What a
fantastic night!!! (this is a complete lie). The bus ride was bad, really bad,
I barely slept, Damien was fine (he was really helpful when I got sick).
Arrived in Dharamsala around 5am, we waited until daylight to take a taxi for
McLoedGanj. While waiting we befriended an Indian girl who was coming back from
boarding school to see her family. She had really good English and we suggested
to share a taxi. She seemed relieved because she was a bit scared to take one
on her own.
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| our crappy bus |
We arrived
in our hostel by 6.30am/7am, we kind of woke up the guys working there, and the
manager (good businessman) told us that our room would only be available after
12, but he had another one that we could take for the 1st night.
Obviously, the both of us were so exhausted that we took the upgraded room (with
a great view), we took a shower and went to bed until 12pm.
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| 7am watched the sun rise before going to bed |
We had
“breakfast” at the hotel: plain omelette with plain toast for me (taking it
easy after last night adventure) and omelette masala for Damien. After that we
left, to have a look at the town and find the tourist office. On the way we met
a senior Irish couple, who gave us a lot of tips. We decided to go and visit
Bhagsu, a neighbouring village, for its temple and its waterfall. The weather
was nice, sunny and warm. We crossed the town centre of McLeodGanj and saw the
colourful Namgyal Monastery.
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| Namgyal Monastery |
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| close up |
We headed
to Bhagsu. The temple was nice and in front of it was an open-air swimming pool.
We noticed that there were only men and boys in it (mostly monks), maybe women
are not allowed to swim here or they have to do it on a different day.
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| on the way to Bhagsu |
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| Bhagsu pool |
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| Damien in the temple |
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| Entrance of the temple |
Next to the
swimming pool is the path for the waterfall. The climb was a bit hard but the
view was great. At the bottom of the waterfall, along the river were a lot of
monks outfit drying on big rocks. Then all the way up, there was various places
to stop and dip your feet in the water. It was a bit crowded so we decided to
go above the waterfall and found a really nice and quiet spot.
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| Bhagsu Waterfall |
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| close up, monks robes drying in the sun |
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| Us and the fall |
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| above the fall, in our quiet place |
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| looking down at our quiet place |
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| Bhagsu fall |
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| Above the fall |
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| Wind Horses |
We stayed
over an hour and went back to McLeodGanj slowly. Once in our street it started
to rain so we went back to the hotel to rest a bit. When the rain stopped, we
went out for dinner and saw the sunset. We saw monks taking picture of the
sunset with their mobile phone, this was quite amusing. But the best was when
one of them asked to take a photo with Damien. He was so happy!!
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| two worlds coming together (monks with smartphones) |
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| happy monk! |
Dinner in a
Tibetan restaurant where the daughter of the owner came and sat down with us,
watching Frozen (in English) on her parents’ phone. She knew some of the song
that was impressive. After a while it was a bit annoying because she was
playing again and again the same scenes.
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| our dinner date |
On our way
back, it was pitch dark and I got us lost… Luckily we met a local, who told us
to follow him, he took us through proprieties and gardens, but got us back to
our hotel! That was really nice of him.
We tried to
watch the Rugby on my computer but the connection was too lousy, and D. fell
asleep while it was loading!
Slept in a
huge double bed in Ram Yoga House in McLeodGanj.
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