“My Mountain Story”

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Year 2013, it was my very first trekking experience, and yes an unforgettable one too. It wasn’t the trek, or the adventure sports we played that was distinctive, but the beauty of Himachal Pradesh. The air around is totally magical and hence it made our trek more adventurous.
The trek started from Manali and the destination was Dhundi. 
It was the month of June, and so the weather was pleasant. As I’m from west India, it was then also too cold for me. But every morning we use to start our day by breathing clean and fresh air, all away from the polluted and uproar cities.Our training institute was Atal Bihari Vajpayee institute of mountaineering and allied sports, Manali.

The institute campus is beautiful and the best instructors, one can get as beginners.
On the very first day, we visited the Manali market. The market was crowded with tourists. The Manali market is famous for shawl shops, woolen cloths and yes for food too.

There, I saw something very fascinating, full of creativity. There was a vendor, making some kind of  a key chain. Yes, key chains, but you must be thinking what is fascinating here? The man was writing names on a grain of rice and, then putting it into a small bottle, filled with colorful liquid. The name was so clearly visible and so beautiful that i couldn’t resist getting one for myself. In the Manali market, one must taste Thupka. The combination of the weather around and the taste of thupka was the best to experience, as the cold weather was complementing the taste, with a bunch of friends.

On the second day, we visited the most famous Hadimba Temple. The way to Hadimba temple was beautifully covered with deodar trees. You’ll enjoy the route.
As we headed towards our destination Dhundi, we took a stay in Solang Valley, for one night.

One must visit the Anjani Mahadev temple, also known as the Amarnath of Kullu, i.e. 20 feet from the ground level and there are around 110 stairs. There is a waterfall as well, which starts converting into a Shivling as the temperature dips. The formation for Shivling starts from December.

We got the proof that, there is still something that we could call pure and natural, and that was the water there. During our trek, whenever we felt thirsty, we use to fill up our water bottles with the fresh water from waterfalls, coming out directly from the mountains. We saw some fresh apples too, green apples. But we were not allowed to pluck it from trees, as it deteriorated the beauty of nature.
Finally, when we reached our destination, we were very relaxed and satisfied, yet not tired. We completed our trek in 10 days, 80 kms and 10,700 ft above the sea level. There is something in that air of Himalayas, which makes a person fresh and enthusiast. We planned to set our camps just next to river Beas. We decided to organise a camp fire at night, so we collected some dry wood branches. The camp fire night was just like, which one sees in movies.

We all love to dream and so I loved to, but the mountains taught me to enjoy the real world, and the moments in it.
Manali, Himachal Pradesh is not just worth visiting, but living life there. Life is totally different in Himachal, rather simply the best.