Mcleod Ganj, India Travel Blogs

The last refuge of the hippies
Jun 11, 2005 (5 photos)

... addresses, the digital cameras and the trance music. We stayed in a little village called Bhagsu, east of busy, noisy Mcleod Ganj. Here the food is excellent, the atmosphere is relaxed and the locals are friendly, which truthfully, is probably because ...

Dalai Lamas Home
Nov 9, 2005 (2 photos)

July 1st McLeod Ganj The Home of the DL and yes he was home when we called! We were subjected to quite a high level of security (metal detectors and removal of cameras, a quick frisking etc but the 'temple' was thronged with people listening to ...

Treking is bloody hard work!
Oct 24, 2005 (15 photos)

... the fire. linda big thanks for the whiskey flask, really helped me though the cold nights. colin your lighter was a big hit in india, but it run out of gas, negating it usefulness temporarily. the first day was 9km, and we walked from about 1500m to 2500m ...

Losar in McLeod Ganj
Feb 26, 2004 (5 photos)

... celebration of a new year, it is a holy time for Tibetans. As such, there was alot of activity in the monsataries surroundnig McLeod Ganj. The Dalai Lama was rumored to make an appearance at the "main temple" in McLeod Ganj on the first day of Losar but ...

He's not here!
Nov 3, 2005 (23 photos)

... I began to get worried so David went to investigate. The bus was actually parked about 5 minutes walk down the hill! McLeod Ganj is a strangely relaxing place. We ate some great food (great cheese and spinach momos), met some nice people and had a ...

India expedition
Jan 21, 2006 (3 photos)

... from car horns. We got the train to Pathankote and a bus to Bhagsu Nath (in Dharamshala, about 20 minutes up hill from McLeod Ganj). Bhagsu Nath immediately had a good, calm feeling compared to Delhi. We found the people there really nice, lots of good ...

Dalai Lama Land
May 17, 2006 (4 photos)

... leaving the heat of Rajasthan, we travelled via Punjab to reach the cool mountain town of McLeod Ganj (near Dharamsala) in Himachal Pradesh, Northern India. This mountain town is nestled in amoungst pine forests and snow capped peaks and is a picturesque ...

Trekking up a very large mound of earth
Nov 8, 2004

Oooooouuuucch!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rich and I have extremely saw legs, blisters all over our feet and we're walking like 2 old and decrepid pensioners after our trek yesterday! Because I wasn't up for doing any serious mountain climbing or full-on trekking due ...

A taste of Tibet
Nov 19, 2004

... decided to get a taxi up to McLeod Ganj. We felt this was justified after seeing 6 broken down buses on the 7 hour trip. Mcleod Ganj is the home of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile. The Temple and residence of the Dalai Lama were very ...

Meeting the Lama
Nov 7, 2005 (36 photos)

... . We went up the top, it was ok, but the wrong season. According to the LP, you can walk on to Dharamkot, and then onto McLeod Ganj. Sounded interesting, so we set off. It was a really nice climb up a valley to get there, and not long after, we were there. ...

This Place Has Really Gone To The (Western) Dogs..
Oct 16, 2006 (8 photos)

... Tibetan Governemt in Exile and residence of his Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, as well as being a major travellers hangout. I last visited McLeod Ganj in '96 and really enjoyed my time there with my mate Vasko. And it was with these fond memories that I ...

A Little Bit of Tibet in India
Jan 12, 2005

Well, happy January from McLeod Ganj, where I've been chilling out in the gorgeous mountains and trying not to freeze my arse off! 10 months of travelling in tropical areas has done nothing to prepare me, my wardrobe or my poor body for winter in the ...

Mountain Peace
Apr 27, 2008 (11 photos)

McLeod Ganj is an isle of peace among the ocean of Indian craziness. You might as well not be in India since this is the home of the Tibetan government in exile and you see very few Indians. The Tibetans are beautiful people which exude such a ...

Is the Dalai Lama in?
Aug 15, 2003

14th Aug - It's a sign of how tired and jaded we are that we couldn't face the 10 hour bus journey from Shimla to Mcleod Ganj and so we decided to splash out and hire a car and driver. The journey was only about 300km but much of it is through the ...

Married!!!
Dec 27, 2006 (5 photos)

... cost but Cheseung later told me it was 2000 rupees, (I think that is around $100.00, expensive for a hotel room in India as people only normally pay only 200 rupees per night). At 5:30pm Christmas Day, we began the ceremony. We took many pictures ...

The Meditation Centre
Feb 9, 2006 (18 photos)

Pictures of my arrival in McLeod Ganj and then of Tushita Meditation Centre. It was the best thing I did in India. It was ten days (+1) of Buddhist philosophy, meditation guidance, reflection. The hill itself is said to be holy, as several important ...

Himachal Pradesh
Jun 30, 2006 (2 photos)

... beggars can't be chosers and all that. Anyway, this place is just unreal. It has no resemblance to the rest of India whatsoever. It's set into the mountains which means that the climate is cool and the scenery is amazing. The majority of the population ...

Good Karma, Bad Karma: McLeod Ganj
Jun 23, 2006 (4 photos)

... and is populated my a mixture of Tibetans, monks and Indians. I had the first trip-up on my journey on arrival to McLeod Ganj, literally. Since the Dalai Lama is in town and will be giving teachings this week, all the motels were full. I marched ...

One last day with the DL and new friends
Sep 30, 2008

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There's a reason some people drop out of society
May 6, 2009

We met Igor coming up the Jogibara road just as we were headed down.  I have wanted Miso soup for days, and we were finally going back to the Japanese place to deal with it.  Igor was striding up the hill, grinning and swaying a bit as he ...

Round two with the DL
Sep 27, 2008

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Horrible Hospital
Sep 29, 2008 (1 photos)

... why I was getting no treatment. As soon as I was able to walk and bend a little to get into the car, we headed back to Mcleod Ganj, it was way to early to be getting in a car onto a bumpy road with my back but I needed to get out of that hospital and was ...

Conversations with refugees
May 9, 2009

... Tibet back home, and what I thought might happen after the 14th Dalai Lama.  We talked about the differences between Tibet and India, and their dislike of Nehru ("yes, India is very kind, but Nehru?  He gives us the place where there are always ...

Bak in Pak
Aug 21, 2008

After The Khyber Pass and, as you know some other fairly close scrapes in Afghanistan, to be quite honest I fancied a beer, the however, being Pakistan and Muslim was not possible. I decided as I had seen Peshawar and Islamabad before not ...

The Khyber Pass
Aug 20, 2008 (11 photos)

... the heat on the tropical floor of Asia. Alexander the great must have experienced this same sensation as he came down into India accompanied by his teenage Bactian bride, in the early winter of 327BC. So did Babar the sixteenth century Mongol king who ...

Home of the Dalai Lama
Jan 31, 2007 (10 photos)

I am in McLeod Ganj where the Tibetan exiles have settled.  This is where the Dalai Lama calls home and the Tibetan government in exile is set up.  There's all kinds of "Free Tibet" stuff here--stickers, postcards, t-shirts, etc.  Yesterday I went to the ...

Home of the Dalai Lama and the exiled Tibetan gov.
Oct 17, 2006 (6 photos)

... on the road at least every other day, we were very happy to be spending 3 nights in the alpine village of McLeod Ganj.  McLeod Ganj had been the original british headquarters, but they moved to Shimla after the town was nearly wiped out by an earthquake ...

Monks, Dirty Hippies, WWF and a Goat
Jun 20, 2006 (9 photos)

... Tibetan Buddhism. With their help I begin to understand a little more about the religion but also about the crazy community in McLeod Ganj. I meet a monk from Brooklyn. She is in her late 40s, is clothed in red robes, speaks fluent Tibetan and Hindi and ...

blessed & pissed in the same day
Sep 27, 2008 (22 photos)

... us in a good direction of somewhere cheap to stay and in no time we were enjoying as cold beer n the local pub! Mcleod Ganj is the headquarters of the Tibetan Government in exile and the residence of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. It used to be ...

Auspicious timing
Sep 25, 2008 (5 photos)

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