The day started off with the visit to Hidimba Devi Temple after a short walk from the hotel through the beautiful cedar forest. Along the way, we met many people, some were students on their way to schools, and some were having their day out with the families in the forest, while some, like us, were heading for the temple.
The temple, built in 1553, is dedicated to the Goddess of Hidimba, wife of Bhim who is one of the Pandava brothers. It is believed that Bhim had to kill the demon brother of Hidimba in order to marry her. Thereafter the two stayed together for a year before Bhim left her to join his brothers. Hidimba gave birth to his son and took care of him till he was old enough to look after the kingdom. After this, she went into isolation and meditated. The temple was built in her honour. It is a four story wooden building in the shape of pagoda with fine and intricate carving. No idol is enshrined, only a footprint on a stone is kept within.
Within the vicinity of the temple, there were vendors selling local titbits and delicacies, souvenirs, etc. There were also some men and women with woolly rabbits (angora) to attract the attention of both the locals and tourists. It was my first encounter with the animal. It looks much bigger than the normal rabbit, perhaps because of the long and thick fur. I could not help but to take a photo with the lovely animal.
We continued our slow walk and soon came to the Old Manali village. We passed by a row of shops selling traditional costumes, shawls, local delicacies and a few dhaba (something like our local coffee shops). Only a handful of people were seen on the road, a rather quiet and deserted place.
We then came to an area with some very old and unique looking houses. We were told that these houses were built to withstand earthquake. A couple of meters away, we came to a place where a group of young kids, about 13 of them, gathered around a middle-aged lady. It was a day care centre of sort, I guessed. Some of them were playing and fighting, some crying and few were staring at us lovingly and longingly.Gradually, we were gaining height, and from where we were, we could see sprawling villages down in the valley on the other side of River Beas.
Manali is located in the Kullu Valley and Kullu Valley is known as the Valley of Apples. It was therefore inadvertent that we should walk into an apple orchard. They were still green. We were told that the fruit would ripen only in two to three months’ time. I imagined by then the place would turn into a ‘sea’ of different colours and hues.
‘Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints’, I once saw this somewhere.
As we spent our morning walking, exploring and enjoying the beautiful sunshine and scenery, watching the local people go by, we took lots of photos and left our footprints at every possible corner and path.
After passing by another village called Goshal, we crossed the River Beas on a small, flimsy looking timber-bridge supported by a single tree trunk below the planks.
We then walked up to a waterfall called Jogni Fall. Nothing really very spectacular about the fall but the view of the valley from the top was and the walk was a good worked out. We met some Caucasian tourists on the way. We spent about 20 minutes at the waterfall resting and had a quick bite of snacks before heading down.
Next stop was Vashisht village, on the north-east of Manali. It is famous for its hot sulphur spring. There is a building with public bath inside. Though I was tempted to try it, I didn’t. But I tested the water at the standpipe outside the building – ouch...it’s hot! Women were seen washing clothes using the spring water adjacent to the building. The village was abuzz with people, traders, tuk-tuk (three-wheeler taxi) and motorbikes, much more alive than the Old Manali we were at earlier.
We walked for more than three hours and overall, it was a good warming up exercise and acclimatisation for our trekking which was due to start the following day.
Going through this remote part of the country, meeting the young innocent, loveable children; seeing how the adults go about their daily chores in the most rudimentary ways and sedentary manners somehow gave me some kind of nostalgic feeling. It was like going back 40 to 50 years in time, when everything was so simple and basic; life was simple and slow moving; modern technology, non existent.
We took a tuk-tuk back to Manali, about 3km away. It cost us Rs 30 (about RM 2.50). With the poor condition of the road and the unsteadiness of the car, we were bouncing up and down, swaying left and right – a natural and free massage of sort!
After lunch, Tek left us to roam about Manali town. There are many more shops here than in Mcleodganj. The most famous street here is the Mall.
As we were busy going from one shop to another, it started to rain.
Besides apples, the Kullu valley is famous for its shawl. I had never seen any place with more shops selling shawls than here in Manali. This was our first introduction to the Kullu shawl industry. Almost every other shop here sells shawls. There are some shops which even have the handlooms, where one can see weaving in action. We went to one but unfortunately, there was ‘no action’ that day, wrong timing!
The warmth and friendliness of some shop owners and assistants could be overwhelming. They could be persistent too. Here is one typical example of how they tried to promote their shawls:
‘Our shawls are all good quality, made from good quality pashmina, silk, wool, angora (wool from rabbit). See, no crease! Authentic material...’ The man continued, ‘This is 80% pashmina, 20% wool; this one 60% pashmina, 40% silk; that one over there 70% angora, 30% silk; over here, this one 50% wool, 50% silk; this is pure pashmina, a little bit expensive, but very nice, very soft, feel it, very nice, you will like it...’ he went on and on, like reciting a prayer. By the time he finished, what I remembered and didn’t remember was something like 5% and 95%!
The rain was as persistent as the man at the shop. It continued to rain until late in the evening. We kept our fingers crossed that the sky would cooperate with us the next day!
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