Chinar Lodge Hotel McLeod Ganj

... assumption....oh woe me for assuming and make an ass out of u and me.....The service had been cancelled recently, which left us with taking the government public bus. Not such a big deal right, but you cannot buy tickets beforehand.

So we show up to the bus station and realize that I gotta get my "Aggressive Indian" on...aka time to make my ancestors proud by acting like a local. The ticket area is a booth which everyone crowds around and staying true to the rest of India ...

... by a man who had walked 28 days, in winter, across high passes to escape from Tibet into India. On arrival he had not been able to contact his family back in Tibet for 7 years.

Just outside of McLeod-Ganj is the Norblinka institute, a small university and temple in beautiful grounds (built with US and Japanese donations) - dedicated to sustaining Tibetan crafts. Craftsmen working on religious paintings, fabric ...

... hanging out, & eating in the amazing cafe. This is how the other half live, I nearly cried when I saw her bathroom!!!

Dipti is really good fun, we met at the teachings & were like schoolkids, trying to get a wave from HH (I managed to get one in the end!)- she's a novellist from Delhi, & has been staying here as one of the characters in her book is Tibetan so she's been doing some research. I'm really going to miss her when she goes back ...

... one monk asked me whether I supported City or United- the 1st person to ask me in India (they only care about cricket over here)
I'm also doing yoga every evening, it's a nice mix between westerners & Tibetans. We were doing it on the roof of a building, which was fantastic- overlooking the mountains as the sun sets, but it's so chilly at night so we've now had to move indoors, which is a shame as I no longer get to see the shooting stars at the end of the ...

... br>People are talking to me in Tibetan thinking I am from here. Char is also getting strange looks as they think she's picked up a Tibetan to steal back to her country.

In the afternoon we had the last session of our Indian cooking classes. Yes, travelling is definitely tough sometimes...

Yesterday went to the dentist for my toothache. I was her first ever patient. I felt quite proud and at the same time **** scared. So new was her practice, that she was ...

... in Hebrew. I finally broke yesterday and had a falafel while playing backgammon (shesh besh)...ahhh why not?



I think I'll stay here for a few more days, I'll wait until the higher up villages like Manali get a little warmer. I don't want 38 degrees but I'm not keen on 12 degrees either.

Things are good right here, right now.



Hope you're well, would love to hear from you!



Shanti, Shanti,

Yaeli

... out from under tires. Then scramble back onto the road before the back-hoe can block it again! (He tried, Gretchen stood her ground, in the middle of the road, while I got my bike back together and caught up). Finally, past the noise, the dust, the bad road, onto fresh asphalt (thank goodness the road was good on this side, see comments on road quality a little further down), and, pushing, panting, we reached the top. At 5:30pm. It had taken all day, but what a day ...

... of cell phones, Lara was able to contact the head nun from a Jamyang Foundation sponsored monastery in Kinnaur, and we were able to have tea together before we continued on our next side trip to Sangla, in 'the most beautiful valley in the Himalaya'. Halfway up the cliff-hanging road, we encountered a 'saddhu' (an ascetic, holy person who is trying to achieve enlightenment). On one side of the road, under an overhang, he has his meager living quarters, and on the other side ...

... A fall would certainly not be good, and possibly deadly. Nate felt that he couldn't make the jump. I was annoyed. I was finished with this trek. I wanted my hot food (not rice and dal!!) and the comfort of a warm place to sit and rest. I was being irrational. So in my ******-off state, I searched below the "bridge" for a way across. Nothing looked promising. After an hour of searching with our guide sitting ...

... on the way backside of the main part of Shimla, "The Mall". We finally agreed to check out the Le Royale Hotel that our little friends wanted us to stay at. They said it was a short ten minute walk...we started to follow and then quickly found ourselves lugging our huge packs up about a kilometers worth of stairs, hills and paths. I was absolutely drenched in sweat by the time we arrived at the Le Royale and of course we found it to be a nasty little place. Dev ...