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.
But of course, my trip couldn't begin that easily. 😂
Yes, I had booked a hotel this time too.
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.
And somehow, even while shivering in the rain, I was still excited.
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, rested for a while, and freshened up. After the long journey and all the hotel drama, it felt so good to finally sit down and breathe.
Once we were ready, we headed out to explore and, most importantly, eat!
Our first stop was Mall Road, and we went straight to Chopsticks Restaurant for thukpa.
We ordered one huge bowl and decided to share it between the two of us. Honestly, one bowl was more than enough because the portion was massive!
It was warm, comforting, full of noodles and vegetables, and exactly what we needed in that chilly weather. There's something about eating a hot bowl of thukpa while it's cold and raining outside that just hits differently.
After that, we spent the rest of the day doing absolutely nothing fancy.
And honestly, I loved it.
We just walked around, looked at the mountains, explored the streets, ate whenever we felt hungry, and enjoyed being there.
No big plans.
No rushing from one tourist spot to another.
Just mountains, rain, food and us.
I even stopped for a cup of hot chai in the afternoon because apparently, when you're in the mountains and it's raining, chai is mandatory. 😂
Eventually, the rain got heavier, so we hurried back towards the hotel.
And, of course, I went straight to the reception to ask for a heater.
The manager looked at me and casually said,
"You won't need it."
Excuse me?!
We had literally come from around 30°C to freezing temperatures in the mountains. And he was telling me I wouldn't need a heater?
I was thinking, "Dude, I might actually freeze here!" 😂
So yes, I took the heater anyway.
Although, to be honest, the cold was so intense that even the heater didn't feel like it was doing much. But at least I felt a little better knowing it was there.
By evening, we were hungry again, so we grabbed some momos and siddu from a place right around the corner.
Both were really good, but they were also surprisingly heavy. I was so full that I decided to skip dinner completely.
After such a long day, all I wanted was my warm bed.
So I called it a night, curled up under the blankets, and went to sleep.
It wasn't an adventurous first day in Manali.
There were no big activities, no crazy adventures, and no packed itinerary.
It was simply rain, mountains, warm food, chai, cold weather, and a lot of walking around.
But honestly?
It was exactly the kind of mountain day I had been waiting for.
And this was only Day 1.
I had no idea that the next day would be completely different. ❄️🏔️
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