Full of awe

I have been to Manali twice, once in 2023 and later in 2025. Anyone who knows me knows that I have always been of the belief that there could be something even more beautiful than what I have known, what I have explored and what I have imagined. Who knew that a town in Himachal was going to prove me wrong?

On my first visit, I realized that there was something about those tall and mysterious pine trees that kept calling me. It was like I was hit with a sudden and strong sense of awe at seeing their majestic beauty. How they looked against the background of those tall, white elevation of mountains. It just added to their beauty, if it was even possible in the first place. And I know that it was not the last time that I am seeing her breathtaking beauty.

Manali is 16 hours’ drive away from where I live. So we thought it best to divide the journey in two days. For the first night we planned on covering the distance to Chandigarh, another one of my favorite cities.

In the journey, about 60 km away from Chandigarh one of the front tire's disk dislocated and the brakes failed. It didn't cause much harm but it definitely took a lot out of us to get the car mechanic in the middle of a highway. We couldn't find one but there was a car repair shop about 10 km away from where we were. We made it but it took us 4 hours to get it repaired. But it was not going to prevent us from looking forward to the trip.

For me Chandigarh has always been the perfect blend of city's amenities, its comfort and luxury and of the hospitality of a small town .We spent the night at a family friend's house. We ended the night with some biryani. Eating Biryani, when in Chandigarh, has always been a tradition in my family.

The next day we double checked the car and got it ready for a 265 km drive to Chandigarh. Another one of our reasons to divide the journey in two days was to enjoy and appreciate the companionship of Beas River, straight to Manali. It accompanied us after we climbed some height. It was beautiful to look at it. It gave off a strange sense of calm.

But in the last two years, there were at least 10 more tunnels made in the route. Though it did save some time and it was safer than the curves of the mountains but it also held us back from enjoying the river. I guess, you're always going to miss out on something, one way or the other.

After the sun set , the view outside was particularly more appealing to me as the lights of a city ,a city literally on a mountain , were looking as if someone sprinkled stars on a mountain . It really captivated me.

We were in Manali at about 9 pm. It was the peak season, so it was difficult to find a hotel, but we somehow booked one. It was in Simsa. It was a beautiful hotel, a simple and elegant one. We spent the night there and the next day we decided to explore the street market of Manali, The Mall Road.

We had been here the last we visited Manali too. It has everything and anything that you can possibly want. From silver jewelry, pashmina shawl, souvenirs like fridge magnet, key chains, fuzzy socks to ice cream, Indo - Chinese food and lot more.

One place that I had previously researched about was a Momos shop, the most popular one in Manali. They were really good and they made the red chutney themselves every morning. It was very flavorful. The taste of it lingered in my mouth long after eating that.

After some street shopping we went to Solang Valley. It has many adventure sports to offer, but we particularly enjoyed the motorbike ride up the hill. There was a temple after some trek in snow. Climbing up in snow wasn’t that difficult but coming down certainly was. There was no friction on snow, add to that the steepness of hill and gravity. After failing, falling and laughing at each other we finally returned to the base.

The ride on the motorbike with silent, mysterious and foggy mountains was doing something to me. All I could think of was how it could possibly be this mesmerizing? It was not like anything that I had ever seen in my life so far. I guess it will stay that way.

We came back to the hotel to rest for another day in Manali. The next day we went to Atal Tunnel, A 10 km long tunnel. But after those 10 km lays a literal paradise. Snow covered mountains, flowing river, breezy air, just enough warmth from sunlight, all of it contributed to stroke a masterpiece.

After that we began driving towards the snow covered mountains and were so lost in their beauty that we ended up being 40 km away from Atal Tunnel! We just couldn't bring ourselves to take our eyes off the scenery around us. After that we played in the snow for about 2 hours and drove back to the hotel. The next day we left for home.