Likewise the delicate Kullu shawls with their bright borders. Shopping in Manali is fun. Shopping in Manali is enjoyed by the tourists. Souvenir options are almost limitless, whether you will be heading back to some other part of India or are visiting Manali from abroad. Your shopping choices, from tiny delicate jewelry to a rug that will last a lifetime, are vast! You could spend the entire vacation just shopping!
Some of the tooled silver items and silver inlaid with turquoise or coral are very attractive indeed. It is worth remembering that it may not be all that easy to team jewelry up with other items back home and make sure that if you buy a necklace, for example, you look for a bracelet and earrings that go well with it right there, where there is the greatest likelihood of finding a good match. Shopping in Manali is enjoyable. There are many things to buy. Tourists spend a lot of time while shopping in Manali.
If you don't enjoy bargaining and can't be persuaded to give it a try - it's a lot of fun once you get started - then you will be better off in a government-regulated emporium, a larger store or a mall. Tibetan prayer wheels, amulets, masks and other religious artifacts can all make good gifts as might Tibetan musical instruments.
Some of the heavily-embroidered shawls are just so sumptuous and opulent-looking that you'd have to be extremely self-disciplined to avert your wallet, let alone your eyes. Be careful when looking for Pashmina, though – not all that glitters is gold and there are places where it will help if you know how to tell, so to speak. Manali and, indeed, India herself, is no more immune to the occasional trickster than any other place on Earth.
Shopping in Manali will lead you to some interesting jams and pickles which might be well-received and such items always make good gifts when you aren't sure whether something more solid might not become more of a nuisance to the recipient than something that can be consumed, enjoyed and remembered without taking up permanent space...
Crunchy red apples from the orchards just below town can make nice bedside snacks at the hotel and one secreted in a pocket might be re-discovered gratefully by a busy shopper sometime between two meals... Tired of being a goody two-shoes? Manali Sweets, down the small lane opposite the bus stand, is locally acknowledged as the best Indian sweet shop in town and there is also an excellent Chinese restaurant with fair prices and large portions near the bus station - the ideal place to take the weight off your feet at lunchtime and decide in which part of Manali, India’s ‘Queen of the Hills’, to go shopping next. |
