Roadtrip Day 39: Manali - Atal Tunnel - Khoksar & back [Apr 16, 2021]

The coldest ride so far with encountering snow from close distance

I was up early & after quick meditation, decided to complete the 2 pending blog posts (day 37 & 38). I was done with posts by 9:30 AM. I decided to write about my anxiety wrt Spiti hoping it would reduce it a bit. I felt better after writing but it did not disappear completely. But the good thing was, it got me into action mode. The next thing I did was to take my mileage can out (it is a small white can that you can get in a 2 wheeler store) & head out to measure the mileage of the bike. Since I had tweaked my bike’s carburator the previous day, one of the ways of ensuring it is tuned not too rich, is to check mileage & ensure it has not reduced significantly.

Before heading out to measure the mileage, I decided to have a quick breakfast at Riverside Music cafe which is right next to old Manali bridge, for old time’s sake (as mentioned in my previous blog). I ordered cheese tomato omlet but it did not have the sliced tomato which I was hoping for. Nonetheless, it was good. The view were, as usual, pretty mesmerizing.

View from River Music Cafe

They also had a good assortment of baked sweet items. I decided to try one of these in my next visit. While leaving, I smelled great coffee ( a smell that reminded me of Bangalore) & I decided to have coffee too in my next visit.

I then headed out to measure the mileage. After able to ride my bike for 2.8 kms for 100 ml petrol, I got done with measuring. Mileage of 28 on hills should be decent - is what I thought to myself.

It was 11:30 by then & few folks who had been planning to go Atal Tunnel, had left. So I was all by myself for the ride. Not that it was a new thing for me, to ride solo :). The views during the ride were great with either snow peaks or rocky mountains with part vegetation.

The roads were pretty good, wide & with proper slopes on the curves. BRO (Border Road Organization) messages have also started to show up on this route.

I saw 3 royal enfield bikers & one of them had a KA number. They were right ahead of me & for most parts, I was keeping up the pace hoping they would stop somewhere & I would get to talk to them. Suddenly, a KL number KTM bike (not sure of exact make) zipped past us. The guy had stopped ahead & I also stopped by just to have conversation. His name was Samor & he had shipped his bike to Chandigarh & has been riding & WFHing. He wasn’t really in a mood to talk & hence I let him continue with his journey (he wasn’t keen enough to even know about my blog :-[ )

I had lost the group of 3 bikers (one with KA number) by now. But as usual, I attributed it to destiny :). I reached Atal Tunnel soon after. I had come all the way to Manali to visit this tunnel. I had done Ladakh bike trip with wife & 2 other friends, way back in 2015 & when I heard about Atal Tunnel opening in Oct last year, I had a the wish to see this place in person.

The place did not disappoint. They have pretty strict rule against stopping & speeding in the tunnel. One police person noted my bike’s number & told me about 40 kmph speed limit. The weather inside tunnel is freezing. It was by far my coldest ride in the trip so far. The tunnel is brightly lit at the start & the end but has decent lighting in the rest of the part. The LED signboard indicating speed limit & messages of not stopping & throwing garbage are at regular intervals. I could not take picture as stopping was prohibited plus the police guy at the start had asked me to remove my phone from the holder & keep it inside. I guess even gopros etc were not allowed.

The ride was a bit .. boring .. to be honest. Speed limited ride with straight roads are like that. After exiting tunnel, I turned right towards Khoksar. The bangalore group that I had met while I was entering Manali, had told me to go to Khoksar (which is on the right) & not to waste time going to Sisu (which is on the left) as Sisu had no snow. I anyway had seen enough snow during my Kashmir backpacking at the start of the year but I just decided to follow their advice.

Khoksar was beautiful. Police had put a rope & not allowing vehicles to go ahead, hence stopping the ride to Kaza completely. People were sliding down the snow, skiing & taking pictures on the road.

I just wished I could ride through this. It has been my dream from the time, I saw a scene in Dev D movie when Abhay Deol hitches a ride with a biker in mountains & they pass by similar terrain. Unfortunately, this stretch is after the roadblock, so I could only walk from here.

Reminded me of the song ‘we have come a long way, without you my friend’. On my way back, I heard the song in repeat. I wanted to ensure that I do not leave any wish unfulfilled :).

I was not sure of food & drinks at the place. The place which had the above graffiti, I inquired & eventually had a hot chocolate. It was below average for Rs 50. I started on my way back after spending like half an hour at Khoksar. I stopped at a place to eat closer to Atal Tunnel & had bread omlet. The weather started to deteriorate & later I got to know that police had stopped entry to the tunnel around the time. But leaving was not a problem.

Exited Atal Tunnel by like 3:30 PM & on my way back, saw this TN bike stopped on the roadside. I also stopped to have a conversation & figured that the guy’s name is Kishore & he is from Chennai. He was a UX designer by profession & had quit his job to travel India on his Bajaj Dominar. He had a pillion that day just for sight seeing in Manali. His name was Tejas who was backpacking in the hills. Kishore, Tejas & I talked for a long time. Unlike me, Kishore wears proper & expensive riding gear, had an expensive helmet of 20k. Looking at me, Kishore suggested to me to invest in riding gears a bit. I did not how to react at that moment but I just decided to acknolwedge with a smile :). Maybe he was right but I anyway had decided to go with what my gut/inner voice tells me. Kishore is on the road from March 10, a day after I started my trip.

Tejas is on the left & Kishore is on the right

While we were chatting, we saw a AP number car stop by. Kishore & I were amused that it seemed like we are having a south India reunion here. But the folks had just stopped to inquire if Atal Tunnel is open & quickly headed back, without exchanging any greetings. I noticed that they were on 200 day pan India tour, which is what was written on their car.

Kishore told me that he intend to go to Ride Inn in the evening as it is the place for bikers & it has decent food too. I agreed to join them & then headed back to the Manali. The plan was to procure BSNL sim & do shopping for the Spiti trip (particularly gloves as it seems that gear is single most imp gear for extremely cold rides). I was able to wind up most of the work in 2 hours by asking around. I asked for a good shop recommendation from the guy from whom I purchased BSNL sim & he suggested R P Trek (or some similar name) shop & I bought a 800 bucks gloves of Matt brand from there. I was not sure if it is worth the investment but I thought of taking my chances & listen to my gut :).

While walking in the market, I saw some live music getting played in Cafe 1986 . I heard it from outside for sometime & decided to check into the cafe. But it soon turned out to be a bad decision as the coffee cost there was 250 bucks. With an excuse that I was looking for Cafe 1947 & mistakingly came there, I dashed out of the place. I was in two minds between Riverside Music cafe (for the apple pie & coffee) & Ride Inn (my promise to Kishore). I ended up heading to Ride Inn. The place did not disappoint & I would recommend it for a visit in Manali. It had a strong biker theme. Looks like the owner is a biker himself.

We left the place at around 10:00 PM & I headed back to the hostel. While leaving Moustache (my hostel at Manali) for the Atal ride, I had packed my bags & had put them in the living room, thinking that I might switch hostels, just to experience a different place. But by the time, I reached back, I was fairly exhausted & it was late. I thought of sleeping in the common room (as that is where my bags were parked) but then folks were hanging out & some new guests had come in. At around 1:00 AM, after hanging out with folks, I decided to check if my bed is still free. Surprisingly I discovered that it wasn’t readied post my checkout. I took it as a sign & quickly snuggled in the blanket & slept off. I woke up next day early & it was raining but then it stopped at around 7 AM. I packed my bags & left the place around 8:30 AM. I was hoping that I would strike a discounted deal with Pratham or the owner of Moustache, but none of them were up, neither anybody was at the counter. So I decided to leave. All in all, I got one day stay for free (honestly, I think I cheated a bit) & for this I decided to pay a tribute to the hostel.

If you are a biker, not all hostels in old Manali would be conducive for stay as they will not have parking (wide road leading to the hostel). In my case, I had a lot of luggage & far away hostel location means a lot of walk with luggage. The only places I found conducive were Moustache located right opposite old Manali bridge, Alt Life hostel which is located on the right once you enter into old Manali from the bridge & The Hosteller which looked pretty fancy in the night & where I had planned to checkin for the day. Hosteller does not allow smoking in common room so it would be conducive for non smokers. But I would still recommend Moustache as a means to pay them back for a free night stay. While you stay at Moustache, just eat in their cafe Blue Elephant. They served pretty delicious Indian food.