Chilling in McLeod

Dharamsala, India

India has many hill stations - mountainous towns where people escape from the heat of the mainland during summer, and are something that came from the days when the British ruled here. The area of Dharamsala on the edge of the Himalayas is a perfect example and, I decided, the perfect escape for me from the chaos, rather than the heat of Delhi.

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After a great few days hanging out there, it was time to escape the noise, chaos and pollution, and I chose Dharamsala for it's hiking and beauty, on a recommendation from a friend who'd been before. India is known for its train network, but unfortunately where I was heading in the north is a bit too out the way for trains, so I booked a bus. Bizarrely though, rather than leaving from an actual bus station, I had to go to a Tibetan colony in one of Delhi's suburbs, because as I found later, most people who both live in and visit Dhamarmsala are from Tibet. From where I'd been staying I got the Metro across the city to the nearest station, then took a cycle rickshaw ridden by yet again another sixty-odd year old guy to what was supposed to be the bus stop. 

Despite the drivers plea, it wasn't, but with a bit of asking round I was pointed a few hundred meters up the road to a dusty car park underneath an unfinished flyover, where loads of people stood but no buses. It didn't feel right at all, so I asked around and found I was indeed in the right place - another passenger said that the buses to Dharamsala were non-government ones and therefore were only semi-legal, lacking a permit to pick people up here. Great. When I eventually found the guy from my bus company (there were a few), he told me to keep waiting, and said taxis would take us to the actual boarding point. I was pretty bemused and perplexed by all this - all I wanted was to get on a bus. After nearly an hour stood round with a bunch of Tibetans, all hundred or so of us were loaded into various taxis and taken to another dusty patch of land where after witnessing a motorbike ride uncontrollably into the side of a car, eventually the buses turned up. It was all very weird. 

 

The bus stop which wasn't a bus stop

Ten hours sat overnight on a bus is exactly as it sounds; pretty crap. The seats weren't great, and the sliding window by me continually rattled itself open all night. I was sat next to a guy, who with his three mates were heading back north to uni, studying to work in textile production and they were all good to chat to during a stop in the 'motorway services' - an open fronted steel shed. Back on the road, I managed to sleep a little on-and-off for a few hours, and at 4am we stopped in a tiny village in the hills for another break. I awoke and bleary eyed got off to stretch my legs, and have a tea from a guy selling from a makeshift stall on the street. A fellow passenger started talking to me who was originally from Tibet, but now living in New York, and gave me a full-on insight into the problems of Tibet, his life as a film maker and how both his parents and grandparents were killed when the Chinese invaded and took Tibet in 1950. Very sad, but a lot to take in in the middle of the night when you've just woken up!

After a curry at the 'motorway services' with the three students

At 7am we arrived in Dharamsala, more specifically the nicer upper town called McLeod Ganj and I set about trying to find a hotel. There's no need to stay in hostels in India as hotels are so cheap, and after a bit of looking around decided to treat myself to a nice en-suite double room, at the grand sum of £6 a night!

I was instantly taken by McLeod Ganj - a very tranquil and peaceful town, set into a steep hillside in the Himilayas at 1,750m altitude. It had a certain spirit about it; peaceful, relaxed and green with amazing views, and a total contrast to Delhi. I loved it so much that the couple of days I intended to stay soon turned into a week. Unconsciously, it's basically ended up being a holiday from traveling, if that doesn't sound like too much of a contradiction. I've been on the move quite a bit over the past few weeks without allowing much time to just relax, nor have I really had my own personal space for a while as I've been mostly staying in hostel dorm rooms, so the week here has been perfect. But because of that, it doesn't really make for a particularly riveting blog this time.

                   

I started as I meant to go on and took it pretty easy the first day. I'd not been online for a week; Delhi seemed to have a big lack of internet access, so spent two or three hours catching up on everything then went for a wander round town, walking around the nearby woods on the way. I was a little bit taken aback though when I turned a corner, and out of the blue found a bunch of monkeys hanging out on the track by a bin. Over the week I saw them all over the town - mostly jumping between roofs and climbing along telegraph wires! They were harmless though.

Cheeky monkeys

The very lively but small town centre

I continued to explore the town centre for a couple of hours, which was a bit slap-dash and dirty but quaint in it's own way; with steep and narrow street housing the usual hotels, travel agents, restaurants, cafés, gift shops, alongside monasteries, massage, yoga and meditation places. It's one of those places where you can happily just sit in cafés reading and watching the world go by. And for some of the week that's exactly what I did. 

There's not much point in giving a blow by blow account of the week, cause for the most part nothing much else happened apart from a walk to some waterfalls, a great Tibetan full-body massage, and a bit of looking round town. I did go on a slightly longer trek for a couple of days though, but that deserves a separate story... coming in a day or two. A few things worth picking out:

Cinema

I'd not had the opportunity to watch any films in English for a couple of months, so when I saw there was a small cinema in town playing films mostly with the theme of India, Tibet and traveling, I went along a couple of evenings; but it wasn't your usual cinema. It seemed professional on the outset, but turned out to be a basement room under a shop that a young guy had painted a funny shade of blue, pinned some cloth to the wall, and stuck some old office chairs in. It was actually really good though, despite every film in his collection being an illegal internet download with at times fairly sketchy quality. Although there being a published schedule of films posted around town, the first night I visited I was the only one there, so he let me pick my own! I saw Jobs - the life story of Steve Jobs of Apple, then another night with a few other people this time, saw The Darjeeling Limited. 

Tibetans and Buddists

Despite being in India and a popular holiday destination for natives, McLeod Ganj is actually mostly populated by people from Tibet. They live here in exile after China invaded and effectively stole their country in 1950, and it's also home to the Dalai Lama - the famous Buddhist leader and figurehead of Tibet. A number of Tibetans are also devout Buddists and therefore live as monks and nuns, so in McLeod you see many walking around doing their day to day activities. I found them to be very peaceful, smiley and good natured. The nuns interestingly shave their heads and dress exactly the same as the men, in loose red robes so it's not always immediately apparent which sex they actually are! The main Buddhist temple where the Dalai Lama hangs out is open to the public, so I had a wander around one day, seeing the various deities they worship, and spinning prayer wheels they turn as they pass amongst other things. It was built in the sixties, when the Indian government said the Tibetans could settle here so doesn't exactly have history or class though.

Prayer wheels

Monks hanging out

One of the Buddist temples

Travellers

I've not met quite so many fellow travelers this past week, I guess as hotels aren't as sociable as hostels, but there have been a couple. An Aussie girl I was chatting with in a cafe who's here for a few month to learn the Tibetan language and was telling me about that, then later a Kiwi guy called Barry who started talking to me in a restaurant. He was this little chap in his late 40's, who with no family to support fluctuates between driving buses at home, and coming to India to embrace all sorts of new age stuff. He had some interesting ideas and advice on places to visit, but when we parted I got the feeling he was a bit of a lost soul, like a few blokes of that age you see here, wandering round with long grey hair, loose fitting cotton clothes and leather sandals.

Food and drink

I've had some cracking meals in McLeod well worth mentioning. Because the town is Indian, populated by Tibetans, and often visited by Europeans there's an eclectic range on offer. Amongst many great curries, I've eaten Tibetan porridge with sliced banana for breakfast most days, a great pizza in an Italian restaurant, Tibetan momos (steamed dumplings stuffed with spinach, ricotta and cheese), Singapore lamb chowmien noodles, and Hong Kong skewers of veg and pork served with rice. This all sounds quite extravagant, but £2-3 can get you a pretty decent restaurant meal in India. A lot of the food I've eaten so far has been vegetarian - and before you say 'you've changed!', meat isn't that commonly eaten here for both cost and religion, and it can also be pretty shoddy quality and poorly cooked, so with a few exceptions I'm following the advice to keep off it and avoid getting Delhi belly. The food is so tasty in general that I seem to be coping fine with this lack of meat though, and they often substitute it with paneer (a type of cottage cheese), tofu, or beans. This is not a permanent change of diet I must add!