Trip to kullu-Manali

Trip to Kullu-Manali: Since my school days… I always heard friends talking about kullu-manali trips, movies showing the beauty of that place, honeymoon trips of couple to that place.

Finally one good day me and my friend decided to visit that place on our bike… we started  from jogindernagar(H.P.)  Jogindernagar  is hill town in Mandi  district, named after Raja Joginder  Sen. Riding the whole way from Jogindernagar ,we reached Mandi.  Mandi is a beautiful district of Himachal Pradesh. River  Beas flows though  it.  Gurudwara  Shri Guru Gobing Singh ji ,is located in Mandi district. It consists belongins of Guru Sahib’s such as holy bed , holy gun, holy rawab ,holy mattress etc. Gurudwara is very beautiful.

After visiting Gurudwara and bowing our heads…we moved   further towards Kullu.  Few kms away ahead from Mandi, some sound stopped us…and the view was exotic. It    was   Pandoh Dam. It is on Beas river in Mandi. The sound of water hitting ground was so much that it could be heard from a km easily.

 Then we start moving towards kullu. In the whole way river beas accompanied us. It flows besides the road. Several hanging bridges of iron could be seen on the river beas.

Then we came across a huge tunnel of 2.8 km long.It is called Kullu-Manali tunnel.  Smell of wet rocks  can be felt inside it.

Finally covering 120 kms we reached Kullu. Kullu is located on the bank of river beas. Here the flow of river beas is very  fast. The water is also very cold of the river …as it comes directly from the glacier. One can enjoy river-rafting, rope-way river crossing ,camping & trekking here.  We enjoyed river-rafting there. Our stay was at hotel “kailash”. The market of kullu is also good. One can eat and shop here. We spended night at   hotel. Whole night I was curious to visit “Manali”.

Next  morning we started moving  towards Manali. Manali is 40 kms away from kullu. While moving towards Manali we stopped our bike at  “bhunter” after reading a board. It was a rabbit- farm named Angora Rabbit Breeding Farm. It was started by Mr P.P.Gupta in 1965. There are large number of  rabbits there of bigger  size. One must visit this farm .Finally driving the whole way we reached Manali.

Manali is a beautiful hill station covered with snow mountains. Foreign Tourist also   visit this place. One can do skiing, paragliding ,hill climbing, camping and trekking here.

First we went to Hadima Devi temple ..also called Hindimba Devi Temple. It one of the most  beautiful and most visted place of Manali. It is  in waiting list to become UNESCO world heritage site.Acoording to Hindu Mythology, in the era of Pandavas(Mahabharata) Bhima married hidimba, after killing hidimb(brother of hidimba).Temple is sourrounded by beautiful cedar forest consisting pine and deodar trees.

Temple consist  of three  square roofs covered with timber tiles, and a brass cone  shaped roof at the top. Inside the temple there is a huge rock with a small brass image representing Hidimba Devi. At the gate of temple one can ride on yaks. Local boys who provide yak-ride are available there.

                         

 Then we went to  Vashist Temple. It is 3 km away from manali.Temple is at the height and near to a market. Temple is good and inside the temple there is a black stone idol of Vashist Muni. According to mythology it is 4000 yrs old. There are wooden carvings on the temple. Temple also consists  hot water springs which is believed medicinal. Separate bathing arrangements for men and women is avialble.

                               

At the night, we enjoyed and roam 
across the market in manali. The market looks beautiful at the night. It’s a really good place for shopping and food. You can buy Sweaters, Shawls , Stoles , Mufflers and many things. Local food is also tasty…and a lot of restaurants are also there to hang around.

Do spend some time in Manali. Enjoy scenery around river Beas.