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Day 1 in Manali: Rain, Thukpa & Our First Mountain Day

 

Day 1 in Manali: Rain, Cold & Another Hotel Disaster!

Finally… Day 1 in Manali! Yeeeppie! 🥳🏔️

After such a long journey, I was finally here—the mountains I'd been waiting for.

Honestly, just reaching Manali felt so good. We had travelled so much to get here, and now I could finally see the mountains with my own eyes.

🎥 Want to see how this day actually looked? You can watch my Day 1 in Manali vlog here:
👉 Watch the vlog on YouTube

But of course, my trip couldn't begin that easily. 😂

Yes, I had booked a hotel.

And yes… that turned out to be another bad decision.

The hotel looked perfectly fine online, but in reality, it was a completely different story. So we had to make another last-minute hotel change.

And this time, it wasn't exactly pleasant.

It was around -2°C, it was raining, and I was already completely exhausted from the journey. We were standing there in the cold with our luggage, trying to figure out where we were going to stay.

I was literally freezing.

But hey, we had finally made it to Manali.

After searching around, we finally found a hotel right near Mall Road. And honestly, this time we got lucky. The location was super convenient because everything we needed was nearby—restaurants, shops, taxis and, of course, Mall Road itself.

We checked in, dropped our bags and finally got to rest for a bit.

Our room was honestly really nice and cozy, and the mountain view outside made it so much better.

I mean… just look at that view!

After freshening up and settling in, we headed out because I was literally excited for one thing—

FOOD! 😂

The streets here had such cozy vibes. I instantly loved the place. The mountains, the cold weather, the little shops and cafés—it all felt so different from home.

We went to Chopsticks Restaurant on Mall Road and ordered a huge bowl of thukpa.

We decided to share one bowl between the two of us because it was massive!

And honestly, it was exactly what we needed in that weather.

Warm soup, noodles, vegetables and that comforting feeling you get when you're eating something hot while it's freezing outside.

Cold weather + hot thukpa = perfect combination.

After such a long journey, sitting there and having a warm meal made everything feel completely worth the wait.

The food was actually really good.

The weather and the views were making me so happy, but at the same time, I was continuously thinking,

"Please… no more!" 😂

I was enjoying the cold, but my body clearly wasn't used to it yet.

Later, we came back towards Mall Road and stopped for some masala milk.

And oh my god!

It was so sweet, warm and comforting in that weather. Exactly what I needed.

But then I looked up…

And saw fresh snow falling on the mountains above us.

At that moment I was like,

"Bro, I can literally live here forever."

This is exactly why I love the mountains. You can just stand there, look at the view and suddenly forget everything else.

Of course, we couldn't just spend the entire day looking at mountains.

We had to eat again. 😂

So we went for momos.

And honestly… these momos disappointed me.

They were so bland, and I was expecting much more. But well, you can't win every time when it comes to food.

Also, can we talk about this giant lemon?

I have genuinely never seen a lemon this huge in my life. 😂

After that, we just roamed around for a bit and clicked lots of pictures.

Eventually, we went to Van Vihar.

It was really peaceful, but also extremely cold because of the lake. All the sitting spots were occupied, so we just walked around, enjoyed the weather and clicked even more pictures.

And then, obviously…

Roadside corn with nimbu masala!

Because why not? 😂

I also tried siddu for the first time.

It was super soft, covered in ghee and served with chutney. I wasn't really sure what to expect because I'd never had it before, but honestly, I liked it!

By the end of the day, we stopped at one more shop to try something new. It wasn't anything great, but it was okay.

And that's how my first day in Manali came to an end.

It wasn't a day packed with sightseeing.

There were no big adventures, no crazy activities and no long list of places to tick off.

It was just walking around, eating, looking at the mountains, trying new food, drinking something warm and enjoying the weather.

And honestly?

I loved it.

After travelling all the way here, finally getting to experience a proper mountain day felt so special.

Sometimes you don't need a packed itinerary.

Sometimes all you need is a mountain view, cold weather, good food and nowhere you need to rush to.

And this was only Day 1.

I had no idea what Manali had planned for us next. ❄️🏔️

🎥 Want to see the actual moments from this day?

👉 Watch my Day 1 in Manali vlog on YouTube

And if you enjoyed reading about Day 1, come back for Day 2 — things are about to get much more exciting. ❤️

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