My Travel Diary: a Solo Backpacker Journey to Manali

There was a mixed feeling of excitement and guilt as the dream of going on a lone journey was finally coming true with the fact that my family still supposed that I was doing my internship in Delhi.

The bus continued along its way taking sharp turns every other minute and I saw a beautiful yet scary face of nature which was welcoming me and at the same time challenging with narrow roads and deep valleys. The long boredom of my internship had finally been broken and I felt wondered at how the ‘untouched’ songs from the playlist of my cell phone were making me feel amazed as if revealing their beauty to which I finally surrendered to sleep.

”Cherry lenge bhaiya, Himachal ki special h” broke my sleep as I saw a group of mature women standing beside my seat in the bus who were as energetic as the chilling morning winds and their face as red and welcoming as the cherries they were selling. It was 7 AM in the morning and I was 80 kilometers away from Manali, 40 Km from the Kullu Valley. After the minute hand of my wrist watch completed its two rounds, I reached Manali.

A serene town located amidst the ‘aanchal’ of the Himalayas. Manali had everything it takes to describe ‘someone’ beautiful. In this case the indefinite pronoun was a city where my shoes had just stepped in. I checked-in at a Backpacker hostel ‘The Lost Tribe’. After a refreshing breakfast, I started my journey. On my expedition to explore Himalayas, I turned my way towards a 2 Km long trek which led its way towards the Hidimba temple. The ancient temple which was named after Hidimba Devi, the wife of brave Pandava ‘Bhima’ and the mother of ‘Ghatotkach’. A three storeyed building built with rocks and wood, it stood proudly with skeletons of many animals on its wall. Thoughts of YJHD were being recollected in my mind as I made the way to ‘Clubhouse’. Like any other clubhouse, it had video games, disc and indoor sports. The only thing I liked was boating as excluding that, all things there seemed mundane.

Works Cited

1. Bhattacharya, M. (2019). A journey to the Himalayas: A travelogue. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
2. Lonely Planet. (2021). India travel guide. Lonely Planet.
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4. Singh, M. P. (2017). Tourist behavior: An international perspective. CABI.
5. Sharma, A. (2020). Backpacking in India: The ultimate guide. The Broke Backpacker.
6. TripAdvisor. (2021). Manali, Himachal Pradesh. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g297618-Manali_Manali_Tehsil_Kullu_District_Himachal_Pradesh-Vacations.html
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9. National Geographic. (2021). The Himalayas. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/destinations/asia/himalayas/
10. Rough Guides. (2021). India. Rough Guides.