manali - stopover on the way to Tibet

It’s a long way to get to the Indian Tibet, so we decide to stop in Manali, a small town in the Himalaya, with nice wooden houses and hindu temples.

Typical wooden houses with stone roof

Here we stayed two days in a hotel near Manali with superb mountain and village views for just 10USD the room, while we wait for the next minibus to head to Leh (our final destination in Tibet). The winter is coming, so people here are getting ready and collecting hay for their cattle. The funny thing is that they collect it on the roofs to let it dry, so the whole place is covered with green and you can see the people working on the roofs!



The temples in Manali are really nice, people from whole India come here to adore hindu gods Shiva, Rama and Vashisht.

This two-story temple looked really nice but unfortunately we were not allowed in!

This temple complex dedicated to Vashisht has also hot spring baths that are really popular amongst locals!

Indian cities are mostly crowded and dirty places, and you feel sometimes overwhelmed by so many people, taxis, heat… but there is also a more subtle and tranquil India that is like a jewel you have to find in the middle of the sand. Right in the crowed center of Manali you can suddenly discover a nice wooden temple , perfectly clean and still….the time here kind of stops and you see how life brews outside of it.

In the temples you always have to take off your shoes. Not doing it is a big offense!

Here in the center of Manali, Locals practice cricket in front of their shop while waiting for their customers.

Buddhist temple. Everytime you go around touching the prayer wheels be sure to do it clockwise and sing this mantra, which is meant to give you inside power: OM MANI PADMEH UM

Finally we went to the 15th-century hindu Hadimba temple. The entrance is framed with amazing wooden carvings, that are not only representing hindu gods, but also Buddhist ones. The atmosphere here is really mystical!

David trying to read the bus destinations in Indi!

We finally got our bus ticket and on the 14th of September at 6:oo a.m. we headed for a bumpy two-days ride to Leh.