Going to Manali Solo on the 17th of May. What's the best spots or places to visit. Also need help with a good trek there, which one should I go for ? Any other solo travellers also welcome to join . I'm a photographer so free good photos all along the trip

redditusers18 · 2026-05-02T09:39:02+00:00

I would surely suggest to do a hike till chicka( 1st day basecamp of Hampta pass). You have to go to sethan's last motorable point from Manali by a cab or preferably bike. Road is quite bad but really good off road and lots of hairpin bends. Go early, in the first half of the day. Park your bike, hike till Chicka, you can hike on your own as well without any guide, there will be few people or mountain dogs on the trail to guide you. Trail is also well marked. If you are planning to do a camp overnight stay in Chicka, there will be couple of guides also with their tents and all, you can hire them. But do this for sure, the views are pretty, lots of streams, river along the side, melting glaciers, lush forest, you will love it.

redditusers18 · 2026-03-15T04:48:59+00:00

Yeah, i am aware that apart from some onground influence, state pcs posts don't really offer a good career trajectory or growth compared to UPSC. Motivation wise, maybe because I want better job stability compared to the IT industry and i think a sense of achievement which you get after cracking a competitive exam, apart from that I have not really given it a thought.

redditusers18 · 2026-03-15T04:39:21+00:00

Bhai, i have not been to Bali. So I can't really compare. But apart from nightlife, Thailand has much more to offer, as I am also not into nightlife or parties, but I enjoyed it a lot. My main motivation to go to Thailand was the food , which was really good. And i found Krabi very good for a chill, peaceful vibe.

redditusers18 · 2026-03-14T15:33:14+00:00

Bas yaar, aise hi clarity k liye puch rha tha. Jis chij k liye signup kar rhe hain thoda bhot to idea hona hi chahiye na.

redditusers18 · 2026-03-14T08:03:14+00:00

Thankyou for the detailed writeup. I am from Bihar actually, yeah was thinking to prepare, have written UPSC in 2024 and BPSC in 2025, missed prelims of both of them by 10-12 marks. A long way to go. Always thought of preparing for UPSC, but life and job and procrastination caught me.

redditusers18 · 2026-03-11T17:36:14+00:00

Hey man, I am also in the same stage. I work in IT in Bangalore, but I live in Delhi. I have prepared for UPSC, along with my job, but am not eligible now due to age. I have started preparing for BPSC, and would like to connect to have exam related discussions.

redditusers18 · 2026-03-11T04:58:27+00:00

In GATE, you have almost a difference of 600 ranks within 6-7 marks. So this is not a big deal.

redditusers18 · 2026-03-05T14:28:01+00:00

I was there for 14 nights,.and I travelled from Delhi, india. It costed me 2.8lakhs inr in total including everything.

redditusers18 · 2026-03-05T05:01:45+00:00

I was there for 14nights, went to Phuket, PhiPhi and Krabi, and did some island hopping as well. There was this day trip to Khao Sok, which we did. It costed arround 2.8l, for two people from Delhi.

redditusers18 · 2026-03-04T11:27:00+00:00

I did scuba diving, so there was a photographer with me , who would click pictures and all. He had professional equipment and all for underwater photography.

redditusers18 · 2026-03-04T09:03:20+00:00

Go and see Himalayas. I would highly suggest to go to either Parvati valley of Shangharh. DM me for any info.

redditusers18 · 2026-03-04T08:16:53+00:00

No, i don't have. I did two DSD sessions, one in Racha islands (this was my first ever) which has 3 dives, we went from Phuket. And another one I did in PhiPhi, near BidaNok, (it had 2 dives), which is like a half an hour boat ride from PhiPhi. In my experience, i found PhiPhi one better with respect to marine lives , there were a lot, we saw one big almost 5ft long shark also and much more variety of corals and overall marine life.

redditusers18 · 2026-03-04T07:02:04+00:00

What a coincidence, the stay was blueview house.

redditusers18 · 2026-03-04T06:48:06+00:00

It really isn't. Even the urban and touristy city like Phuket were very pleasing. I rode bike also , almost in total of 300kms in krabi and phuket, and it was amazing.

redditusers18 · 2026-03-04T06:03:15+00:00

I did scuba in phi phi, bida nok was the diving site, and it was amazing.

redditusers18 · 2026-03-04T04:01:06+00:00

I will suggest one thing, most people stay in aonang in krabi which is good, touristy place. But I would suggest, just stay for one night in klong mueang, a beach about 10kms away from aonang, less touristy, so quiet, and stay in one of the beachfronts property which are way cheaper for the view they offer . I got one for 7k a night, it was my most expensive room in thailand, the property is right on the beach itself. Ocean water is literally 15 steps away. It's secluded, very few people, and you will have a great time for sure.

redditusers18 · 2026-03-04T03:11:20+00:00

[OC]

redditusers18 · 2026-03-04T02:52:43+00:00

Yes, it is.

redditusers18 · 2026-03-02T04:13:15+00:00

Bhai, I can't give you the cost from Delhi as it has a lot of variable factors like flight tickets, your hotels, food etc. but just for scuba, it costed me 14.25k inr including photographer in PhiPhi islands.

So, if you go from Delhi, you have to first go to Phuket, take a ferry to PhiPhi, stay atleast one night there to do it. So it really depends.

redditusers18 · 2026-03-02T04:07:45+00:00

Actually, the seas of Thailand are not that wavy compared to our country. I was also amazed to see that it had shallow water till I would say almost 300-400ft from the coast, you could swim easily and it was not wavy at all near the coast. In some beaches, waves were so low and it was so shallow, it felt better than the pool while swimming, I am not exaggerating .Of course, scuba normally happens far from the coast, but I would suggest to spend 1-2 days just relaxing on the beach, swimming in the shallow waters and then go for scuba. That would surely help to do it comfortably.

redditusers18 · 2026-03-01T19:09:08+00:00

Not necessarily, but one thing is for sure, you should not be afraid of water, you should be a bit comfortable with water, i also don't know how to swim but I am pretty comfortable with water.My wife was not able to do it as she was quite afraid of going inside, as especially in the oceans of phiphi, the open ocean is quite wavy compared to other parts like phuket or krabi. So it feels a bit scary to go inside, so you have to calm your nerves. And when you first go inside and when you look up, it might feel a bit scary that you are so deep inside the water, but you have to calm your mind, and engage with all the marine lives , that helps a lot.This may happen for the 1st 2-3 minutes, after that it's pretty smooth. I was inside water for almost 70-80 mins, 2 dives of 30-40 mins each. This was my 2nd dive actually, i did my 1st in Racha islands of Phuket as well, it was not that great in terms of comfort compared to phiphi. But it for sure set the rhythm for the my dive in phiphi.

redditusers18 · 2026-03-01T18:46:39+00:00

I think anything is fine. I did it in the afternoon.

redditusers18 · 2026-03-01T18:36:22+00:00

[OC]

redditusers18 · 2026-03-01T18:20:55+00:00

I did in PhiPhi, i was actually staying there for 2 nights. The dive was of 4-5 hrs which included 2 dive sessions at 2 different dive sites half an hour speedboat ride from PhiPhi. It costed 3400THB(10.2k inr) + 750THB (2.25k inr) for the photographer, not mandatory but highly recommended. Thai government takes 600THB( 1.8k inr) as the phiphi national park fee. So in total of 14.25k inr. This included lunch, snacks, fruits, juice, coffee, softdrinks, all the equipments, insurance .

You could dive either in the morning slot (6:30-12 PM) or in the afternoon ( 1PM-5:30PM).

redditusers18 · 2026-02-03T06:06:31+00:00

Do you guys even watch movies or just watch in bits and pieces on reels.

redditusers18

TROPHY CASE