Manalı – The Valley of the Gods

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April 27th 19:00 – From the Jan path Himachal Praddesh Tourism Centre, we boarded the overnight, red Volvo a/c, bus to Manali, after making two stops for snacks; we made our last stop for an early breakfast.  While waiting for the loo, we witnessed a Tata truck tear down the mountain, loose control and dive into a ditch – probably another drunk driver.

Arriving in Manali at around 8:30AM, hotel owners, agents, and tour guides descended on us as we disembarked.  Everyone who has a way of making a rupee or two from tourists I think was there.  After we retrieved our bikes and the crowds dispersed, we got chatting to Alexander, a Russian and a regular visitor to Manali, who travelled on the same bus from Delhi, he advised us that the best place to eat in town was Chopstix.  We joined him for a meal and found out that he spends time in Manali just about every year.

That night we cycled to the hot springs baths.  The water is almost hot enough to cook rice in.  We found a secluded camp spot, in Vashisnt, and later walked back to the village for some tea and coffee.  The cooler climate in Manali was a great relief from the heat of Delhi.  The next morning we were told to get out by one of the locals I guess tending the apple trees.

Manali – The Valley of the Gods

April 28th – Dodging bursts of rain, we cycled 20k along the valley to Naggar.  Along the way, we stopped at one of the wine and beer shops for directions and were guılted into trying one of the local specialities, an orange flavored liquor.  It was awful, like a cheap bad whisky.  The proprietor smelled like he was consuming most of the drink and was very reluctant to give us back our change. We visited the Roerich Art Gallery wıht the work of the Russian painter Nicholas Roerich  Spent one night at Roman’s unofficial home stay and then the next day cycled back  towards  Manalı and camped.

1st May – 2nd May

This site tied for the number 1 spot.  We pitched in a pine forest next to a mountain stream and a waterfall.  It’s not often we come across such a good place to camp so we stayed for 2 nights before making our way down the valley towards Mand1.  The road follows alongside the river Beas and passes through many small villages where cottage industries continue to thrive.  Tourist season was just around the corner. The first official campsite was already full.  Many restaurants had extensive outdoor seating areas. Rafting guides set up along the Beas even though the current looked tame.

Within four days, we make it to Dharmshala, but only after spending one full day and an extra night trapped in our campsite by hailstorms.  We shared this sate with some bemused laborers and their horse.

A father and two sons travelled with the horse, but the youngest, toxic son, would take pleasure in kicking the horse in the chest.  It was also an overlook point where drivers hang out and leave their empty kingfisher beer cans.

May 3rd

Cycled almost all the way to Mandi. On the way, we met Rami Rosenbaum, his mother and his wife, on their way to Manila by car.   Turns out they left there bikes in Delhi with a Warmshowers.org host we had contacted earlier.  Once back in Delhi, Rami and his wife planned to cycle up to Leh.  It was too early for us, but the pass would be open in June.  On departing, they gave us some dates, which were much appreciated.

10 yards down the road 10 men jumped out of a car took their mobile phones out of their pockets and started taking photos.  This went on for sometime as each person had to get a photo with them in a shot with us on their phone.  It was funny, but I was glad they were so excited about seeing us cycling down from Manali.

It was getting late camped and we had trouble finding a place to camp so we camped near a college, in Mandy, overlooking the road and the dam.  At 10′ o clock the landowner drove up and started with 20 questions.  We had tea and left early in the morning.  It showered throughout the day so we ate our porridge late as we sheltered from yet another storm.

May 6th – On the way to Dharmasala cycled from Mandi to Palanput and stayed at a hotel that was also a doctor’s office.  The next morning we cycled up to Dharmasala and McCloud Ganj, which took about 2 hours.  We had a mini cappuccino and Darjeeling tea at one of the many cafes.  Two women sat at a table next to us looked like they walked straight off the set of ABFAB.  The Dalai Lama was not home, but we met an English couple visiting from Newcastle.  Tom asked us about our cycle trip thus far and expressed a desire to do one himself.  It would be great to look him up once we get back to the UK.  We got everything on the shopping list including: race, mosquito cols, oats, and bok choy.  We only stayed for a few hours.  On the way out, we cycled past two monks waiting at a slaughterhouse to buy chicken, Then we proceeded to make our way downhill on some of the worst road ever.  Adrian’s left front pannier broke; he taped it up and we continued the rest of the way down.

Evening of the 7th.  We found a field on the way to Pathankot cooked our dinner and waited for the sun to go down.  We were not alone; ants, cows and boys with a herd of goat and sheep came through.  A woman from across the street at one of two truck stops in the middle of nowhere kept insisting that we follow her.  As first, we did not understand what she was on about, as she didn’t speak English.  However, we followed her and she and her husband gave us a place to camp with shelter at their shop.

8th May

On our way to Amritsar with 40km to Pathankot but mostly fat good road, we were able to make good time. After getting some bread rolls later that morning we stopped to have tea and were joined by a sardu,  dressed in orange with a walking stick and a coup of alms.  He had tea with and indicated that we wanted some weed.  He looked a bit disappointed so we slipped him a couple of coins and then he carried on up the road.  At the end of our tea stop, I spotted the Lois and Elke  who we had hung out with in Udaipur.  We had more tea and exchanged notes.  As usual they were coming from Amritsar and we going there so opposite directions.  After we got back on the bikes we started looking for a place to camp, but couldn’t find any thing we enquired at a few hotels but they were full or over a 1,000 rupees.  Therefore, we enquired at a building that happened to be a Sikh school.  We asked for a place to put our tent, but they ended up giving us a room and we had access to the kitchen.  The building was converted into a school after having a previous life as an orphanage.