Between heaven & earth; Manali

Manali is situated about 550 km north of Delhi (even if taxi drivers always claim it to be 650 km), in the State of Himachal Pradesh. Nestled in the Himalayas at the northern end of the Kulu Valley it lies at an altitude of about 2000 m. There are really two parts to it, the main town of New Manali and, about 2 to 3 km further up the road, the village of Old Manali, perched on a little hill. It’s quite an idyllic setting: surrounded by snow capped mountains, deodar and pine forests, with the Beas river and its tributary the Manalsu flowing nearby along the wide glacial looking riverbed, which is dotted with huge rocky boulders. Less idyllic are all the concrete buildings which have sprung up during recent years, slowly supplanting the beautiful traditional houses which are made of stone, mud and wood with their slated roofs.

Destination Manali

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Traditional house in Manali

Beginning with the trouble in Kashmir at the end of the 1980s, Manali has become a huge tourist destination, popular with Indians (in particular with Indian honeymoon couples) and foreign visitors alike. It’s quite odd though, that there seems to exist a kind of apartheid in high season (spring to summer), with western tourists hanging out mainly in the village, while Indians stick to the town. May and June is the peak season, when certain "stretches" of Old Manali are justifiably nicknamed the West Bank and the Gaza strip; Israelis accounting then for maybe up to 90 % of the foreigners. Later on in the year, especially after monsoon season of July/August there’s a bit more equilibrium in terms of nationalities, when European travellers arrive for the trekking season; and even later in October, when there are conspicuous numbers of Italians, just in time for the charas harvest.

Cows, apples and charas

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	Apple harvest

Apart from tourism the second big noticeable thing is the apple trees here. Introduced by the British about a hundred years ago, the apple orchards are now one of the major sources of income in this area. The rest of the agriculture seems to be basically aimed at the cows. Most of the villagers have their own to provide milk (but unfortunately not… sandwiches….) for the family. A disproportionate effort goes into feeding the beast. In summer women collect grass in their kiltas (conical baskets carried like a backpack); corn and wheat is grown to feed it in winter. Not exactly the same as popping quickly into Safeways to buy a pint.

The third big money maker – although illicit – is charas (hash produced by gently rubbing the oil off the buds of the female marijuana plant). It’s one of the reasons Manali became so popular with western tourists in the first place. The stuff just grows everywhere (wild), though there are supposed to be lots of cultivated charas fields as well. Unfortunately in recent years Manali has become quite infamous because of hard drugs; anything is available now – smack, coke, ecstasy, any kind of pills. And lets not forget another local speciality popular with the Himachal youth: sock sniffing. Just wear your socks in plastic shoes for a few days (preferably in really disgustingly sticky weather), don’t wash your feet and apparently you’ll get a good kick out of sniffing them (I haven’t tried it yet, and I don’t think I ever will).

Hassle free

It’s always said, that the North is not like the rest of India, and it’s certainly true for this place. Further South you have the huge (overpopulated) plains, everything seems to be constantly loud, chaotic and a lot of hassle. Here, people are quite chilled out, not constantly in your face, in general very friendly, helpful and interesting to talk to. Just normal, nice people. If you get any hassle it’s much more likely to be from Indian tourists, in particular "boisterous" Punjabis, who just die for having a snapshot taken with you, so that they can brag about their western girl-friend once they’re back home.

Time to hibernate

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Weaving a pattu

The face of Old Manali changes dramatically with the seasons. In summer it’s extremely busy with tourists and their "requirements". There must be about 20 to 30 restaurants, over a hundred guest houses, a few bigger hotels, lots and lots of internet cafes, travel agencies and souvenir shops. All of these are shut in winter, when everything has a deserted look to it. It’s phenomenally peaceful then, with people here following up their winter activities; sitting around the fire, spinning wool, knitting, weaving pattus (local blankets with colourful patterns worn by women as a dress) and (sensibly) sleeping a lot.

When to go

The best time to visit Manali is really at the beginning or the end of the high season – either April or September/October, when the weather is generally nice (if a bit colder than in summer) and it’s not too hectic and busy with people.