Bus ride to Dharamshala was about 9 hours and this time I knew how to handle the bus ride already. Halfway during the bus journey, we
stopped at a rest stop so I took the opportunity to go take a quick
dump, and when I came out of the toilet, the bus was no longer at the
original spot! Haha. So I looked around and it was actually a little
further away and the bus conductor was blowing his whistle and
shouting. So funny! But I think that toilet break was worth the
‘embarassment’.
Anyway reached the bus stand, went to the back compartment to take Mariana’s bag and low and behold, it was not there! Ok, start of an adventure! Went to look for the bus conductor and he said that the bag was left at the previous stop where one of ‘our friends’ took it down. And coincidentally, i saw Ryan at the bus stand! Fate again? Haha. But our hellos had to wait. So climbed up and found it at the taxi stand with one British tourist whom we met in Shimla. Lucky!
Went back down to meet up with Michel and Ryan and talked. They had been at the bus stand since 4am and were waiting for the bus to go Mcleod Ganj where most of the sights were. Went aboard the bus and waited for a good half an hour before the engine started and went to Mcleod. Upon reaching, we split our ways cos we had different agendas; they had only 1 day while I had 2 days. Plus Mariana wanted to try the guesthouse that her friend Anna recommended. Raju, the contact of the house, could not be contacted and the only clue we had was the Krishna cafe where Raju worked at. So took an auto up to Dharamkot, about 2km away from the city centre. Reached there,
went to the cafe and found out that Raju had gone home to see his
sickly father, but his friend Kullu (Kuldip) managed to contact him
and we were shown the way to our accommodation which was a 5min walk
from the cafe. Place was quite rural-imagine 2 houses in the middle of
nowhere. Haha, but it was very serene and the room had a good view la. Check this out!
Hotel room in an Ashram
View of Pine trees from the balcony
Showered and rested till 12pm before heading out for lunch and
sightseeing at Mcleod. Walked down the 2km, bought our bus tickets for
Manali and headed for lunch. For the first time, i tried tibetian food
in the form of soup noodles and had Quiche, which was a kind of pie
with different stuffings.
LUNCH! Superb. Felt like home
Cars (have to) stop for children here! So nice!
Dalai Lama is everywhere!
Good lunch! And then we walked around the city looking for the Dalai
Lama’s residence and the temple near his residence, Tsug Lakhang. Did
some shopping along the way as we were seriously just randomly walking
around. And we ended up at another temple which was not the one we
were looking for. Haha. But it was good to see other temple cos this
one was really tibetian cos of the numerous prayer wheels there. From
big ones to small ones, people and monks were seen spinning them. One
spin of each wheel equals to the recital of one sentence of the mantra
“Om Ma Ni Padme Hom”.
Prayer wheels
Everyone HAPPY 
Save the Panchem Lama! Nobody knows what happened to him!
Asked for directions and we actually missed the temple on our way down! Found the temple grounds but we visited the tibetian museum where there were exhibits on the plight and history of the tibetians. After that went to the temple and although it was not grand or obvious or looked anything like a temple from the outside; it was really cool inside la! There were about 2 prayer halls and I went in one of them and the cupboards were filled with ancient books containing original scriptures or texts relating to Buddhism,
philosophy, science, medicine and other topics. Mind blowing to see
like so much knowledge preserved so nicely! Like a trip back in time!
After the temple tour, went opposite to a building which happened to
be the office and residence of the Dalai Lama!
Security guard outside his office
Notice saying that Dalai Lama will be cutting down on audiences
They love their Tibet
But sadly he was not in when I talked to the Indian army security guard. They even had a reception office to handle requests. Quite cool! Too bad my request for a private audience was rejected.
TEA TIME! delicious cake!
Next: Went for coffee break and managed to use a little of Wifi at the cafe! Finally some wifi action in India! And the cake and tibetian herbal tea were superb too! Since it was raining, we decided to use the Internet while waiting for the rain to stop. Called home to advice my dear brother on course bidding
which was ‘making him lose hair’. Haha. Then headed back when rain
subsided and looked for a dinner place where I tried another tibetian
dish. Food up here was different and I didn’t feel that I was in
india. The cool weather here also contributed to this fact but it was
certainly different!
DINNER!!
Walking back to Dharamkot was another adventure in itself, road had no
lights and my phone was dead from all the wifi. Mariana’s nokia also
died halfway up the walk. And to make matters worse, it started to
rain and it got heavier as time went by. So we just walked up faster
and went to the first shelter we saw in at the road junction. Then
waited for about 15-20mins for the rain to stop before heading down to
Krishna cafe to buy water for the night. Talked to Kuldip aka kullu
for a while and headed back to the hotel in the dark. Adventure man!
Need to avoid puddles and see the way on a road with no street lamps.
Finally reached the hotel and the road leading to the room was way too
dark too! But we managed to do it and lesson for the day: always have
light with you.
Next morning, woke up a little earlier to do some jogging near the
forest behind the hotel. Was a good jog, seeing monks making their way
down towards Mcleod Ganj with big colourful umbrellas. Jogged on and
came towards a forest clearing with a small stupa and a larger one.
The forest had tibetian flags hanging all over from the trees. Very
nice!! Somehow after the visit, I felt more rejuvenated and had a
relatively easy jog back to the hotel.
Mariana and breakfast
Packed up and checked out and went to Kullu’s cafe for breakfast. I had some Isreali dish and it certainly did not feel like India! Then walked down to Mcleod Ganj, deposited the bag at the bus stand before doing some serious shopping! Mariana bought a lot of things while I bought a fair bit myself too
like tea and some small items. Had a late lunch to prepare for our 530pm bus ride to Manali.
Some sights along the way!
Obama was here too!
Cute girl from the place we had lunch. She was learning french!
Restaurant where we had lunch
So we went to the bus stand at 5pm and guess what, our bus had some technical problems and was not coming up to Mcleod to pick us up. Instead, we had to go to Dharamshala to take the bus. Talking with Raju the sefuroty guard of the bus ticket staand, he told us not to worry and follow a delhi bound bus down to the Dharamshala bus stand. Unexpected events can certainly pop up in India! So we followed him, got 2 Jap guys to follow us too and we were off to the Dharamshala bus stand, hoping that the bus would not leave without us. But according to Raju, he says that the bus will leave 530
from Mcleod and 630 from Dharamshala, this sort of made sense and so
there was something lesser to worry about.
Indian style of doing things again.
