After about 6 long hours on the bus from Pathankot we arrived in Dharamsala and caught a rickshaw up to our final destination McLeod Gange - the current residence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After a bit of searching and a short walk we arrived at our hotel, Kareri Lodge http://123himachal.com/karerilodge/karerilodge.htm The room was supposed to cost us Rs1000 per night but for some reason the very nice owner decided to charge us Rs660. What a fantastic room too! It had the most amazing view right over the valley and surrounding plains.
After arriving in India only a few days prior, it seemed like we'd left and stepped into some kind of Tibetan heaven. Mcleod gange is a small town sitting right on the mountain side, with tiny twisting lanes that are shared between cars, pedestrians and street vendors. A truly amazing place with fresh, cool air, amazing views and an atmosphere of calmness rarely found anywhere in India. We spent our time visiting the Dalai Lama's monastery, shopping and eating. The steamed momo's available there are absolutely fantastic, and cost about Rs10 for a plate of 5. My first taste of Indian street food was, ironically Tibetan momos.
There are plenty of trekking options around Mcleod gange too, on one of the clear days we walked up to Dharamkot and towards Triund and back. I was feeling adventurous one day and set off to find a new route to the Dalai Lama's temple in shorts and thongs, the weather did not look kindly on this transgression of mine and decided to dump an unholy amount of water on me. At the same time my new route did not work out as planned, all those little roads that appear to join up on the map actually never do. I had to spend a good half an hour trekking through mud and slush in the pouring rain, getting stung several times by some crazy thorny plant before finally making it back in one piece to the hotel .
At one of the restaurants for dinner my girlfriend and I witnessed an angry manager and his waiter in a yelling match that resulted in a mini fist fight. Being the pigs that we were instead of leaving we proceeded to finish our delicious meal, no sense wasting all that food right?
After 4 nights of rest food and absorbing the views we were fully recovered from the chaos of Amritsar, and ready to proceed on to the chaos of Delhi. We had booked a private overnight bus from McLeod Gange to Delhi and were fully prepared for the ride this time. Upon boarding the bus I shut my eyes, said a prayer(even though I'm not overly religious) and tried to sleep. I could feel myself being thrown up against the side of the bus and then the other way but tried to put it out of my mind. Thankfully the bus made a couple of scheduled stops along the way allowing me to get off and stretch my legs. Almost as soon as we crossed the Himachal Pradesh state border and into Hariyana the roads flattened out, straightened out and improved dramatically. As the sun rose we were on the outskirts of Delhi heading in.
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