Far And Away ~ over the hills…far and away

Our first day in McLeod Ganj was spent visiting Tsuglagkhang Temple (Dalai Lama’s Temple), Bhagsu Waterfall and some art galleries. But most of our time was spent sipping some new variety of tea at Green Hotel. In the evening we tried to follow a candle light procession and somehow lost track of them in the streets of McLeod Ganj. Overall it was a productive day. Somehow at the end of the day we started talking some strange stuff like spirituality, salvation, desire over a cup of tea; may be it was the effect of surrounding.

Prayer Wheels at 'Tsuglagkhang Temple', McLeod Ganj.

Our plan for the next day was to head towards Triund which is a one day trek from McLeod Ganj. We decided that we would stay there overnight. We started off early next day and staying at Green Hotel breakfast wasn’t a problem. The trip started with 15 mins bumpy ride in an auto rickshaw till Dharamkot. Triund was around 9 kms from this point. Weather in Dharamshala is really unpredictable. Sometimes you can witness a clear day followed by rain or may be storm and after a while you might see the sun again but you are not really sure how long will that last since you see clouds covering the sky again.

Trekking trail to Triund.

The mushrooming commercialization of tourism industry hasn’t left any place untouched. This place wasn’t an exception but Mountain Cleaners and the local of McLeod Ganj had taken a step forward to save the ecology of the place. The trekkers could carry a bag which was available at tea shops on the way and bring back all the thrash they found on the trekking route and dispose it in thrash bins kept at these tea shops. Some people were concerned enough to carry a bag and some were least bothered and very happy littering around.

Magic View Tea Shop

After 4 hours of trek and a brief halt at Magic View tea shop we finally reached Triund. The top gave an unobstructed view of Dhauladhar ranges. Accommodation was available in tents but the place was hit by a storm previous night so we gave up the idea of staying there overnight.

Dhauladhar ranges as seen from Triund.

We started exploring the place. The view was awesome and I could hear someone playing guitar somewhere in the woods. I followed the music and found that some one was playing guitar behind a rock. I stopped at a point where I could hear the music clear enough and soon  was followed by Pranay. We sat there for a while enjoying the music and the view.

The sky was getting cloudy again so it was time to get back. We had food in one of the tea shops and headed back to McLeod Ganj picking up thrash thrown on the trekking route. Fortunately it didn’t rain much apart from a drizzle for few minutes. We reached McLeod Ganj and went to Green Hotel for a cup of tea. Had a brief talk about same spirituality stuff. The buses for Delhi left Dharamshala in the evening. As usual we didn’t have any prior booking. So we had to travel in different buses. Pranay headed towards Delhi and I took a bus to Chandigarh to start yet another journey.

View of McLeod Ganj Town

The bus reached Dharamshala bus stand around 7 in the morning. A hot cup of chai(Indian Tea) was a perfect thing to start the day.

The journey to McLeod Ganj was another 20 mins by a bus. Summers, hill station, a bus full of tourists last night and auspicious day of birth of Gautama Buddha. Taking all the factors into account I had expecting that we would have a hard time to find a decent accommodation. We randomly moved towards a street called Bhagsu Road and checked  for the availability of rooms in Green Hotel. No prior booking and the first hotel we pick up turns out be really good; I guess life couldn’t be more good.

Green Hotel, McLeod Ganj

The hotels had rooms ranging from $17 to $ 50. One of the best thing about the hotel was it’s restaurant. The restaurant opens up at 7 a.m. and it is one of the few places in town to head for an early breakfast. Not just it opens up early but the food is good too. The best thing we liked over there was the variety of tea they served.

Restaurant at Green Hotel

The concept of “Fill your bottle” was one thing to be appreciated. Mountain Cleaners (a non-profit organization based in McLeod Ganj) came up with this idea. The stuff is simple:refill your bottle instead of buying a new packaged water bottle which would eventually decrease usage of plastic bottles. So most of restaurants in McLeod Ganj will have a water dispensing machine where you can pay Rs. 10 per liter to refill your water bottle. 20 lt. of packaged water is mounted on the dispenser,  it is the same  packaged water you buy in any shop so it is safe for drinking.

Landed up in McLeod Ganj without a plan, managed to get tickets, luckily found a good hotel without much hassle. Sometimes traveling without with a plan helps.

P.S.: I finished writing this post at a place where I didn’t have access to the photos I had shot in McLeod Ganj.
Image courtesy: http://www.greenhotel.biz/ for the last two photos.

Traveling 7 hours from Ludhiana I reached Delhi around 4 p.m. to start another trip and I wasn’t really sure where actually I was heading. I wasn’t doing this trip alone and had my friend Pranay along with me. We had decided either we would head towards somewhere in Uttarakhand or may be visit McLeod Ganj.

We didn’t have prior booking to any of these two places.  Forget the hotels we didn’t even bother to book bus tickets for the journey and it was highly likely that we won’t get tickets to either of these places at the last moment as mercury was rising high in Delhi and most of people were heading towards hills. And add to that we were planning we were planning to travel to McLeod Ganj(headquarter of Tibetan Government in Exile and official residence of His Holiness Dalia Lama) a day before Buddha Purnima.

According to PLAN Pranay reached ISBT Delhi around 6:30 p.m. and was trying his luck to manage tickets for the trip to Dharamshala. I reached there an hour later to still find him waiting in the line.  Well we decided to try our luck first to manage tickets for Dharamshala and in case we weren’t able to do so we would head towards Dehradun. Things in India are mismanaged and living in India we get used to these things but imagine the situation of a guy who has just returned from Seattle. Well over here this guy was my dear friend Pranay. Well we waited in that mismanaged line where guys with long hands have higher priority in the queue to the person standing in front of them and there are some guys with jugaad who always have the highest priority. Well in spite of these guys we managed to get tickets to McLeod Ganj. Well the trip begins…

Note: Well we were lucky enough to get the tickets but would suggest that you get your journey tickets before hand especially in summers. The link below contains the bus schedule for Dharamshala from ISBT Delhi.
http://hrtc.gov.in/hrtc/default.aspx

Bon Voyage