Snow at Manali and Naggar | Honeymoon Trip

The Journey so far-

Day 4 – November 13th, 2009 | Manali – Solang Valley – Naggar

This day we were supposed to have fun with the Snow point tour offered by HPTDC Honeymoon package. We had some butter toast in the breakfast, prepared the coffee for ourselves as with rest of the milk and out in a flash to catch the bus which was waiting only for us. Timings of the bus departure was 9.30 AM and we reached there at 10.00 AM and that too only after running the last leg :)  But that’s it we got it. There was a cloud cover since morning and certainty of rain was always there. The temperature was much lower than the previous days. Since it was after a very long time there was November snowfall in Manali, roads were closed badly up from there and we were only allowed till Solang Valley and believe me it was full of snow.Here is the glimpse…

Snow @ Solang…

Although there was not much need of Snow Suits but we still rent them to save our clothes from getting wet. We reached Solang and it started snowing for 10-15 minutes and then converted into rain. Considering the whether conditions driver of the HPTDC bus instructed all of us to come back by 12.30 that was 1.30 Hrs of enjoyment in snow which was pretty much good enough. But the best part was driver said then we will move on to Naggar and I said WOW!! There we can accommodate our booking for tomorrow and stay there for today’s night and come back to Manali to leave for home next day, there by seeing Naggar as well and most importantly avoiding the night stay at that scary Hadimba Cottages. Here are the pictures of Solang Valley where we had great enjoyment…

We had great fun there as my wife seeing snow as well as snowfall for the first time 🙂 After the we moved towards Naggar which was about 30 KM from Solang. The views en-rotue were simply breath taking and here are few pictures from which you can get a feel…

En-route Naggar there was a temple as well know as "Gayatri Temple" know to be one of the oldest temples of all time with relevance to "Mahabharata". Here are few clicks…

Well we finally reached Naggar and straight away went to reception to adjust my booking for today. I asked the guy at reception to accommodate the booking for current day and he obliged favorably. They even adjusted the return tickets of Volvo for very next day which were initially booked for two days after. He also booked a taxi for us to Manali for next day which cost us Rs 500. I believe it was at much higher side but they had an excuse of heavy rain all the way and tough road condition etc. So in all we had cut short the journey by one day. We had lunch at the restaurant, which was really great with added amazing beauty of views from the outside tables. Here are few of them…

Then, guy at reception showed us the room (room number 105) we booked for Rs 3000 from Delhi office (poor me, first time I made that mistake of booking without seeing ). When I saw it, I believe it was worth it. But somehow we had to reject it since it was too big and my wife recalled the last night horror at Hadimba Cottages. Moreover, we were alone again that day at hotel as only few foreigners were there and no one could assure their presence at night . So, sadly we rejected that one of most beautiful rooms I have ever seen. Nevertheless in the end we got one of the front facing room (Room Number 112) although it is priced Rs. 900 less i.e. Rs 2100. Do check 101, 102, 103, 112 rooms for availability as they are among the front facing rooms I know about (best scenic views, you can see entire Nagger valley from their window or balcony) and if you feel it’s an off season do book only on the spot.

Views from our room…

Source of the above views…room’s balcony…

It was raining most part of the day and we rested for few hours and went to cafeteria in the evening to have some tea and coffee. Outside it was too cold and chilly so we sat inside the cafeteria for few hours. Meanwhile we got to know that during thunderstorms they shutdown their EPABX system to prevent damage. Same is the case with telephone exchange. So if you are there do save the number of any responsible person at hotel as land-lines doesn’t work there during thunderstorms.

In dinner we had some boiled eggs and sweet corn soup which was also pretty nice and went to peaceful sleep. Next morning we had to leave for Manali at 10 AM and the Volvo back home was scheduled 5.30 PM.

Day 5,6 – November 14th / 15th , 2009 | Naggar – Manali – Delhi

We woke up in the morning pretty early to enjoy the beauty and click some photographs of the castle and Naggar valleys breathtaking views. We also went to the temple inside the castle and then took the breakfast. We had french toast in the breakfast and again, they were awesome. So overall the food quality at Naggar Castle was great. Here are the pictures from the day we were to leave.

Temple inside Naggar Castle…

Assorted…

It was raining since night and all the way. We started from Naggar around 10.30 AM and target was to reach Hadimba Cottages before check-out time. We reached their in time, I clicked some pictures of the room and we were away. Down at mall we had to spend next 5 Hrs waiting for the bus to leave and it was badly raining and it was very cold. We went to Kunzum hotel, (HPTDC property) asked the guys to keep our luggage. They also obliged in favor and we are thankful to them.

It was lunch time by then and we decided that we will eat at two places. At one place order will be to my wife’s liking and at other it will be mine. First we went to some restaurant and had a DOSA. It was pathetic but thankfully tea was good. We were unable to eat that dosa and in next half an hour we left from there. Then we went to Grozy restaurant, which is I think the first  restaurant at the start. We had a punjabi thali and it tasted good. I tried this restaurant in 2007 and the food was of nice quality still. Then we had left ourselves with 2 more hours and again we went to Kunzum Hotel waiting lounge. After sometime we decided to sit in Bar in the restaurant and have some Vodka and pass time. There we passed the rest of the time and by the time we reach back it was told to us that bus is in place and you can keep your luggage. We went to bus, kept our luggage have 4 boiled eggs and some popcorns for the bus.

During most part of the journey till Sundernagar it was raining and there was a lot of slush on the way where it took almost 5 minutes every time bus was stuck into it. We left for home around 6 PM from Manali and reached Delhi at 9 AM. Overall we enjoyed each and everything right from snow, rain, hills and even the scary night etc.

One of the best…