Manali - Himalaya

Manali is located in the mountains of Himachal Pradesh in the North of India, its altitude is around 2000m. Manali is divided in three villages: New Manali, Old Manali and Vashisht. But, one of the most important things to mention.... Manali is part of the Himalaya... Based on recommendations from other travelers booked a guesthouse in Old Manali we would stay there for a few days and decide if we wanted to change or not.

The bus from Delhi dropped us in New Manali, excited about being in the Himalaya, we looked to the giant mountains around us and felt the cold a little bit... We were coming from places with high temperatures and suddenly.. winter. We got a taxi from the bus station to Old Manali in order to check in at our guesthouse, we were tired from the crazy bus ride and it was still very early in the morning. The taxi driver drove through the hills but suddenly stopped the car and said: "now you have to follow me.." we grabbed our backpacks and started to walk through very tiny paths between rudimental houses and gardens where locals grew vegetables and had their animals (cows, dogs and yaaks). The smell was the typical smell from the country side... yes, it includes some cow poop smell but at the end it is a pleasent smell. Kika had some flashbacks from her childhood when she used to go to her family house in the summer in the North of Portugal... Soutelo to be precise. We were curious about where our guest house would be and if walking through those tiny paths was normal. The guest house ended up being in a great location with amazing views of the mountais. On that day we took some rest and explored Old Manali. We met a very nice local old guy that has a small bakery that serves chocolat croissants and nice tea... no need to say that we became clients. Old Manali is different it doesn't seem to be part of India, it's quiet, clean, relaxed and people don't "attack" you all the time. Another positive point about Manali are the dogs... Dogs here have a different presence... they are really nice to humans and follow you around like they are yours... between them there is a big respect and territorial feeling but with humans they are really nice... except at 11pm when they all decide to bark/howl at the same time but they might have at reason.

On our second day we decided to walk until New Manali close to the river. New Manali was different... busier, noisier but still clean. We bought an Indian SIM card to be able to contact volunteering hosts, we walked around the village and in a natural park but the cold was making sure that we were feeling it's presence. Pedro started to feel some sore throat and chills so we decided to walk back to the guest house.. we didn't want to get ill...

But.... we can't get what we want all the time... On our 3rd day, Pedro was with fever and Kika was starting to feel the symptoms. At night we were both knocked out... 38.5 of fever, sore throat, chills and all the common things of a cold. Our next three days were basically to cure our cold, we got out just to eat and buy more medicine the rest of the time we were resting in the room, reading,  watching TV, playing cards/dices and think. Kika ended up taking antibiotics as her throat and fever didn't pass as fast as Pedro's.

We didn't do much but for the first time we felt what it is to be ill when we are travelling.. at one point, when the fever doesn't go down, the night comes, the pharmacy is far far away and the hospital is God knows where ... we think. We think how lucky we are to live in places where health care is so close, pharmacies are open all night and there are always friends and mostly family around. We also realized how our bodies are used to medicine... the recommended dosage by the Indian pharmacist had no effect on us.. it only started to pass when we increased the dosage.. pills are stronger in Portugal and much stronger in America.

After four days of cold we just wanted to explore.. we were not 100% cured but we couldn't stay in the room anymore. We rented a motorbike for two days and drove around the mountains... we saw amazing views and we felt connected to the nature that surrunded us. We drove until Solang Valley (beautiful), visited Vashisht, Nagaar and other villages around Manali. Curve after curve it was the mountain, the scooter and us... Vashish is the 3rd village that belongs to Manali, it is less touristy than Old Manali. There are foreign hippies that decided to live there, we found cheaper restaurants and a nice vibe as well.. if it wasn't the cold that we had we would have stayed in Vashisht for a few days for sure... in Vashisht we visited the waterfalls and the hot springs inside a temple but we didn't bathe because we didn't want to take any risk of getting worst... we just touched the water with our foot and we confirmed that the water was really hot... unfortunately pictures are not allowed there.

One of our original intention, coming to Manali, was to have our first volunteering experience but unfortunately we had to give up on that idea.. the high season is over in October so there are almost no opportunities, we considered going to Dharamashala/McLeod Ganj (where the Dalai Lama lives) in search of volunteering opportunities as well... but the cold was getting worst and we had no appropriate gear so we would have to spend a lot of money in clothes that we would only need for 2/3 weeks and we would have to carry them for the next 10 months... we ended up deciding it is time to go south... Goa... we checked online and there are some attractive volunteering opportunities in that area. In addiction, we can always enjoy the good weather and the beach.

As nothing is easy in India, going to Goa is going to be a challenge... all trains are in waiting list (no tickets), the high season is just starting. We did a lot of research, we even considered to buy a car and start a road trip until we realized that it's impossible to buy a car with a tourist visa... flights are an option but not for us as it will drastically increase our costs so we decided to start going south step by step.. we are stopping for a night in Chandigarh and then heading to our sweet Pushkar.. we will figure the rest out....

As a small summary we liked Manali and the Himalaya.. people are very nice and the nature is evident. Becoming ill made it harder to enjoy but it was still nice... Unfortunately we are not going to visit the Dalai Lama but plans are always changing in trips like this and that is fine. As an advice for backpackers, if you are in a budget do some research before coming to Manali... activities like trekking, rafting and fishing are expensive for the Indian reality. Also keep in mind the clothes, on a year trip and with a small backpack it's hard to bring warm clothes.