Manali & the Himalayas

Old Manali Village

Glorious, glorious Manali! With incredible views of the Himalayas, crisp temperatures and friendly villages nestled in the mountainside, this pleasant hill station was the place we decided to hunker down and take a break from all the moving around. The weather and pace of life was such a reprieve from the hectic cities and touristy sites of central India, we took a deep breath of fresh mountain air, took in the picteresque setting and stayed for a month. We could have stayed two!


We stayed in a local village on the side of the valley up above Old Manali. Thanks to the Fall harvests the roofs were frequently covered with one colorful crop or another. Here you can see corn drying on the roofs of homes ready to be ground into corn flour. While both New and Old Manali have seen their fair share of development to cater to tourists from around India and the world, the village we stayed in still has the feel of an old Indian mountain community. Houses are still built from wood with traditional stone roofs and people still spend their time working outside planting and harvesting their food.


This small temple is practically in the backyard of the home we stayed in. It was incredible to wake up every morning to views of the beautiful snow-peaked mountains.


Hand weaving wool blankets is a local custom and the finished products are worn by the village women and prized across India for their quality.


We stayed with a local family of 7 in the village! Ashley’s brother and his wife had stayed with the same family years before and had grown so close that we were welcomed like family. Their newest addition, Babna, was only 6 months old when we arrived and we fell in love. Here she is with Grandma Chobi.

Joe and Babna! We loved the constant look of concern on her face (and those chubby cheeks!).

Sobha is the father of the house. He was very generous and helpful with everything and we enjoyed many Indian whiskey night caps with him and his father. Here he is collecting grass that will be stored over winter to feed the goats.

A photo from the LL Bean Fall catalogue.

Sobha’s father was always coiffed and dressed to the nines even while feeding the goats. Everyone in the family spent multiple hours per day harvesting, preparing, or cooking food.


We took many walks into the surrounding hills to explore the beautiful countryside.


Manali's hash, or "charas" is recognized worldwide for its quality. It grows wild so we'd often come across it during hikes or just on the side of the road. So that's a plus.

Decisions are a lot easier in the village than they are back home.

Villager and an angora rabbit. Many of the villagers go into New Manali and get money from the tourists who want to pose with their massive bunnies. Look at the bones!

We woke up every day when the sun peeked over the mountains and into our bedroom window.


Leading up to his birthday, Joe decided to go paragliding! Ashley stayed safely on the ground and took this lovely picture.  He also took this video while soaring high above the trees!

Phew! He made it down in one piece.

Many Indian tourists who have never seen snow before come up to the mountains and rent these hilarious 70's onesie snowsuits to walk around in the snow. Here's shop #6045 - they're all labeled like that and we saw about 200 of them on the road up into the mountains.

Ashley took Joe whitewater rafting for his birthday. Don't think we could look like bigger dorks.

Ashley sourced the fanciest restaurant in town for his birthday dinner. First bottle of decent wine in months!

A few days later we celebrated birthday with the fam! As you can see, impressive arts & crafts skills from the kids! Anita, the mother, made the most delicious chicken gravy for dinner and no chapati in India rivaled hers!

The birthday party got pretty wild.

While living with the local family we helped out with some of the harvest activities such as bean picking. Here’s Ashley picking beans with the kids, Bhanu and Diya, and Anita.

Bhanu and Diya were like the little brother and sister we never had. We had so much fun playing around with them and pestering them like any older sibling would (that's Ashley holding the hose in this pic).

After the beans are picked it takes a few hours to remove them from their husks (there's about 20 more bushels full to follow this one).

We were shocked at how bright and colorful the beans are - now we know where Jelly Beans came from. Only the trained eye of a villager can tell what color a bean will be inside the bland casings. Once they're cooked the beans lose their colors and become the plain brown daal that, along with rice, makes up about 90% of many Indians' diets.

The whole fam hanging on the balcony. I can hear Joe now.. "Weeeeeee!"

The start of our trek in the Himalayas! We hiked for 5 days on the Hampta Pass trek, named for the 14,000 foot mountain pass on the last day. Here we are with our guide Roni and three Nepalese porters. Roni is a gem. He is an incredible guide who knows his stuff and took great care of us. He also shared some comically inappropriate opinions, like when he went on a tirade talking about the Nepalese porters right in front of them, saying things like, “Nepalis are very hard-working and gentle people, but they are not clever. They work hard all season in India, then blow all their money on booze and gambling so they can’t afford to get home at the end of the season.” Fortunately the porters didn't speak much English…

We were joined on the trek by Jessie and Todd, an awesome and hilarious couple from Colorado. We had a common interest in camp fire whiskey drinking and Kendrick Lamar, so we got along just fine!

Our campsite for the first night. Pretty epic setting, sheep and all.

Hundreds of sheep began descending on our campground (which means hundreds of poop pellets), so Ashley took up the task of shooing them away. It was remarkably easy - a simple clap and the whole herd changes direction.

Here’s Roni likely telling Jessie another long-winded story. We would ask a very simple question, like “Roni, are there going to be bears at the site tonight?”, to which he would reply, “Let me tell you a story. My very best friend, he is a rich rich man! He and the Lord Shiva went for a walk…" OK you’ve lost us buddy.

The porters were incredible hikers. They would leave us far behind and scamper up the rocks with shoddy sandals on their feet and 50 pounds on their backs. Here is Vinod, who somehow found energy to stay up and party with us each night. Roni had some choice words for him as well: “He is a nice man, but his children will have a very dark future. He likes whiskey and marijuana.”

Somehow we ran into this homeless guy up in the hills. He was straight out of the South Park episode. “Chaaaaaaaaange??”

Our shady Indian "luxury" whisky. "They have two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and onions on a sesame seed bun. Our buns have no seeds."

Todd gettin weird.

Keeping warm!

Horses are typically used to carry the gear on treks, but since most were busy working in the fields for the harvest we hired the Nepali migrant workers to carry the weight. At first we felt guilty, but once we saw how deftly they climbed and how they seemed to enjoy the outdoors and camaraderie we felt a lot better about it.

Finally at the pass! It’s crazy how much the altitude gets to you at 14,000 ft. We were taking it pretty slow to make it over the pass. Thank goodness no one got altitude sickness.

The valley beyond the pass, known as the Spiti Valley, is in what's known as a "rain shadow" which occurs when the surrounding mountains are too high for rain clouds to get over them. As soon as we made it over the pass we noticed the dramatic change in landscape from lush greenery to desert and rocks. We pushed through on the last day all the way down to the rendezvous with our ride. It was exhausting, but worth it!

The road through the Spiti Valley is known as one of the toughest in the world and popular amongst auto enthusiasts who want to pit their machines against some pretty extreme terrain. There was a race going on the day we arrived.

Spiti's arid mountain climate is very similar to Tibet, and the valley is one of the major centers for Tibetans living in Exile (along with Dharamsala, also in Northern India where the Dalai Llama resides). The bus made it over the 14,000 foot Rohtang pass to enter the valley, but when the snows come the pass closes and the valley is shut off from the outside world for up to 8 months. The first snows had already fallen so we really hoped we wouldn't get stuck!

Spiti Valley, which means "Middle Land" (between India and Tibet) is home to many Buddhist monasteries that cling to the sides of mountains.

At 14,200 the village of Kibber was the highest in the world until some people on the next mountain got together and built a new village just a few meters higher.

Prior to the construction of roads villagers from one town would send things to the next town on iron cables measuring hundreds of feet in length. 

Ki Monastery high in the Spiti Valley

Back in Manali, we headed to nearby Kullu to celebrate the Dussehra festival with the whole family, an annual tradition. Its history dates back to the 17th century when the local King installed an idol of Raghunath (an avatar of the Hindu God Vishnu) on his throne as a mark of penance. After this, the god Raghunath was declared as the ruling deity of the Valley. Members of all surrounding villages come with their local idols raised above their heads and celebrate.

This little girl was so eager to use some of her English with Ashley. When Ashley bent down to get closer to her, she got down on her knees too.

A local holy man

A family taking in the festival

The King and his family being interviewed by the local news.

Ashley and her children

Locals believe that the spirit of the Gods travels through the bodies of the men who carry the idols overhead, which causes them to sway back and forth and run through the crowd shouting in excitement. Do not get in their way or they will bowl you right over.

At a local temple, the God of Kali. Kali is one of Ashley's favorite Hindu gods. Her story is pretty epic - she went mad and started beheading everyone in her path. She only stopped when Shiva kneeled before her disguised as a rock and she stepped on him and was jolted back to reality (hence the surprised tongue out).

A massive tree in front of the house had to be taken down. It took a number of men (including Joe) to get it down.

The local kids loved "playing God” where they built their own idol statues and hoisted them overhead parading through the village. Here’s Bhanu leading the charge!

Babna waking up from her nap. We were like new parents taking a million photos of her all the time.

Saying goodbye wasn't easy. Some tears were shed, but we truly hope one day we'll make it back to see them again.

Here are the rest of our photos from Manali and the Himalayas.