OK OK HOLIDAYS

I am not a travel enthusiast so my excitement level was near zero when my brother decided to go for a holiday. He already had a destination in his mind, Manali it was. I knew about Manali which is located in Himachal Pradesh as an ultimate place for snow-lovers and mountains. Everyone nodded and so the bookings were done for the next month. I had never watched snow before so the 'zero' excitement level was now beginning to rise as the days were passing. All the preparations were done and the day of leaving for the mountains came, the excitement level was now at the peak. 

DAY 1

We boarded the Volvo which was supposed to take us to the destination. We were allotted the seats in the very first row and yeah it made a huge difference to our travelling experience. We left at 5 in the evening and were supposed to reach Manali via Chandigarh at 8 in the morning next day. The travel was smooth, we reached Chandigarh at 11 pm, picked some more passengers and entered the state of Himachal Pradesh a few hours later. Till then the excitement didn't let me sleep, after that it was the scare. There were no lights, nor proper roads and we began to climb the hills. The experience of sitting in the first row is something that I can't ever forget. We were moving at an average speed of 80 kmph and the cars and buses came rushing in front of us from nowhere and every time it felt it would ram into us and we will be off the road into the abyss. As you can read this article, nothing such happened and I am alive yet, Thankfully!!

DAY 2

We reached the destination at about 6 in the morning, 2 hours earlier to the time we were told, I already doubted the bus speed last night. We left for the hotel we had booked, got an early check-in ,thanks to the guys over there . After having a bit of rest and breakfast we got ready and left for some sight seeing. We visited Hadimba Temple, Manu Temple and few other places too which were average. Actually I don't like temples n all and that too surrounded by a huge crowd. But I was pleased with the scenic beauty of the mountains and the Beas River. The next day we were supposed to go to Rohtang Pass which is about 50 kms above Manali and is the prime destination for the snow.

DAY 3

Things don't go as planned and we came to know that the Taxi Association declared a strike and no vehicle was permitted to go to the Rohtang. Our mood went off as there was no way now and nobody knew for how many days would this strike go on. We just hanged out in Mall Road ,had lunch, shopped for family and friends and returned to our hotel. Thankfully there was a Champion's Trophy match going on which passed our time. At night we came to know that the strike has been called off and so we ready to go again.

DAY 4

We had to wake up early so as to reach there on time and to avoid the traffic. We were awake at 3 in the morning and left for the destination at 3.30 am. After an hour we stopped to buy some special kind of suits which were needed at Rohtang as it would be chilly up there. Our driver was no less than a formula1 driver, the speed at which he was driving in zero visibility and the way he was over-taking really made me totally forget the bus driver . He wanted to over-take every car he saw, that too without waiting even a bit, its after we told him to slow down a bit  he came in a little control. But as usual on that route we were stuck in a jam. Snow was all around by that time and I was bored sitting in the car so I got out and literally got frozen up in a second. I hadn't experienced such chilly winds in my whole lifetime, even after wearing many layers of clothing I was feeling so cold. After an hour we were moving again and reached our prime destination at 7 am. I can't explain the beauty of that place in words, it was certainly splendid, snow all around, beautiful mountains and us so high. We enjoyed some time and then left for the hotel again. Fighting huge jams we finally reached our hotel at 2 pm and we rested the remaining day.

DAY 5

 It was our last day in Manali and we had our Volvo in the evening so we visited some nearby places to chill like Old Manali, Club House and some popular cafes. It was finally the end of the trip which we thoroughly enjoyed. We reached the place where our bus was waiting and boarded it well on time. This time we were allotted the middle seats so much of the journey went sleeping.

        It was 6 in the morning and I could see the roads of Delhi outside my window. I was happy not to find a single mountain in the view, was sick of seeing them these 5 days. This short trip was an amazing experience full of thrill , adventure sports, snow , some amazing driving and lots of fun. So they were an Overall Killer(O.K) holidays as you can say!! 


VIPUL CHAHAL
ASE B.TECH. CSE 3A 
Y BATCH 
A12405212034