Hotel India House McLeod Ganj

Several cramped hours on an Indian bus took us to McLeod-Ganj - a small Himalayan town that <br><br>is now the Dali Lama's home in exile, along with a large Tibetan refugee community. <br><br>Approaching the town the bus passes Tibetan women, in traditional dress spinning prayer <br><br>wheels. <br><br>Five years ago I had the privilege of seeing the stunning Potala palace in Tibet - where the <br>Dali Lama should reside ...

Well I'm still here in Mcleod Ganj, thanks to all of you who've posted messages, I will try and get back to you soon, I promise!!<br><br>Town is quieter this week as His Holiness is not doing another teaching here until the end of November. There's still quite a few westeners around, mostly volunteers and those who are spending a while here, plus the odd packpacker drifting through. It's a really nice atmosphere, the restaurants aren't really packed now, and ...

... bus winding its way up...and up...and up...and up the Himalayas. The last 4 hours were uphill! It was a wonderful sight watching the sun rising over the mountains, really breathtaking.<br><br>Since then it's been non-stop! I started my volunteer work the day I arrived (I wasn't really supposed to, but they needed a hand), and my days are now filled as follows:<br><br>9-10.30- I'm teaching their Tibetan computer teacher some packages she doesn't know <br><br>1-3pm ...

... way back to camp. We saw a snake on the banks of the river.<br><br>The next 3 days were spent trekking to the Indrahar Pass, via Triund. We didn't make it to <br>the pass as the group was so big, but we had a good time and met some really nice people.<br><br>After the trek I decided that a haircut was in need, so I had one. Along with a shave and a quick massage. The massage involved lots of slapping on the head and finger pulling, but it felt nice afterwards. The ...

... but its also nice knowing we'll be here for a while so we dont need to pack our stuff up and travel anywhere (which is a pain in the ****).<br><br>Apparently there is a lot of nappy changing to do which I'm kinda dreading, although as we're doing the morning shifts, we've been told the babies only really pee. The pooing starts in the afternoon after lunch time and by that time we would have finished our stint. <br><br><br><br><br>

... to play with us, as I'm sure they don't get too many opportunities to spend time with others, living way up in the mountain, and especially us foreigners. It's been a great experience to live on our own, cook for ourselves, spent time practicing and writing music, and just relaxing in this amazing atmosphere. In our last days here up in McLeodGanj we spent our time searching through the shops one last time and taking our last hike up to the highest peak that lays just ...

... and generosity, and after our experiences, we all appreciated their gesture. The ride to Kaza was a pretty jovial one, with everyone smiling and making jokes along the way. When we finally arrived in Kaza several hours later, we felt liberated, but exhausted. Our attempt at a celebratory dinner was pretty sad, really, and we ended up calling it a night around 8 pm. We would later realize that 8 pm is a pretty late night in Kaza.

... as he was so strict - I had already taken off my shoes, but was told socks must come off too; I must put on a head covering; then he interrogated me about what was in my purse; cameras and cell phones had to be left outside. We stayed overnight in the temple guesthouse - it wasn't nearly as strict as the temple proper - it was very peaceful. Travelling the same route and schedule as us, for the first while, was a delightful young Parsee couple from Mumbai, Vinita (an industrial ...

... here and there, finding no promising crossing points. Our plan was to avoid getting wet, which was thwarted by a misplaced foot here, and shortened jump there. After prodding the river's defenses for nearly an hour, the porters discovered that we could simply walk a few hundred meters upstream and cross on the snowbridge at the river's source. I was a little skeptical, but the bridge seemed to be several ...

... six hours for the seventy five mile journey and each of these stops were used literally as a breather so that we could get out of the stuffed car. I think the ride would have been much better had we had the nicer chair cars that we were expecting. In fact the train that was coming down when we arrived in Shimla was made up completely of the nicer cars. We aren't exactly sure why it was screwed up but needless to say it's just another example of the way it is ...