Wandergliding: Vashisht Hot Springs

May 9th, 2011

Today I thought I would walk to the hot springs in a nearby town called Vashisht, about three kilometres away as the crow flies but thanks to the limited number of bridges spanning the Beas River, the distance would be closer to six on foot. I began with walking through the pine forest again, what a lovely park! I crossed the one way bridge for vehicles leaving Manali and was greeted with a gorgeous view of Manali Peak to the northwest.

Full Power can even be found in Manali:

A cute kid I've walked by a few times:

The bridge to get out across the Beas River:

The view of Manali Peak:

I walked along the side of a wide, paved but dusty road to Vashisht and asked a local which way to go. There was a road curvy up the hillside but he told me the shortcut was a little further up. It turned out to be a pedestrian path that took a more direct route to the upper area of Vashisht.

The shortcut path:

Up on the main road, I approached a small wooden temple and then noticed the entrance for the hot springs. Admission was free and I had read that up to 3000 people visit the bathe in them each day. Following the lead of others, and after reading a sign, I removed my shoes and socks and put them in my backpack before entering. There was a small courtyard with many Indians sitting around. A sign indicated the way to the women’s pool and another to the men’s. There seemed to be a small temple too off to one side too.

The small temple by the hot springs:

I walked through another diminutive doorway with the bottom lip being at least a foot above the ground into a square room without any roof (the women’s pool is covered). A narrow two foot wide walkway ran around the perimeter with hooks lining the grey brick walls. A wall divided the square center with three quarters of it field with hot water from the springs and the other quarter an area to wash off with the spring water coming through small holes in the wall (so you weren’t really rinsing off). There were only two young (20ish) guys in the water...hmm, not sure if today will see 3000 bathers.

The Vashisht Hot Springs:

I changed and just as I was about to put my feet in, I noticed many little white bits swooshing around in the water. What are they? After a brief inspection I determined (and just hoped) that they came out of the ground with the water...best not to think about it. The water was quite warm and I didn’t last too long fully submerged. The young guys asked me to take a picture of them and they reciprocated the favour.

If only I was allowed a cold beer in here...

I was drying off and about to change out of my trunks when an old man came in and started muttering at me in Hindi. He was pointing at my backpack and then pointing outside the pool room, giving me the impression that I was supposed to check it in somewhere. I tried to explain in actions that I was just going to change my shorts and be gone. He started to grab my bag so I asked one of the young guys to explain it to him. He wouldn’t have it. The young guy came over and said he’d help me and he feigned taking the bag out. He stood by the doorway as I quickly changed and then squeezed past the old crank on the narrow walkway. I thanked the young guy and then looked back to see that they also had backpacks and asked why the old fart wasn’t hassling them and he just shrugged his shoulders. In the end, I think the old man just doesn’t like foreigners using their resources. It put a bit of a sour note on my hot springs experience but oh well.

I walked back to Old Manali through the forest along a different path and found this strange big grey wall. An interesting curvy shape and an expensive wall to build yet all that was inside were more trees...couldn't figure it out.

Manali is filled with white "tourist" vehicles: