Chapter 2

                                                                                                      24 July, 2011

       Been here in Vashisht five years ago with WWF camp, I knew that the morning would be beautiful. Just after a five hour sleep, sprung out from my bed, worrying that I might have missed the early morning spectacle since it was already 8am. Stepped into the balcony and I was right, the mornings here are spectacular indeed. The only word that came out of my mouth was 'wow'.

      My view was blurred because of the fog that covered the whole valley,  the wind was chilly which was being accompanied by light showers making it even chillier and biting. Through the fog you can see a white,sleek, meandering river, with the Dhauladhar range in the background, the river Beas*, which is known for it's meandering route across Himachal Pradesh crossing many famous hill-stations like Kullu, Manali en-route before merging with Sutlej in Punjab. Soon after my lazy friends woke up, we all headed towards the Vashisht Hot Spring bath for which this place is famous for, just a few meters from our hotel. Taking a bath in these natural hot springs containing sulphur is truly therapeutic and relaxing, which was much needed after long strenuous journey we had. If you are planning your trip to Manali, then I would strongly recommend you to stay in Vashishth instead or at least visit it for the therapeutic hot sulphur springs. Vashisht is less crowded, has cheap hotels and is also known for German ,French and English bakeries. The localites are quite friendly too, you can visit their houses if interested in exploring their lifestyle and typical architecture of their homes.It even has a small theater that often plays foreign language movies.

       After a heavy breakfast at some local restaurant, we planned to trek down to Jogini waterfalls so that such activity would help us acclimatize to the altitude and make our trip to Ladakh easier. The trek took us through some apple plantations and Himalayan forests with majestic deodar/cedar trees and other flora of the mountains adorning our way. The route to Jogini waterfalls can also be bypassed to reach Hadimba-Devi temple in Manali. This route is very treacherous since Manali is in the south and lower,but the route to Jogini waterfalls is in the north,

which means that you have to go north first, find a way takes you to the banks of the Beas and then follow the river south to reach Manali. 

By noon or so, headed back to Vashisht after the trek to go to Manali for lunch and the whole evening to spare at the market not shopping for gifts or anything, but help our cook buy our ration for the rest of our journey to Ladakh, that would last atleast till we reach Leh.

      At this point, I would like to stress on one issue that bothered me a lot then and does even now. I was disheartened looking at the state of Manali that it is in today. 

Completely different from what I had seen six years ago. The market, or the 'mall' road, was cramped with shops on both the sides, roads were to fix some problem, tourists flocking in hordes, hawkers on roads apart from the shops,hotels,cyber cafes,etc.This place didn't a bit, seem like an hill station. Commercialization has taken it's toll on Manali. I would say, the place has been ruined due to rampant tourist and commercial activities, leave alone the hippie issue. Even away from the mall road, you can see mountains dotted by some settlement or hotels. The government planning to build a check dam adding to the issue. Just few meters from the market place, you would see garbage dumped untreated lying in the open to be carried away by a nearby stream or rains. If you had been to Manali, say just 5-6 years ago, you wouldn't have been so disappointed, but at present, the situation seems to be out of control. This is one of the reasons why people have started scouting for newer locations,and I recommended you Vashisht. The new and lesser known places have retained their beauty and haven't yet commercialized (hope they don't).

      Anyway, next day, we had to make an early start at about 3am in the morning. Early to bed, way early to rise. Our next destination .......... 

Note:

* It is said that Beas is a misnomer for Vayasa  and is named after Veda Vyasa, the presiding patron of the river, he is said to have created it from its source lake, the Vyasa Kund. The original name of Beas is Vasistha.