July 4th-5th, 2012
On the first few days in Manali for Garth after our epic
motorbike ride yesterday, I thought I’d show him a few of the local sites to
get a bit of a lay of the land. First up
was Hadimba Temple that I visited last year which
is situated in a pine forest just 20 minutes walk from our guesthouse. It looks more like a Shinto temple than a
Hindu one (not that I’m an expert, that’s for sure!) but regardless it’s a cool
looking structure surrounded by nice big pine trees. After a brief check of downtown Manali we
headed back to Manali via the lovely preserved forest along the main riverbank.
Crossing the bridge from Old Manali:
Hadimba Temple:
Downtown New Manali...they are still working on this pedestrian only street since last year!
Getting my shoes fixed...(note even the big hole in the heel of my sock...my footwear left something to be desired until this day as I have new socks in that purple bag):
The following day we walked over to Vashisht and on to Jogni
Falls, another daytrip I did last year
and worth the walk. The falls were
lovely but slightly disrupted by some drunken Indians frolicking in the main
pool of frigid water. After 20 minutes
and numerous photos with a couple of the intoxicated guys (posing with
sunglasses, without sunglasses, exchanging sunglasses...the combinations went
on and on...) we headed back to Vashisht for a drink and a bite to eat with a
glorious view of the Manali valley.
The sign says "BRO Blow Horn Don't Get Torn!"...um, okay. I later found out that BRO stands for "Border Road Organization". There were a bunch of different signs like this and a couple of my favourites were:
- "Drive on the Roads with Safety, To Arrive Home for Safe Tea"
- "Love Thy Neighbour, But Not While Driving"...huh? Really?
A temple near the hot springs, which we opted to skip:
What some people like to do with their porches in Vashisht:
Jogni Falls:
Garth participating in the not so well known yet slightly safer "Walking of the Cows":
The view from our refreshment stop:
Garth enjoying his first ever lemonana:
I thought Garth was taking my picture but it turned out to be a video...so he said "Do something..." and this was the best I could come up with:
This is what should have happened in the first place:
Heading back we took the same shortcut that I did last year
with the Germans Pascal and Charlotte, the rope river crossing while strapped
in by a harness. It was pricier this year
at 100 rupees each but well worth it.
Garth getting strapped in:
And he's off...unfortunately he was so fast that I didn't get a chance to switch my camera into video mode before he was across:
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