Royal Palace Resort McLeod Ganj

... seeing the simple concrete monastry that is his home in exile filled me with some sadness (and not a little anger). <br><br>The talk of the town was the Dali Lama was currently making a visit to a monastry in far North Eastern India - in an area of land disputed by China and India. China had objected strongly - India said he could travel anywhere within India (thus reinforcing their claim to the land). A heady mix, two ...

... a result I've managed to move guesthouse at last. I'm now staying just down the steps from where I was before, but it's the cheapest place in town, a snip at 175 Rs (about 2.30 pounds) a night! It's very basic, as you'd expect, but it's clean and I have my own bathroom (with western toilet), and hot water.<br><br>Last weekend I went for a walk to the next village, Bhagsu, which is a couple of miles up the road. There's a waterfall up in the hills, which ...

... basics class with Tibetan refugees and monks (i was classroom assistant in this but am running the show as of Monday!!)<br><br>4-5 English conversation classes- these are really informal sessions where we sit in small groups and they get to practice their English. I was astonished at the level of their English, even the advanced students still come just to get practice. In my 1st session we covered such light hearted topics as the global economic crisis, nihilism, the ...

... day was spent with Shakir, he was one of the people we met from the trek. We went to the Dalai Lama's, but his mum said he was having his tea so he couldn't come out. We had lunch with Shakir and made plans to move on.<br><br>The next day we had our first taste of local buses, one from Mcleod Ganj to Panthankot, which wasn't too bad. Then one from Patthankot to Amritsar which was slightly busier!<br><br>Anyway, more to come in the next edition.<br><br>See you next time.

I've been amazingly **** at updating this blog. So far we've been through Delhi, Rishikesh (where yoga was born), Amritsar, to the border between Pakistan and India, and we're now at McLeod Ganj, where the Dalai Lama led the Tibetans to after being exiled from Tibet by China.<br><br>It's up a mountain so we can actually see the clouds around us. Took a 2 hour train, a 4 hour bus and another 45 min bus to get here. Its great to be able to ...

... the snowy mountains. We started at about 11 am and hiked, or more like climbed rocks and stairs, for 4 hours before reaching the summit. It all became worth it as we came over the top, for the jagged snow-covered Himalayas lay right before us. It was as if we were standing on the top of the world (which in a way is true). As exhausted as we were, we ate some food, took some pictures and rested before making the journey back down the long and winding path on the side of the ...

... or three, but one would be quite wrong. There's just the field, and in the morning, a steady stream of folks heading out with a bottle of water (for washing, see), and finding a (slightly less) conspicuous location to squat. Oddly enough it seems to work; in the high dry air and brutal sun, the UV apparently kills whatever doesn't immediately dry out, because there is no smell, and are no flies. Just watch your step. Another day, another pass, this one called ...

... and Xerxis (computer software designer, and yes, he's named for the Persian king, Xerxes from a long time ago). Their guide is a friend of Lara's, so we often met up for meals, walks or stayed at the same guesthouse. I asked them if they had 'arranged' their own marriage, as opposed to their parents doing it for them. They said yes and when I asked how they had met, it was through www.shaadi.com (shaadi means marriage in Hindi) on the internet. Once they had corresponded by ...

... least a couple of meters thick. After an hour and a half, we were back at our camp - on the opposite side of the river. The day was a mix of sun and drizzle. The scenery had changed dramatically from the Parvati Valley. It began to look more like a high desert. Colorful valley walls gave it the feel of the South Dakota badlands. About halfway down the valley, we hit the road and a couple of hours past the end ...

... in India. One of the bright spots of the ride was this nice man we met. He seemed to be quite enthralled by our cameras and iPod's. Dave loaned him his Nano and the man starting jamming to it. It was pretty funny and I put a shot of him enjoying it on the travelblog. After arriving in Shimla we were just exhausted. We were immediately accosted by numerous men asking for taxi, hotel, and a mass of porters offering to carry our bags for as far as we needed. We ...