 5:30 am. We took the route on road by Car from Delhi -> Baghpat -> Shamli -> Saharanpur -> Vikas nagar -> Kalsi -> Sahiya -> Chakrata. From Delhi to Saharanpur the road was awful…to put it lightly.

Delhi-to-Saharanpur

At 10am we had our breakfast at Saharanpur that was not so good. I had to skip my breakfast because there was only South Indian food in option and I don’t really like it. On the way to Vikas Nagar, huge mango tree groves on both sides of the road with apparently fine-looking mangoes swinging lured us like anything.  We couldn’t control ourselves and stole two mangoes (Oh Landlord…forgive our Sins!). and it was a soar experience, since the Mangoes were not ripe.

There was drizzling when we started our journey, but it became a heavy rain during the journey. Amitesh was more than happy that he’ll feel the actual touch of clouds in this rain. But after some time we started hating rain – for the weather must be open now so that we can explore Nature’s beauty so lively.

We came to know earlier that Kalsi has a gate system, which opens for road traffic after each 2 and half hours, but fortunately there was no barrier for us. We found a beautiful waterfall on the way to Sahiya. But we couldn’t enjoy much due to heavy rain – still it was an unforgettable view.

However, even in this monsoon season, the road from Kalsi to Chakrata, was really good and there was not even a single pothole, though it was very narrow.

After a drive of 7-8 hours to cover around 330 km, we reached Chakrata at 2 pm.

Chakrata is an army cantonment area of Dehradun District, Uttarakhand, at an elevation of 7000 ft. It was earlier known as Jaunsar Bawar, cantonment of British Indian Army. It is very naturally scenic and beautiful town. There were only 2 renowned accommodations in Chakrata; one is Snow View and other one Himalayan Paradise. We decided to move direct to Hotel Snow View, where accommodation was fine without any luxury, but still manageable. People say it is famous for the viewing early morning sun rise.  Unfortunately we couldn’t see because of clouds but what we explored was more beautiful I must say.

The nearby major attraction around Chakrata is Tiger Fall. It was around 4pm after having lunch and we did not have sufficient time to go over there. Localities told us that the destination is 17 Kms away from Chakrata and the road is not in good condition.  And yet we braved to go there. There was no sign boards; no human beings in sight, who can tell us about Tiger Fall. It was 5:30 pm and dark due to bad weather condition. Cursing our ill-luck, we decided to retreat as otherwise we will face any kind of problem. So we returned to Chakrata and visited its local market.

Dinner was worst than lunch in the hotel. We were all tired up and so went to bed early.

Next morning me and Amitesh took a walk, the weather was clear now but so chill. We looked at our car and one of the tires got punctured. Only then we remembered we didn’t fuel up our car after Delhi. There was no fuel station in Chakrata.

Amitesh and his friend changed its Stepney; then both of them went in the hunt of tyre repairing and diesel. They came to know from the local market, there is only one shop of tyre vulcanizing which is being managed by a 12 year-old boy, who repairs the big military truck tires too. And diesel will be available at only one shop who sell diesel on a hefty premium. Unfortunately that man didn’t have diesel at that moment and they got to go 7 km away for the diesel. At long last, one shopkeeper was selling and it cost 10 rupees per litre! Making hay while it still shines!!

And finally we did breakfast in the same hotel and after lots of instructions from us, it was better than the previous day lunch and dinner. We checked out from the hotel and moved towards Tiger Fall and with the help of a goat grazer, we found the way to Tiger fall. After leaving our Car there was a trek of 3 km. or so but it was very steep slope.

We were just wondering about Tiger Fall – how will it be… and that was the moment which will be memorable the whole life. We were seeing a cloud-like picture, which was passing through the two mountains. When we went much closer….ha… it was breathtaking, mesmerizing. I am feeling helpless with words to describe you what exactly we saw there.

Tigerfall-Chakrata

It was huge, huge and very huge.  After the continuous raining from last three days, this TIGER FALL was looking like a real Tiger. It was on full boom of water and water everywhere, falling from 95mt. height. We were watching the falls with our jaws wide open as if a barbarian seeing an airplane for the first time.

We were all wet due to the drizzling of the waterfall. We were looking at side view, for taking a front look, we had to cross a fast stream and that was too scary. The water stream was so rapid and loud, but all of us wanted to go there, unmindful of the obstacles. And we did after all “Dar ke Aaage Jeet Hai”. (Victory comes after fear). We crossed the river by closely holding each one’s hand like a human chain. I don’t have right words to explain, I can just say it is ““Stupendo Fantabulously Fantastic” !!

The drizzling was so heavy that we couldn’t take proper snaps, but still we tried once with our new camera Canon SX20 IS.

We had lots of fun, no one of us wanted to come back from there. We found a safe place where the water flow was less hasty where we took proper bath and lots of masti (?). In this fun my specs was broken and the new mobile of Amitesh (Nokia E71) fell in water… we picked that but it went into eternal silence…oh these innovations coming without water-proof!!

We returned back from a steep climb, it was tiring but the nature’s view was so pleasurable, the beautiful color combination, with velvet touch of super green mountains, sparkling blue sky with feathery white clouds… ahhh… I feel good even now, when I remember it.

The same day we all decided to move towards Mussoorie via Chakrata -> Bairat Khai- > Yamuna Pul -> Kempty… . We started our next journey at 3pm. We reached Bairat khai at 5pm. View was breathtaking; there were only clouds out there. And we came to know we were at 7500 ft above sea-level.

Due to geographical landscape of mountains, the place is completely full of clouds. Around after passing half an hour on the road, we realized that not even a single vehicle is coming from the other side, and we were moving lonely. We entered in a small village for confirming the reason and a policeman told us that Mussoorie road is blocked due to heavy landslide. It was around 5:30 pm and Mussoorie was only 45 km. away from there, hardly at one or one and half hour journey.

We confirmed from lots of people and finally we came to conclusion that we have to take another route to reach Mussoorie. The alternate route was back again to Bairat khai (10km) -> Kalsi (38 km) -> Vikas Nagar (11km) -> Dehradun(45)  > Mussoorie (35 km).

Bairat khai to kalsi road was very slippery and scary. In total 38 kms. We found only one vehicle enroute and that was JCB which was clearing the road after land slide, occurring after each few kms.

Finally we reached Mussoorie at 10:30 pm. Had dinner in Sagar Ratna (South Indian Again ) and stayed in a hotel of Mall road… Next morning we had a morning walk on mall road and ate breakfast. And moved towards very renowned Kempty Fall.

Unlike the previous day journey, this road was complimenting, looking like cream, and we reached out Kempty in just 20 minutes.

We took rope way to go down to waterfall, but quickly learnt we have wasted our money. Kempty has been completely ruined; we were not feeling or seeing any natural things there, although we have gone there 8-10 times earlier. But this time it was completely damaged, may be due to monsoon season, We halted only 2 minutes there and moved towards its source from where this waterfall originates.

Finally we managed to find a place where we can have fun with water.

After returning we shopped some local things like its famous homemade chocolates and handmade accessories. Had lunch and returned. There are lots of places around Mussoorie like Lall Tibba, Gun Hill Point and more… but we have explored these places earlier and obviously after watching the beauty of Chakrata we didn’t want to go there.

There were lots of Kawariyan on the road in returning and we were forced to take alternate road after Haridwar via Deoband to Muzzaffarnagar. We halted in Modinagar and had its very famous Jain Shikanji, MK Hot Dong Burger, Aloo Chat, and Falooda. And finally we reached at home at 11:15 pm.

Chakrata is very beautiful and a place filled with Nature’s wonders.  I request you all, please don’t let it ruin like Mussoorie. Do not throw polythene bags, bottles, and other wastage products there. This is our India, and all these places people go for sight-seeing are ours for enjoying the beauty. So we should refrain from spoiling them – even if not helping for their preservation.

Middle class living is quite the same with innumerable ordeals wherever in India you live – whether it is Chennai; Bangalore; Hyderabad; Mumbai or Delhi. The same old experiences of shortage in power supply; water supply; cost of living; lethargy of authorities in solving genuine problems of the people when approached; the empty promises of the politicians and the bickering between them for the capture of power – are indelible in the mind of an Indian, whatever city he lives. You can never find any of these evils in Singapore.

The first and foremost thing I found within this one month of stay at Singapore is the striking difference in everyday life of the common man. You find your surroundings impeccably clean – the street, the main road, the area and the whole town including those areas at the heart of Singapore where people are thronging in hundreds of thousands. This has become a part of life for Singaporeans. You can never find dumping rubbish stealthily at the neighbor’s place or littering at public places.

The Government has provided the basic needs of the people and takes care that people have what they want. All of the citizens hailing from different ethnic groups – Chinese; Malay and Indian origins live very peacefully and yet following their age-old individual traditions amicably. An Indian in Singapore finds as if he has landed in an alien planet with its amazing features – always wished for in India.

We don’t really know how we passed our journey because we were busy chatting and singing the whole way. We were reminiscing about the past 4 years together which had been filled with our bonded love.  The next thing I looked and we had already reached Amer/Amber Fort at 9:00 am, after a four hour journey that seemed to take no time at all.

Two or three guides were running around us, and we had to hire one of them. At that time I was thinking I would like to ride upon an Elephant but that was expensive as well time consuming so we decided to go to Jaipur via our sexy car.

Amer/Amber Palace: The guide told us that this palace was buit in the 16th century. The Palace is very beautiful and now also a heritage site , situated on the Delhi-Jaipur road, 11 km before Jaipur. There is a large open area which is called Diwan-e-am, and this is where elephant now move here and there with tourists.

If you have seen the movie “Jodha Akbar”, a song called “Azeemo Shan Shehansha” was filmed here in these grounds.  The temple of Kali Mata is also here and it is a very beautiful temple, it is also called Shila Mata Temple by the local people. The Emperor Maharaja Man Singh was a great devotee of Kali Maa.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_Fort

After viewing this site the guide took us a temple close to Amer Fort:  The Jagat Shiromani Temple! The Priest of this temple told us that this 600 year old temple is the only temple in the world which has a Krishna-Meera Idol. They also told us that this Krishna Idol is the same idol which was worshipped by the saint-poetess Meera. There was also a Palki and the Priest told us that this is Meera’s Palki. This is the same place where a scene was filmed for the movie “Bhool Bhulaiya” in which Akshay Kumar and Vidhya Balan were having a discussion about Ghunghroo (metallic bells).

After out visits to these very beautiful and historically interesting sites, the search was on for us to find a good hotel. We tried the Hotel Paradise, Arya Niwas, Umaid Bhawan, but due to it being a busy weekend, all the rooms were booked already. After hunting for about an hour we found a hotel with the help of a friendly guy. The Hotel Glitz!

The hotel was good and the rooms had all the amenities you would need for a comfortable stay. This included a coffee maker, fridge, beer, cold drinks and yes a bathtub in the bathroom. There was a good massage parlour of Kerala in the hotel too, but unfortunately we were unable to enjoy a nice relaxing massage because the time we had available was inconsistent with this.

See Hotel images here…

We only stayed at the hotel for about 15 minutes  to freshen up and then moved on to find something to eat. We were hungry as we had not made time to eat yet, and it had already been a very long morning. We found out very soon that Jaipur is an expensive city; this is as a result of all the tourist activity.. There were lots of crowds and it was a problem to move our car around, so we sensibly decided to park our car in the Raj Mandir Parking and moved around the city by rickshaw. First we took enjoyed our brunch at the Natraj Restaurant at MI Road. Food and the services in this restaurant were both good, or you could probably say that we hardly noticed anything but our hungry stomachs as it was already 2 pm!

We then spent a little time looking over “Jal Mahal” and “Hawa mahal”. I had already being there in my childhood and had some good memories.  One of these memories was of shopping so I decided to purchase a gift as a memento for my family. We hired a rickshaw to take us to the market and he took us to “City Palace” and “Jantar-Mantar”.

Nearby we found the Gayatri Bhawan or Maharani Market and went to sample the shopping. Everyone was praising this market, but we found everything to be costly so we returned without buying anything.

We moved on to the Johri Market the home of a famous shop “LMB – Lakshmi Misthan Bhandar”.  After a lot of bargaining (this is a must) I purchased two suit pieces, one sari, one blanket, a bedcover and bed sheets.

By this time we were both exhausted but decided to visit the “Birla Planetarium” nevertheless. Here they showed us an Audio-Video presentation of our stars, sun, and moon. This was the most overwhelming, astronomical experience!
After a 40 minute show we went to the Choki Dhani Village. This is a cultural experience, and the village reflects the ways the of old and traditional Rajasthan. People say that it started in 1969 as a restaurant only and now it has become one of the most entertaining parts of Rajasthan. They charge 350/- each and  provide lots of entertainment; things like puppet shows, magic shows, talent shows, different kind of Rajasthani dance, acrobatics on a bamboo, the astrologer, Bhool-bhulaiya, scary sounds and a jungle safari. The folk dancers amazed us when they plucked needles from their eyes!!  We danced with some dancers too and this was a truly awesome experience.

At the Choki Dhani Village there are also many rides like – Elephant, Camel, Bullock Cart and the Tonga Ride. You can also enjoy boating.

At one place an old lady was preparing a dish called “Baati” with Garlic Chutney. My hubby was very concerned about her because she was in a closed area, and she been there for 4-5 hours working in the smoke from the fire.

My husband indulged in a Champi (a head massage) too.

There were also dining arrangements with chairs, but I was expecting something like I had in “Swad Ri Dhani” Ajmer.  Speaking from my heart, the food was not so good, maybe a Chaupad arrangement would be fine. But those Rajasthani waiters were not very attentive so I only took a little bit of food there.

After spending 350 Rs. Per head, you can spend minimum 200 bucks and even more per head in other fun activities. But here we are talking about having fun and it was after all our anniversary – a celebration, so money was not a big concern.

This is how we spent the day enjoying our anniversary – lots of activity and very entertaining, as well as quite expensive. We have one more day in Jaipur but for now it is time to sleep.

The next day on the 4th of October, we awaked and were stunned with the change in weather. It seemed as though it must have been raining the whole night, with this chilly winds were blowing. We had breakfast in the Glitz Hotel and it was cold (the breakfast) because we were late down to the meal. But we can tell about the menu – Bread toast with butter and jam or whatever you like, baked beans in tomato sauce, omelet, boiled egg, omelet role, stuffed paratha with curd and spice pickles and of course coffee, tea and juices.

From the hotel we decided to visit “Nahargarh” and “Jaigarh fort“. This was on the way to Amer (Amber Fort). We reached Nahargarh, and took Chana Jor Garam, that was so delicious.  Drizzling rain was making for good exploring weather; and we hunted here and there, from top to bottom, Bawari and to the cafeteria. We found a palace, The Madhavendra Bhawan which is divided into 9 sections, the architecture and beautiful art on the walls was exquisite and I really enjoyed this. I was amazed at how fast the colors were, so shiny and smooth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nahargarh_Fort

I was also very upset after seeing how people can even think about destroying our national heritage. Obtuse lovers had written their names over the beautiful walls everywhere, people like this should be taken to task by the law.  It is awful that a few bad guys can damage our reputation and pride. I hate to know what foreign visitors who come here to see our beautiful heritage and culture think of these bad guys.

Nahargarh is a fort where Aamir Khan shot the film for “Rang De Basanti” and  the song “Apni to Pathshala”…

Jaigarh Fort: I found it so real and it was the most beautiful fort I have ever seen… one of the first things I started to think about was linking up with the lives of the King and Queen. I would like very much to know about their lives and times.  There were Diwan-e-khas and Diwan-e-am, dining halls which were separate for men, women and servants.

If you remember the movie “Jodha-Akbar” this was depicted here.

The fort contains an armory and a museum of words; you will find all kinds of interesting artifacts in the armory, guns, shields and muskets. This is also where you will find the world’s largest cannon, and it still looks fresh and new, “The Jaivana”. Indian armaments manufacturers were world famous for the quality of their cannon making hundreds of years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaigarh_Fort

We also had a quick look at “Kanak Ghati”. And then we headed for Pizza Hut where we stuffed our stomachs full of pizza. Very yummy, pizza is my favorite food!!

We had a last fleeting look at the Lakshmi Narayan Temple “Birla Temple” on our way back to Delhi. I wanted to see “MotiDoongri Mahal of Gayatri devi“, but entry is prohibited.

We Left to return to Delhi at 5 pm, and we missed seeing Galta Ji… after visiting both these very large forts we were tired and eager to return home. We reached our home in Delhi at 9:45 pm after having to negotiate a large traffic jam, this is nothing unusual for Delhi traffic.

That was about it for our exploration of the Pink City of Jaipur, hope you enjoyed sharing the trip and the celebration of our 4th Wedding Anniversary. If you did, I am keen for you to share your views with me.

Keep in touch, I’ll be back with new city soon, till then Enjoy! 

Do you often find a chance to swim in a vast pool?? If yes, then don’t miss this “The Devil’s Pool”. This one is right for you. This Devil’s Pool is set in Zimbabwe, enclosed by big rocks, on the bank of most beautiful, one if the biggest waterfall on this earth, named Victoria Falls. It is situated at height of 103 mts, on Livingstone Island. This is definitely a weird location on this earth. Have a look of some closed pics…

If you are a Holiday Maker itching to get away from your daily cores, a Honey-moon couple wishing to enjoy secluded privacy of the Mountains to exchange sweet nothings, a Sports-lover desirous of taking part in trekking, mountaineering, skiing, paragliding, kayaking and mountain-biking, a pious devotee of Lord Shiva or Lord Vishnu – Kullu-Manali is definitely recommended for all of you.

Actually in Himachal Pradesh Kullu is a city in the Kullu volley – spread over both sides of River Beas, 2 Kilometers in breadth and 80 kilometers in length, wherefrom Manali, the temple city is situated at 40 KMs from Kullu city.   For the outside world, Kullu and Manali are inseparable owing to the Tourist attractions, temples, Parks and nature’s beauty in abundance, in both the places and the trip is not complete to one without the other.

Kullu-Manali is the pride of Himachal Pradesh, the Mountain State of India, where there is no pollution of air to fill your lungs with dirt, pollution of noise by blaring horns of the city traffic and other hullu-bullus, pollution of water by Industrial waste etc.  On the other hand there is pleasant atmosphere once you enter the Kullu volley, refreshing air to take deep breathe in, crystal clear water flowing amidst rocks in the river and its branches and streams, complete silence other than the creeking of trees or singing of birds and above all, breathtaking scenery of the Nature, surrounded by hills of snow everywhere.

Certainly this is a place out of the ordinary, pulling hundreds of thousands of tourists every year to enjoy the values of life, forgetting their individual identity and leaving everything the mind is boggled with at their place of starting. The one and only feeling remaining will be you are a human being, having come to enjoy Nature.

Kullu-Manali is well connected by plane, rail or road, with major cities of the Northern India – Delhi; Shimla; Dharmasala; Ambala; Dehradun; Chandigarh; and Pathankot.  Regular Bus service is available from these places to reach Kullu-Manali.

Here is an interesting narration of my personal experience – just to get away from the chaos of the Metro, Delhi the capital of India and take refuge in the laps of Kullu-Manali volley.

]]> http://www.thelatestone.com/kullu-manali-%e2%80%93-a-tourist-and-pilgrimage-spot-in-himachal-pradesh.html/feed 0 http://www.thelatestone.com/kullu-manali-%e2%80%93-a-personal-experience.html http://www.thelatestone.com/kullu-manali-%e2%80%93-a-personal-experience.html#comments Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:46:39 +0000 Neha Aggarwal http://www.thelatestone.com/?p=744

A Trip to Manali: Adventure and fun

It is my first trip to Manali after hearing a lot about the place and with a longing desire to visit it once. We were four people, me, my husband and two relatives. The object of the trip was to get away from the daily muddles, workloads, and monotony of life cycle. It was 23^rd January 2009 we had booked our trip from Delhi to Manali by a Volvo bus (with shock-absorbers and sturdy in the ghat roads, where no other travel can be imagined). Departure time was scheduled 6pm from Janpath, Delhi and the bus left Delhi around 7pm.

Our first stop was somewhere near to Ambala at 11 pm, where we had our dinner. It was scheduled to hault only half an hour but due to some unknown reason bus took 2 hrs to depart from Dhaba. (such delays are the regular features of long bus travels).

Our second stoppage was in Sundarnagar, Mandi distt. at 6:30 am for getting fresh and for some tea.  The roadside dhaba was awful but we had no choice. The pleasant location of the area was very pleasing to compensate and we fully enjoyed the sight.

After one hour travel from Sundarnagar, we had the first glance of River Vyas (also known as Beas). From there the river is flowing alongside the road till we reached Manali. Some time on the left and some time on the right, some time near and sometime far and it was really very beautiful feeling. The stress of bus travel whole night got washed away with those sight scenes.

It was 24^th January morning, 11:30 am when we reached Manali.  The bus took around 16 and half hours to finish the journey from Delhi to Manali, with stop overs included.

We arranged to stay in a riverside hotel, Chichoga Hotel. That was approx half km away from Mall road. The Hotel is placed at very nice location slightly elevated. From the hotel balcony the whole view of the surroundings was simply breathtaking.

Vyas River was flowing just in front of the hotel. And mountains covered with snow were giving a beautiful view from the longshot. Climate was not so freezing but bearable (ofcourse with woolen attire). Contrary to our expectations, we missed snow in Manali, and people said it was only in Solang valley that we could see more snow.

We just got fresh in hotel and hired a taxi for three days. We decided to take a tour to local visits in Manali town on first day. We had lunched in Chopstick Restaurant on Mall Road. It was very famous for Chinese, Japanese and Thai foods. It was fine to have good lunch there.

We visited local sites and very famous temples. First the Hadimba temple about 3 KMs from Manali. Goddess Hadimba is worshipped here (you can not but adore the mother first – the root cause of all creations). The temple is of Pagoda style and the doorway is adorned with ancient and beautiful carvings depicting legendry figures and symbols.

Our next visit was to Vashist Hot Water Springs and Temple. It is amazing that in a location surrounded by snow and chilling weather, Mother Nature has provided unabated flow of hot water for free to the mankind.

After visiting some Tibetan Monasteries, we went next to Manu Temple.

Then we visited the Raghunathji Temple, the famous one of Lord Mahavishnu and an idol of the Lord’s incarnation as Rama is worshipped there.  It is said that the idol was brought from the birth place of the epic hero Ayodhya – Lord taking an avtar as human to kill Ravana, the monster Rakshasa. It is worshipped piously by the people of entire Kullu volley. Completely wooden structured and beautiful temple, maintained very neatly (as against the status of many temples elsewhere and possibly being a Mountain temple no pollutions at all!) For the festival of Dassara the entire Kulu volley people will wear colorful attires and converge at Raghunathji temple. At that time nearly 600 local daities from the surroundings are brought to this temple to pay their respects to Lord Rama.

Then we went to visit a Club House which has an auditorium, a billiards room, outdoor and indoor games etc.  Here one has to cross the river by hanging flatly on the rope. See Photo for the action ….

There were Dinosaurs at another place (hey..only toys and not real) and our man was clinging to it happily with excitement..

Folks are enjoying real life rabbits of the snow-region and they are very cute with their silky furs

We returned to our place of stay and had an awful dinner at Aashiyana Vegetarian Restaurant (recommended for those to have the taste of how good things can be cooked badly.)

Our second day started, 25^th January and we woke up early in the morning to leave Manali for Solang Valley. This is a place tourists visit for mountain-sports including skiing.  Unfortunately when we went there, people said compared to earlier years there is not much of a snowfall this year 2009. At time the road leading to Rohtang will be closed from November to February due to heavy snowfall, heaping some 25 to 30 feet of snow.  However there was enough snow for skiing and we enjoyed it a lot.

We had fun with Tube Skating also

We ate masala chhole (an Indian snack item hot in taste) and had tea in snow, very amicable and much desired in such a chilly area at that moment.

Then we hired mountain pony for climbing our way to the Shiva Temple – known Our intricate up-climbing on the back of a pony  …

That is 3 km up from Solang valley and we found lots of snow on the way, and we had snow-covered mountains around us. We had lots of fun out there – enjoying the snow-covered tracks, risky bony ride, chilly breeze striking at our face and so on. Some people were enjoying skiing too, but I could not risk the adventure as I wanted both my legs and shoulders in tact!

After that we returned from there and had evening snacks in Saba Restaurant, Mall Road (Manali) as usual lousy. But the location was fantastic and we could not take our eyes out. Suddenly climate changed and it was drizzling snow and I just had a glance of few snow drops.

We returned to hotel and came back to Mall road for some shopping and dinner. Dinner in Adarsh Restaurant was unbearable. No matter what with sambhar-dosa and pizza, everything was disgusting. Yet another horrible eatery experience in this trip.

3^rd day, 26^th January, we started our day with National Anthem – because it was the Indian Republic Day. We checked out from Hotel and said goodbye to Manali.

We had breakfast near to Kullu at roadside restaurant. Everything was perfect to our startling surprise. There is Oasis too in the deserts.

We went to a hand woolen factory and did some shopping.

Then my ever remembering moment came – we did river rafting up to 7km in Vyas River. It was really amazing.

We visited Kullu, on a very sunny day out there. We departed for Manikaran Temple. Parvati River was flowing along with road on our way and was enchanting. Manikaran Temple is devoted to Lord Shiva and is located at an altitude of 1700 meters.

This place is filled with temples, Ram Mandir, Radha-Krishna Mandir, Naina Devi temple, a Sikh Gurudwra.  The most astonishing thing here is a hot water springs, giving immense relief from the chill of the climate. The spring water is enough hot so as to boil rice, dhal and vegetable if put on them. Thousands of devotees and visitors from around the world are taking a holy dip (ofcourse at a safe distance from the origination of the springs!)

Due to time constraint we missed Bijili Mahadev Temple in Temple – dedicated to worship Lord Shiva.  We heard a lot about this, people told us  that The Temple’s sacred staff (a wooden or mostly stone pillar in front of Hindu temples) is of 60 feet height and is popular in Kullu volley – people believing the staff attracts lightening from the sky and shatters them beneath the Shivalingam.

We returned to Bhunter to take our bus. Once reaching Delhi again thoughts of stark reality of our lifestyle struck us, but the sweet memories of the trip to Manali will be always lingering at the back of the mind.

Even as Indians are rated as the world’s second worst toursists, they are tripping up a storm. Fow two yesr, whats HOT has been your fathful traveling companion. Now we round up what curried favour with Indian tourists this year. Belt up for the ride!

Truly Asia, What say?? MALAYSIA

Call it the power of marketing but Malaysia made it to everyone’s carefully built itineraries this year. What worked for it: The proximity (its in the short-haul sector) and the cost factor, which goes down well with the Indian tourists!

Paris Je T’aime FRANCE

According to a travel website survey, Indians are the world’s second worst tourists, a step behind the French. So what happens when the two meet? Mayhem and table manners that can make stone-age men appear genteel! Yet Indians made a beeline for Paris, famed for its food, wine, architecture and very laidback lifestyle that appeal to the Indian holiday traveler.

The unending issue of economical crisis has caused travelers to have second opinions whether it is wise to get a vacation or simply save the money. And to top it all, there are more travelers who badly want to travel.

You don’t need to brainstorm your head if you really want to travel. There are so many packaged tours that you can always avail. A packaged tour is always cheaper compared to individual traveling. Since you are going by group, they give out discounts and perks that will make your vacation enjoyable and money wise. Besides, when you book in a packaged tour, you save yourself the trouble of getting tickets and hiring vans. And to think that those are just a few of the possible hassles you will encounter when you travel by yourself.

If travel package is not really your cup of tea, go for travel agents. They are very well-versed on the whats and the hows in vacation organizing. Since travel agencies are familiar with packaged rates, you don’t need to browse and get lost online. You will find it unnecessary to check out everything. Choosing a good travel agent or a good tour package will set you at once on your journey.

Time your travel schedule during their so called off-season. Most of the time the rates are less by half of what the peak seasons offer.

Professional Logo – – Quality and professional XP icons

Whether you are a first-timer or a local, Paris is surely one of the most exciting, enticing cities in the world. Brimming with iconic attractions – Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Champs-Elysees, Musee d’ Orsay, Moulin Rouge – there’s never a shortage of activities, Its easy to take Paris at face value and visit only the tried and tested attractions. But why not stray from the usual? Here’s a brand new face of the French Capital…

Staying in Style

There are more opportunities to meet Parisians if you stay in one of the many new boutique or design hotels that are changing the accommodation scene in Paris Hotel Chat-Noir (meaning ‘Black Cat’) at Clichy, where we put up, was trendy, comfortable and reasonable.Another such place is Murano Urban Resort. The corridors give a nightlife feel and it is a great place for some drinks and dinner.

Sweet Nothings

First off all, we headed straight to the happening high street, ChampsElysees, Located at 75th avenue is Laduree, the Mecca of Parisian pastry. The menu runs the gamut from traditional croissants, pretzels, sandwiches, salads and short-crust pastries to the best macaroons in the town. Macaroons are, in fact, the speciality here and they come in flavours like velvet-blackcurrant. Liquorice, lemon and Morello cherries, to name a few.

Interestingly, the story of Parisian tea rooms is intimately linked to the Laduree family’s. They had one advantage over the other cafes: Women were welcome! The place attracted David holder of the holder group, who decided to upgrade the famous house, making it Paris’ pastry Mecca.

While commuting within the city, think trains.

Learn a few words of French. Many Parisian speak excellent English but they appreciate attempts to respect their language. Budget for jazz evening – It’s a great experience, available throughout the city.