At long last we had made it to the mountains and by this point we were more than ready for some respite from the relentless heat of Indian summer. Going from daily temperatures of 40°C to 20°C was the biggest relief, and being in snowy mountains for the first time this trip was so refreshing. We were so excited to be in the mountains that we had booked six nights in Manali, which was the longest time we had stayed in one place since we started our trip three months prior.

Manali is a mountain resort town very reminiscent of Queenstown, and it felt like I was back home when we arrived. It is known as the adventure capital of India and has everything from ski fields, zip lines, trekking, rafting, bungee jumps and basically anything else you can think of that gives an adrenaline rush. Unfortunately it also suffers from some of the same problems as Queenstown such as bad traffic, strains on infrastructure, and overcrowding. Fortunately, we mostly avoided the chaos as we were staying at a lovely place in Old Manali up on the hillside looking out over Manali. 

We stayed at a gorgeous log cabin style hostel called Timberwolves and our room had panoramic views of the surrounding mountains and waterfalls. The staff here were so friendly and looked after our every need. Praveen, who was the in-house chef, cooked the most delicious and homely food. It was so good we barely ate dinner anywhere else and got into a wonderful nightly routine. We would eat a delicious meal Praveen had lovingly cooked for us while tucked up on the couches watching an IPL match with the friendly staff. After dinner we would relax and enjoy an amazing hot choccy perfectly made by the always smiling Rahul who even started preparing our spots on the couch each night, bringing cushions over for us.

There are some incredible multi-day treks to do around Manali, however we had arrived too early in the year and the higher altitude treks were closed due to snow. This really wasn’t a problem though, as there are countless day walks to do. A highlight was visiting the amazing Jogini waterfall which we could see across the valley from our room. It was only a short walk to the upper waterfall which was a very popular spot for domestic tourists. We met lots of friendly Indians joining us in an extensive photoshoot here as a beautiful rainbow appeared beneath the waterfall. We did a number of other short walks, sometimes into the meadows and rivers behind the town, sometimes through the conifer forest into Manali (very reminiscent of Hanmer Springs) and sometimes through the orchards just up from our accommodation. There was no shortage of tracks to explore. We were always accompanied by the most gorgeous trail dogs, who seemed to know exactly where you were going, even when you didn’t. It was nice to just have the freedom to walk and see what we would find along the way, without always having a specific plan or destination in mind.  

Manali is tucked into a valley surrounded by mountains. You can see some of the smaller peaks but to see the higher 6000m+ peaks you have to climb up the valley. I was super excited to see some of these beautiful mountains such as Indrasan (6,221 m) and Deo Tibba (6001m), especially as they would be the highest mountains I’ve seen. 

So we decided to tackle the daunting Lama Dugh trek. We really escaped the crowds up here and it felt like we were in the wild foothills of the Himalayas for the first time with meadows of flowers and picturesque views of the mountains. I got my wish with amazing views of the mountains towering above Manali. The perspective changed with every 100m elevation gained, and more mountains became visible as we climbed. The Himalayas are just on a different scale to anything in New Zealand, you can climb for thousands of meters and there are still thousands more meters of climbing above you. We spotted a ridgeline above the Lama Dugh summit which looked like it might offer an amazing panoramic view, however we had reached the snowline and were starting to feel the onset of altitude sickness. We descended down a ridgeline that basically dropped all the way back to Manali which was not so nice on our knees, and Alice even had a little tumble (she was okay but had bruised knees). It was a long day with 1400m elevation gained and then descended, 17km walked and a high point of around 3500m. I was stoked to see some big mountains for the first time and get a little taste of what the Himalayas have to offer.

Spending an entire week in one place was such a treat, especially when it’s a beautiful mountain town with perfect weather and amazing accommodation. It was a good reminder that we don’t always need to rush from one destination to the next, trying to fit everything in. Maybe we’d been moving too fast to notice the irony, but one of our mantras for this trip is “Slowly slowly, no hurry.” One of the gifts of long-term travel is the flexibility to move quickly for a while and see a lot, then slow down and really soak it all in. Striking a balance between the two is key, and our experience in Manali made me realize we've been spending too much time in the fast lane.