Manali- Surrounded by Mountains with Nowhere to Hike

Hello family and friends,

We are currently in Jaipur, India sitting in our hostel going through pictures of our last five months of travel. It has been an amazing adventure thus far and we are looking forward to the next chapter of our long vacation. We spent last week in Manali, India which is part of the Himalayan mountain range. We were expecting six days of hiking in pollution free mountains. What we got was beautiful mountains, lots of trash and pollution, and nowhere to trek. There were a couple shorter hikes, which we did, but nothing like we are used to (please see Gosau and Zakopane posts). We ended up walking through the villages instead so at least we got some exercise. It is a bit challenging to be a foreigner in India. We really enjoy blending in with the locals and participating in the culture of each area, but it seems to be impossible to do here. Many people are curious about us, which makes it is hard to mix in. Luckily, on the final day of our stay, we ended up at two beautiful Tibetan monasteries. It is hard to explain the peace we felt when we were inside. It was the perfect place to end up on our last day in Manali and our blood pressure returned to normal :-).

Please enjoy the following pictures from our stay:

The view from our cottage- so far so good. We thought to ourselves, "we have arrived!!!"




Ok, the mountains WERE beautiful




Hadimba Temple- At the entrance to the temple, you can take pictures with yaks and the fluffiest bunnies







Nature, meet people- you can't blame it all on the locals because the sanitation department in India is non existent. When people finish their food/ drinks, they throw the remains on the ground and it goes where the wind takes it. Those who do throw their trash in a bin have to burn it on the side of the road or the bulls eat it for an afternoon treat







We walked over twenty kilometers this day through village after village until we reached Naggar. We were rewarded with some very nice views.







A temple in Naggar







Our lunch- we ate under this gigantic umbrella and had the place all to ourselves.




We finally found a hike to Jogni waterfall- Hindu people come here to pray and meditate



















A few things we saw on the way to Jogni falls

Donkeys carrying bricks on a trail







Vishisht Temple




This little guy needs a home- we considered putting him in our pack, but we didn't want to starve him of oxygen




You can do it




A final message we left for those who come behind us- this was right at the most beautiful part of the hike




Manu Temple







Monkeying around on our way back from Manu temple to the Tibetan monasteries

One monkey




Two monkeys




Three monkeys




Tibetan monastery number one

























Tibetan monastery number two










Living in harmony







We are leaving India in two days and flying to Thailand for....well we aren't so sure yet. We are starting in Bangkok and then heading to Phuket and Chiang Mai perhaps. Does anybody with experience have any other suggestions? On a final note, It will take us a while to process all of the stimuli we encountered in India, but we are blessed to have been able to experience it all.

-Mila and Scott


- Posted around the world from our iPad

Location:Road No 1,New Delhi,India