Rafting in the Beas river was so thrilling. Though it was nice to have a very adventurous journey, given a chance now, I may say a firm no to it. How dangerous it could become! Most of the tour operators in our country are unprofessional. Their only aim is to extract maximum money from the tourists. Customer comes last in their scheme of things. If anything unfortunate happens in the middle of a turbulence, no one could save us. Those professional rowers on board would have simply swam to safety, leaving their customers to their luck. We have seen so many accidents in Keralam involving water tourism in the recent past. So many tourists lost their lives in them.
We dried our clothes on the bank of the Beas River after the ride. It was only partly dried. We did not bring any extra clothes for the event, since river rafting was not there in the itinerary. The car then moved to the famous Vasisht hot water spring. That is in Kullu. Kullu is a place around 50Km away from Manali. From the ice cold water to hot boiling water. That was the change over Daler had in his mind when he showed up at the hotel lobby to pick us in the morning. He has not disappointed. On our way, he showed a lot of tents on the banks of the river. He said, these tents are of the tourists. There are so many groups of excurions taking place based on tents. School children are brought to Manali is large groups and accommodated in tents. It could be really interesting. He suggested us to arrange such tours for the school children from South.
There we were now. At Manikaran in Kullu. To witness an amazing thing. The water is boiling. A steady stream of boiled water is filled in a pond and then flows away to the river. There is a temple and a gurdwara adjacent to this spring. Rice and cearials that are offered as prasadam in this temple and gurdwara are cooked in this boiling pool of water. There is no external agent to boil the water but it comes out of earth in boiled condition. Of course there is scientific reasons for this phenomenon. certainly it is not God's handiwork.
Exotic breathtaking locales need not necessarily be appealing to a child. Children's tastes are different. They may not enjoy a beautiful sun set or a charming land scape as the elders do. Instead, a cycle ride or some adventures like river rafting may make the day for the little ones. Of course, care must be taken when we choose our tourist destination. It shall be enjoyable to the kids too. Para gliding was one such thing my kid enjoyed in the tour. There are a few agencies that conduct para gliding for the visitors. On the first day of our arrival at Manali, he made his demand firmly. We planned it for the next day but suddenly the waether turned hostile. There were thunder and rain for a brief period in the late afternoon and this forced the para gliding people to abandon that day's programme. The first thing we did on the third day was to go to the para gliding spot. The kid was so excited. The happiness that blooms in the kid's face is what makes every tour a memorable one. The aborted cruise to Havelok island in Andaman is still haunting our minds. There too rain was the villain. My kid cried inconsolably when he came to know that the much fancied ship journey had been cancelled.
He has been taken to the hill top. We the parents of the single kid waited downhill with baited breath. As the child was being taken away, I made a request to the guy who would glide down with my kid- be extremely careful. We have only one child...As we watched with all anxiousness, there came the parachute carrying my son. He looked like an astronaut with happiness writ large in the face. There were a few photographeres, besides we with our own camera to capture that "world conquering" scenes. Those cameramen do their job for money. We can get soft copies of the images in a CD if we wish by paying a small amount.
That was a wonderful trip to Manali but missed out Shimla. There are bus services to Shima from Manali that takes a night's time to reach, but we decided against it due to lack of time. The driver of our taxi too told there is nothing much to see. To say it authetically, I should have visited there...
We dried our clothes on the bank of the Beas River after the ride. It was only partly dried. We did not bring any extra clothes for the event, since river rafting was not there in the itinerary. The car then moved to the famous Vasisht hot water spring. That is in Kullu. Kullu is a place around 50Km away from Manali. From the ice cold water to hot boiling water. That was the change over Daler had in his mind when he showed up at the hotel lobby to pick us in the morning. He has not disappointed. On our way, he showed a lot of tents on the banks of the river. He said, these tents are of the tourists. There are so many groups of excurions taking place based on tents. School children are brought to Manali is large groups and accommodated in tents. It could be really interesting. He suggested us to arrange such tours for the school children from South.
There we were now. At Manikaran in Kullu. To witness an amazing thing. The water is boiling. A steady stream of boiled water is filled in a pond and then flows away to the river. There is a temple and a gurdwara adjacent to this spring. Rice and cearials that are offered as prasadam in this temple and gurdwara are cooked in this boiling pool of water. There is no external agent to boil the water but it comes out of earth in boiled condition. Of course there is scientific reasons for this phenomenon. certainly it is not God's handiwork.
Exotic breathtaking locales need not necessarily be appealing to a child. Children's tastes are different. They may not enjoy a beautiful sun set or a charming land scape as the elders do. Instead, a cycle ride or some adventures like river rafting may make the day for the little ones. Of course, care must be taken when we choose our tourist destination. It shall be enjoyable to the kids too. Para gliding was one such thing my kid enjoyed in the tour. There are a few agencies that conduct para gliding for the visitors. On the first day of our arrival at Manali, he made his demand firmly. We planned it for the next day but suddenly the waether turned hostile. There were thunder and rain for a brief period in the late afternoon and this forced the para gliding people to abandon that day's programme. The first thing we did on the third day was to go to the para gliding spot. The kid was so excited. The happiness that blooms in the kid's face is what makes every tour a memorable one. The aborted cruise to Havelok island in Andaman is still haunting our minds. There too rain was the villain. My kid cried inconsolably when he came to know that the much fancied ship journey had been cancelled.
He has been taken to the hill top. We the parents of the single kid waited downhill with baited breath. As the child was being taken away, I made a request to the guy who would glide down with my kid- be extremely careful. We have only one child...As we watched with all anxiousness, there came the parachute carrying my son. He looked like an astronaut with happiness writ large in the face. There were a few photographeres, besides we with our own camera to capture that "world conquering" scenes. Those cameramen do their job for money. We can get soft copies of the images in a CD if we wish by paying a small amount.
That was a wonderful trip to Manali but missed out Shimla. There are bus services to Shima from Manali that takes a night's time to reach, but we decided against it due to lack of time. The driver of our taxi too told there is nothing much to see. To say it authetically, I should have visited there...
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