Off to the hills

Day 6: August 6, 2008 Ludhiana – Ropar – Kiratpur – Bilaspur – Sunder Nagar – Mandi – Kullu – Manali.

We got up at 5:30 the next morning and left for Manali. Getting out of Ludhiana was not difficult thanks to the directions Selven gave us.

The highways of Punjab looked familiar and the weather was bright and pleasant. We were off to a good start and hoped to make it to Manali comfortably by around 6pm. Breakfast was at a dhaba near Ropar. The climb started as soon as Kiratpur was over and we knew this was the beginning of how the roads were going to be for the next two weeks!

We liked what we saw – the hills had arrived and our bikes had started to get a dose of what they were going to be going through too. The ride was hassle free and we kept stopping for pictures and entered Himachal Pradesh soon.

One cannot expect Hill roads to be wide and smooth and so we rode on narrower roads and encounteres many a pothole! We stopped for Rajma chawal at a dhaba after Sunder Nagar and it appeared like the toilets were built as viewing stations to the beautiful valley! The front faced the unexciting highway.

The Beas started following after Mandi and the view from there on till Manali was breathtaking - excellent winding roads and lush forests led us to Manali. We came across the delightful little Kullu airport before reaching Manali at around 7pm. I was glad with how my bike was performing. We looked around for a place to stay and found rooms at Hotel Drilbu for 225/- a night. Our luggage was soon all over the room. After a hot water bath and some phone calls, we set out to take a walk and look for a place to eat. Selven directed us to try out some authentic momos at one of the small joints at The Mall – those tasted great.

Since we were still hungry and had time, we decided to try out a small dhaba at the Bus Stand gates. After making ourselves comfortable we ambitiously ordered chilli chicken. The sound of a butcher chopping meat came to our ears and to our surprise our dish was being made fresh, right before us. After waiting for around twenty minutes we were given a large bowl that contained what seemed like close to a kilogram of fresh chilli chicken. Though we could not understand why we were given what I guess was the whole chicken, no one seemed to feel the need to question, or even order anything to accompany the dish – guess we were too stunned for words. We knew we were in the wrong place as soon as the first piece of chicken went into our mouth – horrible! The lady who served us stared like she would chop us into pieces if we didn’t finish it and on asking how it tasted I don’t know why but I replied it was nice... We tried but couldn’t have any more. After a quick glance at Philip I asked her to pack it. My statements were confusing her and she asked me why we did not want to have it there. I replied saying we’ll finish it in the hotel. Soon we were out, 175/- poorer, and from my fingers hung a neat parcel of chilli chicken. I felt bad for wasting food, left it on the road and prayed that no dog would eat it and pass away.

We decided to play safe, had some softy and hung around for some time before going back to our room and getting into the warm quilts. I was out before I knew it.