Surrounded by snow peaks

In the bus to Manali on 11/11 we met a nice Canadian (Quebec) solo traveller with a guitar, Martin, who instantly became part of the gang.

Arriving in Manali at 5 o clock was unforgettable. We were happy we could see snow peaks around us in the night but we were frozen from the bus ride and moreover from the place's temperature. We got a touk touk (autorickshaw) to old manali to get a cheap room and by 5:30 we were sleeping under two blankets.
When we woke up and we realized we were in a heaven of mountains.

We walked in old Manali to get some food and we found a turkish guy playing wonderfully a small saz. We joined him of course and first thing we played was a song that Greece and Turkey shares, " Apo kseno topo". The cafe got filled soon and after few hours we decided to go to Vashisht across the river to relax in the hot springs. Some Indians who were in the cafe earlier took us with the car. We got in the car of Simran and in front of us leading the way was the couple Gautam and Kriti (best name ever). Simran left to check in a hotel and Gautam was asking us to follow him and so we did. We visited the famous stone temple where they construct an outer temple by wood with amazing woodcrafts. Inside a side room of the temple people were bathing in the springs. Gautam asked us again to follow then and go to the waterfall 30 minutes away. Beautiful place to chill. We started walking barefoot in the freezing water but it was to painful to keep your feet in.

Gautam and Kriti was a western style couple from Delhi who enjoyed being together without being married. They live a hard working life so they love luxury on their free time. Beside loving luxury and rich style life you could see that they have pure and kind hearts in opposite with rich western people who can be quite irritating.

We were thinking to move to Vashisht the next day as it feels better and enjoys more sunshine than old Manali and thats when we met Simran, the guy that disappeared before. He was with a hotel manager and we got a great offer. Back in old Manali we met the Israily girl from our hotel, Agar, who had made food and wanted us to have some. We got some chapatis (indian breads) and we ate and chilled outside our room until later.

Next morning after doing some yoga instructed by Alex we took our stuff and walked to Manali. The hotel was in the top of all Vashisht so we get a great view of the village and the mountains. Simran was waiting for us. Somehow we convinced him to take us to see Rothang pass so after one and a half hour we were in the middle of the snow near 4000m.

The second day in Vashisht included some yoga, bath in the hot springs of the temple, some shopping in Manali and the preparation of the trek of the next day.

Next day we got up very early and after having a chai to warm up we started going up a steep path. A beautiful black dog came to play with us. She saw we were nice people and she decided to join us on our hike. At 9:30 we had our first break next to a small waterfall, getting the first bit of sun available. After eating some bananas we continued on a not-so-clear path. Around 11:00 we reached a place used for camping as you could see some flat areas and a wood oven to cook. You couldnt see any house down in the valley from there as we were already 600m higher. Only snow peaks everywhere. We decided to reach the top of the peak that we couldn't really see but at least sun was on our side. We followed another not-so-clear path until we reached an uphill valley at 12:20. All plant were dead from the ice and the path was ending there. Looking up the uphill valley, it didn't look extremely hard thing to do so we decided to go for it. At 14:00 we reached one of the tops. We could go higher but we had agreed on starting descending at 14:00. The truth is that we were too exhausted to go higher. After enjoying for 10 minutes being in the sky and surrounded by snow peaks we decided to go down, hoping that we will find our way before dark. Our last hope anyway was that the dog would lead us down.

Going down was harder because the knees were receiving a lot of shock. We took some good decisions concerning the way down and soon we met some mountain people doing some constructions. They offered us a chai and we offered some chocolate. The way they work is a bit weird but quite effective. We stayed 30 minutes and we left before the dark arrive in the valley.

We took a shorter and almost vertical path, different from before, that was meeting big cliffs every now and then so we had to stay focused on our path. Martin accidently moved a big stone which accelerated very fast down to the cliff.

At 18:00 and there was no more light in the sky we entered our guest house. Everything went perfect and we had a big meal to celebrate it.

The next two days we focused in yoga and in enjiying hot springs. On the last evening we met randomly the greek girl with spanish boy and we spent some time together.

A week passed and it was time to separate with Martin. Martin you are a beautiful person. Keep playing music.

We left with Alex on Tuesday 18th November to see Parvati valley. Big surprises were waiting for us.

We should all enjoy the nature more. Walking gives you health and nature can do magic on you. Go hike people!!!