For me Manali is a virtual chef d'oeuvre of nature with its unspoiled beauty which has immense in its store to offer its visitors. During my official visit to Delhi I thought of exploring Manali also known as Queen of hill station. I could take out some break from my hectic schedule and planned a visit to Manali. The hotel provided me with all the information for my travelling to this beautiful town in the state of Himachal Pradesh. My tour operator booked my flight by Vayudoot for Bhunta airport 50km from Manali. From there a tourist cab was arranged to the town. From the cab I could enjoy the glimpse of snow-capped mountains, waterfalls and green meadows on this valley of glaciers, it was just an enchanting and remarkable sight.

My accommodation was booked with Hotel Devi Dyar's, a beautiful resort with an ambience of a cottage. Cozy wood-lined rooms had all the modern facilities like color television, telephone and 24 hours running hot and cold water. I could also enjoy some of the results of elections held recently on television. Totally undisturbed the cottage was embellished with apple orchard and rows of blooming roses, marigolds, daisies and a host of wild flowers.

In the evening I thought of exploring the beautiful bazaars of Manali by taking a stroll on the Mall road. I noticed the market place on either side of the Mall is a main hub of various pastime activities, with lot of eating joints, shops and many tour agencies. Then there were rows of exquisite shops decked with Kulu shawls and caps, the imperious Tibetan markets with colorful jackets, precious stones and a variety of foreign goods. The Kulu shawla and caps were so tempting that finally I ended up in shopping quite few of them.

Next day morning my tour operator had organized a sightseeing tour of the town. My guided tour took me to the Hadimba Temple located at a very shot distance from the Devi Dyar Hotel. My guide Birju who was a smart young man in his early twenties had a good command over English and Hindi and was an educated man, well familiar with the facts. He told me that the temple is 450 years old and is one of the most important temples in the region dedicated to the goddess Hadimba, the local deity is worshipped here for protection. The construction of the temple was marvelous as it has a 4 story wooden structure constructed in pagoda style amidst forest called Dhungiri Van Vihar.
The locals told me that during the month of May a grand festival is organized with mass celebration and this temple is among the few temples of Hindus where non-Hindus are also allowed.

Birju acquainted me with the fact that Manali is a perfect point to start trekking in this region. Depending on your skill, experience and preferences, you can choose brief, easy or moderate treks amidst meadows and dense forests or a high altitude trek on barren landscapes for 7 days. Due to shortage of time, I could not choose any of the options he gave me.

Our next destination was a visit to the Rohtang Pass about 13 km from Manali. I was told that the Pass is the only access to the Lahaul Valley and is open from June to November each year. The beautiful sight of the splendid Dishar Lake overwhelmed me and I was bound to take a halt there. The pass was really exciting offering a spectacular view of the majestic mountains and definitely making one curious that what is there in store beyond the Rohtang pass on the road to Leh and towards Lahaul and Spiti.

A 26kms long galvanizing drive to Naggar was really enthralling and exciting crossing number of villages and dense devdar forests. All the way Birju kept on informing me about the hill people, their culture and their way of living, he also told me that the Naggar was the erstwhile capital of Kullu for 1400 years, quite surprising. I could also spent some time enjoying the Naggar castle and Roerich art gallery preserving the masterpiece of Russian-born artist, Nicholas Roerich's paintings portraying the Himalayan landscapes, it was just fabulous.

He told me that at a distance of 81kms government is developing a small village of Kasol as a popular tourist destination to meet the requirements of the domestic and foreign tourists. Kasol is boosted as an angler's paradise.
During my stay in Manali I enjoyed the blue skies, the devdar forests, the virgin snow capped mountains and also the killing winter breeze, in fact every thing that came my way. The splendid memories of my stay in Manali have engraved on my heart forever.