The arrival 

(26th December, 2020)

It appears challenging to write about a place which has been explored so much by a multitude of people. I assume that at least 1 member from most north Indian families has visited it. However, the beauty of this place isn't something that can be bound by mere statistics.

Manali (earlier Manu-aalaya : the abode of Manu) is a pretty common hill station & a honeymoon destination. However, most honeymooners spend their days at the Mall Road before leaving for other towns such as Kullu. 

A school in Manali village

The Mall Road - an essential road in any hill station - in Manali is great but not as charismatic as the Shimla one. You'll find an amazing collection of a variety of shawls and winter wear. I remember having a 6 in 1 soft cone ice-cream & a lunch at the Zaika restaurant there.

But travelers we are, Chaitanya- my roomie from Mumbai days, & I, chose Old Manali as our home for 6 days. Neither of us wanted to splurge on hotels costing a minimum of INR 3k per night, but we got a really good early-December deal with a backpacker's hostel.

Ronnie & Monique run BaseCamp Nirvana in Old Manali since eternity. I read about it on a Facebook group and decided to make a deal with them for a grand per night. They asked us if we wanted heaters in our rooms at an additional charge, but we went against the suggestion.

Basecamp Nirvana

Reaching up to Basecamp Nirvana (BCN) is a road-trek in itself for the civilian-city muscles we have. Our bus from Delhi dropped us at the Manali bus stop and we did the mistake of taking a tuk-tuk (an autorickshaw) in jam packed roads. However strenuous it maybe, but even with luggage, it's advisable to walk to avoid the frequent, long jams on Manali-old Manali route. As soon as we crossed the Manalsu bridge, the roads started getting narrow & inclined, and the tuk-tuk driver took full advantage of our zero knowledge of the city & charged INR 300 to drop us.

View from my room at BCN


BCN is located at a hat's drop from the famous Manu Temple.


As per the information available at the temple, when the super deluge destroyed the whole world, Manu, guided by an avatar of Shri Hari Vishnu, carried seeds of humanity alongwith the Saptarishis - Atri, Gautam, Jamdagni, Vashisht, Vishwamitra, and 2 more whose names I've forgotten. Lord Vishnu guided Manu's boat to the a place that was called Manu-aalaya (the abode of Manu), which changed to Manali with time. The garbha-griha(sanctum sanctorum) of the temple is ancient and consists of idols that started bleeding when a woman struck them while digging earth. The temple was rebuilt in 1991 but the garbha griha is the same ancient one. 

Manu temple entrance clicked from inside the temple

The temple has a very peaceful vibe. It's unlike temples one sees in metros. Many people sit in the temple arena to get some good sunlight. I crossed the temple arena daily for breakfast, but went inside the temple on my day of departure from Manali. It's well constructed and has a divine aura inside it - a must visit for anyone. Happy children keep running across but even their noise is unable to shake the tranquil vibe that lies within.


Loki greeted us as we checked in to a room that was clean by a backpacker's hostel's standards. The geyser provided hot water for both drinking and other uses. Yes, you read it right. One CAN drink tap water in Old Manali, it's completely safe as in Dec'2020. We hesitated a bit initially, but ended up filling drinking water bottles from the washbasin tap.

Mr.Loki - not so low-key ;)

Old Manali is situated at a higher altitude than Manali and although we used to come downtown for dinner daily, it's physically arduous to walk to & fro even twice, given the inclined roads and our so called civilian fitness levels that reduce further after having a meal.

There's a thing about backpacker hostels that hotels don't have - interaction with fellow travelers. It was already 3PM as we checked in, and I chatted up with a guy who was checking out the same day. He advised us to visit Rocky's cafe & a nearby waterfall.

The Rocky's cafe entrance

Old Manali is dotted with cafes. In fact, one of my travel goals here was to experience the greatest number of cafes possible. Rocky's is situated on the Manu temple road and is at a walking distance from Basecamp Nirvana. It's an amazing balcony-styled place for both food and the awesome view of the mountains.

We ordered fish fillet and a pizza for our poor stomachs that had just endured a 17 hour food break. The place has an electric vibe. To my left, I could see people playing some serious chess. To my right, I could see people soaking in last few minutes of sunlight while munching delicacies. All others were laughing and chatting as if nothing mattered to them other than happiness. 

food with a view

The food was amazing, but the only negative is that you really have to push the staff to take your order and deliver it to you. Their crowd management is bit tardy. The food also costs more than other downhill cafes. However, all our complaints vanished as we were served. Then it was just food, us, and the mountains.

We were tired so we retired to our room and woke up just in time for dinner. 
I was looking for a quiet place, but my roomie was in mood for some live music. We followed the sound of blaring Bollywood numbers and thus entered Sky Garden Manali. The place has an entry fee which we realized only after giving the order, and a few cute dogs to give you company. A band named Aarzoo plays here.

The live band at Sky garden Manali

Sky Garden Manali


What we didn't realize was that we had to climb uphill after dinner, and our sore hamstrings made us realize that later when we crashed into our beds. 
End of day one !