[unoczar]

Its a new fresh day at CHarabra, sun is out, the chill in the air is still there, i get up early and wake up others, no need for curds today... thank the heavens!!

i get ready and take time out for some pictures, i really wish i had a better camera..

i click some photos of the sunrise, gobi farm, flowers, mrs. keshavji(by my wife) and a YAK!, yes! we saw a yak, first time...

Everyone ready to go to Kullu and Manali... We must hurry... but it will take at least a day.

We bid goodbye to keshavji and promise another trip in the winters while it snows

aap log sardiyon mein zarur aana, ek dedh feet baraf hoti hai!!
haan?! zarur aayenge ek baar!

On to manali then, no problem with the car, we carefully make it past shimla and onto the road to Mandi, Tank full, pressure checked... it is a very tricky mountain road.. and its raining again! very heavy too!

contd... (after dinner..)

PICS:

[unoczar]

So, we're going slowly toward mandi, i enquire from the locals and they tell me that manali road is after mandi, so we'll have to cross mandi. Lots of road digging and widening on the way. Around 50-60 KM from Shimla, we have to take a diversion because the road is closed, a landslide perhaps?











Soon we pass thru the rains and the mountains and some bridges and we arrive at mandi. Its afternoon now, and lunch time, its also a friday, so the ladies wait at Paras restaurant and we go look for a masjid in the town. Luckily we find one, and after prayers pick up a couple of sweets (jalebi and kalakhand). At Paras hotel, we find that a buffet is spread, 125/- per head isnt bad and we take it. Another half an hour and we're ready to go to Kullu-Manali.



We pass some big rivers and some small ones, big mountains, small hills. No sign of any snow capped peaks till now. But i had promised my fellow members snow and i was praying to the almighty for snow..








A few more mountains and the mighty river flowing beneath (Sutlej i guess), suddenly we see an accident, an innova and a bus.. whose fault was it? you be the judge!



Further on, we see another accident, this time it was nature against car. I couldnt catch a pic of this one. A huge boulder had fallen on this i10 just the right front part of it was damaged. i could see the cabin and pretty sure the occupants were fine. The boulder was the size of the cabin of the car and lying neatly in the middle of the road, let me tell you, the guys in the car were very lucky indeed.

Erasing the negatives we had just seen, we moved on, everybody wide awake, this was serious business now, the mountains are very trecherous.

Soon we cross a hotel called "Beas view point".. hmmm.. so its Beas and not Sutlej. We go to the river sit on the rocks and take some pics. We also pick some raw aadus from a tree, again a first. We're only minutes from Kullu, sun is shining bright, and we stop again beside the river for some more pics. We also stop at a rafting point and after enquiry decide not to do it.



















We see that a mela is going on at Kullu and i spot the HPTDC. I go in and enquire, a very friendly person talks to me for well over half an hour, explaining everything about Manali, Rohtang, Solang, etc etc. He says it snowed today at Rohtang in the morning... AWWWWW!! we missed snowfall by 12 hours, and the sun is out now. It might not snow tomorrow but there will definitely be snow to play in. YAY!

I tell him that we have less budget so he books 2 rooms for us in HPTDC at Kattrain, 18 Km from manali. We leave to our hotel the ANGLER's BUNGLOW!

Now, the next 5 mins. were the most exciting of this trip.. SNOW CAPPED PEAKS! yes! there was snow! The sun illuminating the top of the peaks too! Great views, i missed a better camera here too!











Our HPTDC Hotel - River side, nice view, an old house but managable. We accept gladly and eat at a local dhaba. We're going to play in snow tomorrow!! Only if we knew what agony is going to be in store for us....

Till tomorrow then.. its day 8 of the trip, a whole week has passed and we've got first sighting of snow.. thank heavens!






I know guys its getting a bit boring... not funny anymore.. but thats the reality.. jo hua wohi toh likhunga... it'll get interesting soon. promise. lorry pe kabhi soye ho? hahahha!!

[anupmathur]

What an absolute gem of a travelogue!
And to think I nearly missed it!

This is what it'll be like during winter months:

[Fordmanchau]

Khaleed Bhai,
Wonderful read till here.You write with the flow and that's what makes it interesting. Have not been bored till now though yes, it's not so funny anymore.You certainly did miss a better camera.
Waiting for the next part of your story. Hope things will get interesting and funny from here on.

[Irish]

Bhaijaan,

Where is the Monday Special?

[unoczar]

Originally Posted by anupmathur

What an absolute gem of a travelogue!
And to think I nearly missed it!

This is what it'll be like during winter months:
Attachment 353854

thanks a ton buddy.

WOW... hotel madhuban!! you rekindled recent memories.. how'd you walk on that snow?!!! what month is that? and how'd you reach.. awesome!
i'm really relieved and disappointed to say we went in the summers.

Originally Posted by Fordmanchau

Khaleed Bhai,
Wonderful read till here.You write with the flow and that's what makes it interesting. Have not been bored till now though yes, it's not so funny anymore.You certainly did miss a better camera.
Waiting for the next part of your story. Hope things will get interesting and funny from here on.

haan bhai.. i'll try my best...

Originally Posted by Irish

Bhaijaan,

Where is the Monday Special?

aara hai bhai... was busy till now.. and just now as i am writing this reply.. i got a call and now i have to rush... lunch ka bhi time nahi dere log. be back soon.

[unoczar]

Hi,

Day 8 of our trip.

Its a wonderful morning at the HPTDC at Katrrein. Last night we could hear the roar of the river flowing beside, this morning was the chance to see the view and beautiful it was! Trees, River and mountain in the background... aur kya hona??? what else do you want in your backyard?

We were feeling a bit cold and my wife gave me a bedsheet or was it a shawl? whatever it was , it was warm.

Now, since our friends take their time in getting ready, we decided to sneak out, chori chori chupke chupke... I take out the beast and we're roaring toward Manali clicking snaps and eating cherries bought very cheap from a roadside vendor.

We also saw a camp rental.. nice colorful camps, my wife said...

ooohhh! so nice, i want to stay here.
nahi, nahi, pagal, yaha bhaalu aate hai raat ko.
HMPH!

We click some more snaps and come to the Manali check post... 300/- for the car, 200 for smaller cars, its a 7 day pass, multiple entry.

We turn back from there, others must be ready by now.

Soon, everybody's ready and ready to go play in the snow.

"Chalo bachhon aap sabko hum aaj baraf mein khelne le jaate hai"

Everybody in, we check out from the HPTDC,

bas ek hi din?
hamara hisaab kuch alag hi hai..
kashmir jaane ka plan bana liya hai, sudden...isliye yaha ek hi din, time kam hai.
jaisi aapki ichha..

We come across a board saying SOLANG left, ROHTANG right.. the nice man at HPTDC kullu had warned us not to go to ROHTANG as we would encounter traffic jams 10 KMs long he advised us to go enjoy at SOLANG valley...
But we hyderabadi's listen to people but only the hard way..

"right lele!"

ROHTANG here we come....! Now, what followed was a very frustrating climp to the top... Sumos, Qualis, Innovas, small cars, big cars.... car hi car... The whole mountain became a car showroom.. Crawling slowly... i really dont remember how long it took to reach a place 6 KM from Rohtang Pass.. supposedly the pass was closed due to recent snow.. we also saw snow clearing BEML machines... we also stopped at Kothi on the way for breakfast, more aloo parathas, and puri bhaji.. tasty!

I'll now let photos do the talking here.. lots of them... 80+ i guess..

All in all it was worth it.... we came here to play in snow and we did it!

going up it was sunlight.. cold but warm enough.. As soon as we reached 6KM from rohtang.... the clouds surrounded us and it rained.. not snow but ice... TIP TIP TIP.. on the car on our heads... hehe....

check the photos now.... it was enjoyable for us except for the looooooooooooooong traffic jams..

[unoczar]

[unoczar]

[Fordmanchau]

Originally Posted by unoczar

Hi,
I'll now let photos do the talking here.. lots of them... 80+ i guess..

Nice photos!!!

Originally Posted by unoczar

Attachment 354333

Zabbardast lag rahe idhar!!

Edit : just saw, more snaps!!!
Zabbardast!! kya line lagi hai gaariyon ki !(last photo)

[mallumowgli]

Originally Posted by unoczar

We come across a board saying SOLANG left, ROHTANG right.. the nice man at HPTDC kullu had warned us not to go to ROHTANG as we would encounter traffic jams 10 KMs long he advised us to go enjoy at SOLANG valley...
But we hyderabadi's listen to people but only the hard way..

"right lele!"

ROHTANG here we come....!

Your signature says it. 'When in doubt, turn right'!!!

Great going. Waiting impatiently for the rest

[mobike008]

Nice pictures but looks like you took most of them in a hurry as they came out pretty hazy.

What was the temperature there like? Especially in Rohtang?

[ranjith.rajaram]

Never seen so many cars lined up the highway....

[LongDrive lover]

So finally you reached to the snow, and could fulfill your promise to your friends. Nice snaps. You looking good and Mr. Mazhar is looking dashing in those model like shoots.

[download2live]

You seem to be rather well insulated by mother nature against Cold . Could not help noticing that you are moving around in a kurta in snow.