Simla-Manali: A trip with family

A trip like this after approximately 3-4 years
Problem with such trips:
You can't do a lot of things which you would have done if alone/ friends :); especially when it was such a nice climate

Route: Delhi-Kalka-Shimla-Manali-Chandigarh-(Kota)-Delhi

Well to be true, the trip was a little big: 7-8 days are fine if you are travelling alone and exploring the place on your own. But when you take a package tour with family it becomes a little boring (in the sense you have to follow a routine.. sort of), especially if you are a person like me. In a single line the trip can be summarized as Local sightseeing, some tourist spots, some shopping, lot of bargaining (from general shopping to price of adventure sports), a little adventure sports, lot of temples, some argument with driver, lot of photography, taash, and hmm… general fun. Besides all these thanks to our driver he took us to some konte ki (corner) place which was not in the itinerary – a nice temple almost cut off from the crowd. BTW this was the first time I made some videos using N96, though they aren’t that professional but still good if you want to recall stuff and atleast I find them assuming :). Especially one of the videos in which we are buying shawls etc. from an old Kashmiri guy – nice natured, jolly, funny – he was one guy with whom we used to so time-pass while buying stuff. This trip for me was quite different from last few trips (2-3 years) because this time as it was with family. You most importantly need not worry about anything :). Besides that this entire shopping, bargaining etc. was funny and a good time-pass. Just think it like this, most of tourists are the honeymoon couples, so somehow I feel there is not too much bargaining and hence the prices are high. (My Theory - Husband in his enthusiasm to impress his wife, probably pays whatever he is asked for). So, when seasoned buyers like my mother & father were there - it was a nice watch.
Adventures Sports:
Rafting – not as great as what we did in Rishikesh
Para Gliding – hmmm… Nice as it was first time for me (from 1000 pp we did it for 400 pp)
General
Snow Skiing – though it’s almost farzi, but still I did more than what I did in Innsbruck after taking a snow board and dress for more than 40 Euros. Rohtang pass wasn’t open so snow point was made some 40 kms before that. (Here we were looted wrt prices and hence the altercation with the driver… he had his commission from guy giving equipment. A bit of our mistake though as we had some idea but got confused)
Photograph – Well… I believe I was mostly taken as a photographer (pun intended).
Tons of pics and videos
Temples – Some nice beautiful temples
Shopping – Bargaining
Tourist Spots – This is some concept which I hate – making random places tourist spots. But this happens everywhere you can’t help it.
Chandigarh – Nice and well planned city. Rock Garden – Nice.

Anyways have lot of stories but writing about family here… naah.
But this trip helped me in one big way – I strengthened my resolve to have a bike trip to Laddakh. I just can’t wait to get some time off and go to this place atleast once and then I assure you will be writing ‘some’ blog about that trip. Btw since returning I am ‘consulting’ my tauji how to do a Manali/ Himachal trip :).

A few random pics

Well while writing this post I realize I have only 300 mb left. I need to have my own personal space atleast here in the online world :). another name... http://shubh.am :). And probably rather than uploading images create some slideshows etc. Lot of ideas floating in like videos, slideshows etc. Lets wait for next trip ;)