Vacation ..... Finally - more pictures

I had this post all written & ready, just didn't publish it - so here it is :)

Right from March I was waiting for the month of June.... 2 full weeks of vacation.... knew it was going to be just great. When I raised my leave request in office, my manager said "2 weeks??? that's a looooong break" to which I said "yeah.... after a loooong time" then the reply had to be "True, have a good vacation"

Thus began my vacation :)

Manali - We'd first planned to take a bus from Delhi to Manali, but after some googling I found that it would be better to drive instead as there were lots of places to stop by on the way. So we started off from Delhi and drove to Manali with a night halt at Swarghat. On the way to Manali itself, we spotted quite a few snow covered peaks, coming from the south - this was a real thrilling experience for me :)

At Manali, we stayed at the Manali Resort - the place to be! River Beas flowing by with ice-cold water, the mountain peaks - all so close by, the green valleys.... "Room with a view" - yeah this is what they must have had in mind when they coined the term.
Rohtang Pass - Just the day before, it had snowed so Rohtang Pass was all set for our visit. Its such a narrow winding road to the top, some parts of the drive were a bit scary, especially when there are trucks coming the other way and drive past with just an inch gap between the vehicles.
We reached the top around noon time and it was freezing there. Half of us went horse back to "zero point" while the rest decided to walk it up.
Unless you keep moving your feet, they are sure to freeze...
Chopper ride anyone? Man! are these rides really expensive... just for 5 minutes, you have to shell out a couple of 1000s per person but the view from the top is just amazing. As it is a defence area, photography wasn't allowed.
White-water rafting - Right from Kullu, there are a lot of clubs that offer rafting. We chose a 3KM Grade 2 one. My first time... and the adrenaline rush is just unexplainable!
On the way, we drove past a school and I had to stop to take pictures of the children. We went and got toffees & distributed it to the children... was a very pleasant experience...

Children - they are such a joy (should I add... as long as they belong to someone else) ;)

The other places we visited were the Vashisht hot water springs and the Hidimba temple.

One thing unique to Manali that we noticed was the rose bushes. Everywhere, every house, lots 'n lots of roses blooming in bunches, in all vibrant colours, just so beautiful!

We had a day to spare so we drove to Mc Leodgunj, above Dharmshala where the Dalai Lama resides. Visited the buddhist monastery during their meditation time, just to hear the buddhist chants. That was a very peaceful experience, but I guess to get the true picture, a visit to Tibet would be a must... would like to do that sometime... lets see...
Shimla
The town is completed crowded and there is utter chaos everywhere, shops, people, vehicles.... We were tired, hungry and the heat was just killing us... we were just waiting for the drive to end, but the place where we stayed made it all worth-while. The resort was 35KMS above Shimla town beyond Kufri.

The resort was located right at the top and all you could see from the terrace-balcony was peaks, valleys... far far away from the crowd & noise. Spent a couple of days there - days of complete relaxation.
This was an amazing vacation. Everytime we visit a place, we decide that next year we'd go back to the same place....
Last time it was Munnar, this time its Manali...next time - lets see :)
Now... back to reality :)

A few more pictures are here