Wao, that would be a long day, I thought. Looking at the map, it did not seem logical. Manali is on the east of Dharamsala and from what I could see from the map, it is much closer to Dharamsala than Amritsar is to Dharamsala. Yet according to the itinerary, it requires longer time. It did not make sense to me. The mystery slowly unfolded as we journeyed along.
We left the hotel at about 8.40. The weather was good with clear blue sky.
I was following our route on a map and each time I came across a village or town, I would look up the map to find out where we were. I imagined that we would be travelling from west to east. But I realised we were actually going in the south-east direction, and we were heading further and further away from Manali. I was puzzled. A check with our guide showed me why.
The area between Dharamsala and Manali is dominated by the mountain range, and due to the difficult terrain, the only way to travel directly from west to east (and vice versa) is on foot – that is walk and trek – and it takes between 15 and 18 days to trek from one place to the other through the difficult, but scenic mountain range.
Upon further enquiry to our guide and a closer look at the map, I learnt that the only way to get to Manali on vehicles is to travel south east until a town called Mandi, about 125km away, then turn left (eastwards). Further down at a place called Aut, head for north. In short, the route is somewhat in a shape of a (rather distorted) horseshoe.
After about two hours of relatively slow drive and about 50km away from Dharamsala, we came to a place called Baijnath. We stopped to visit one of the most famous temples in the area, Lord Shiva Temple.
The temple is famous for the Linga (embodiment of Shiva). During the colourful ‘Shivaratri’ festival which falls in the month of March, both devotees and tourists flock to the temple to get blessing from Lord Shiva. It is believed that the ‘Lord of Physician’, Shiva, frees people from all kinds of ailments and diseases. It is also believed that the water within the temple premises has the ‘curative and medicinal’ properties.
Soon after we resumed our journey, we came to a complete halt. There was a traffic jam caused by none other than a big herd of sheep. They occupied one side of the road thus immobilising the traffic. Two herdsmen were seen directing the traffic (both the sheep and the vehicles).
Slowly but surely, we progressed. We stopped at a small town called Mandi for lunch. We ordered a Chicken Masala – emh, taste good. Not too long after we left Mandi, it started to drizzle.
Along the way, we stopped at Himachal Darshan Photo Gallery. The gallery displays photographs taken by a local photographer named Birbal Sharma. The gallery, a three storey building, does not look too impressive from the outside, but what is inside is. There are over 300 exhibits beautifully and artistically taken, focusing on the lifestyle and culture of the people of the state. There are also photos on the exquisite landscapes of Himachal Pradesh: lakes, snow-capped mountains and passes, rivers, valleys, ancient temples with rare carving, palaces, temples, etc.
Traffic jam is a common sight on the mountain roads (besides big cities like Delhi), primarily because of the narrow and steep gradient of the roads, and there are a lot of big heavy vehicles plying the roads. Honking seems to be the drivers’ favourite habit while behind the wheel, much similar to that of Nepal and Pakistan. In fact at the back of most buses, trucks and lorries are inscribed: Horn, please.
During the journey, we encountered three more traffic jams. The first one was when a bus driver (from down south, we were told), had problem manoeuvring and negotiating a sharp bend thus holding traffic up in both directions. The second one was due to some repair work to a minor landslide. The third one was interesting.
Our driver suddenly stopped. Then I saw some people in uniform on the opposite side of the road with walkie-talkies. One of the men came over and said something to the driver. I thought it was some sort of check post, which is not uncommon. But there was no sign of the driver moving on. I then asked Tek what was happening. We were told that the road is too narrow for two vehicles to pass at the same time, especially big vehicles. The walkie-talkies are used to communicate between ‘one narrow end and the other’. I got the picture – there were cars coming from the other direction and we had to wait.
Indeed driving in the mountainous region of India is both an art and science. It needs a skill and patience that most properly you and I would never acquire.
The drizzle was gone and the sky brightened up. It brought some cheer to the otherwise long and tiring journey. I could see the landscape clearly now – we were travelling alongside River Beas on one side with sheer rock face on the other, some with overhanging rock so low that it appears to almost touching the tall vehicles like buses and trucks. Hairpin bends seemed to be the order of the day. I lost count the numbers we passed.The cheer didn’t last long. It started to rain and it became heavier and heavier.
With long hours cooped up in the car, the rain falling incessantly, and the otherwise beautiful view obscured by the rain, our spirit was somewhat dampened. Sleep seemed to be the best option.
I woke up when my head hit against the car window. I saw that we were about to enter a tunnel. As we were ‘crawling’ inside the tunnel, I felt as if we had just entered into ‘darkness of eternity’. I had never been to any tunnel that long – about 3km we were told. (Chin told me that the SMART tunnel in Kuala Lumpur is somewhat that long or may be slightly longer.) I asked Tek where we were and was told ‘Aut’. I looked at the map and sighed, ‘What a long way more to go!’ We still had ‘one side’ of the horseshoe to cover.
After few more hours of swaying from left to right and right to left, few more naps and more titbits later, we finally reached Manali at about 5.30pm. It was still raining when we arrived. After settling down in the hotel and some freshen up, it was time for dinner.
Johnson’s Café was highly recommended and since it is located just a couple of minutes walk from our hotel, we decided to check it out. The café is attached to a hotel of similar name. It has a nice garden tastefully decorated, with tables and chairs neatly arranged on the veranda. We could feel the coziness even before we stepped into the restaurant proper. Inside, the ambience set the right mood for a lovely and relaxing (perhaps romantic for some) evening. ‘This is just what we need,’ I said to myself as I entered.
It was supposedly famous for its wood-oven baked trout. We tried. Well, it lived up to its reputation.
As Chin and I were busily recounting our long journey of the day, one lady walked over to our table to find out how we were getting on. She is beautiful, elegant and refined yet humble and friendly. We guessed she must be the owner and we were right.
We enjoyed the dinner very much and after the satisfying meal, we visited the few shops located near to our hotel as it was too late to go to the town proper.
We shopped until the chill reminded us that it was time to get back to the hotel.
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