I arrived safe and sound in Dharamsala.
Let’s rewind a bit. I will continue where I left off last time. So back to Hyderabad 😉
Before going to bed, we went for pizza. It’s strange to say, but it had one of the best pizza’s I ever ate. Yup, go to India to find good pizza 🙂 So if you’re in Hyderabad and crave for Italian, go to the Flying Italian Monster.
Another first for me: taking a ride on a motorcycle. I didn’t drive myself (luckily). Of course we had to take a picture:
After that, we chatted some and had beer and chocolate !
Next morning, way to early, the cab came to take me to the airport.
The flight to Delhi went fine. Nothing special there, except that I expected to have less legroom. That was a pleasant surprise. It gave me time to catch up on some sleep. I only woke up at touchdown.
In Delhi, there was barely enough time to change gate. For some odd reason, all transfer passengers had to go through a security check again. I guess they don’t trust the checks at other airports.
The flight to Dharamsala was different (nothing bad, just different).
First of all, the percentage of non-Indian people was higher here than I had experienced before.
Secondly, it was done in a propeller plane, not a jet.
Sorry not to have taken a picture after arrival, but we were busy fleeing the rain then.
There was not much to see during the flight due to the clouds. But it should have warned me that we left some of the sunshine behind.
Indeed, once we descended under the cloud cover, I saw choppy waves on a lake. The plane held really well, but indeed, there were some bumps and small drops. And rain of course.
Once in the airport, walk trough the rain to the entrance (it was still quite warm). My backpack was the first on the belt (guess it pays to have a short layover) and the chauffeur was right there.
The trip out of Kangra, through Dharamsala and McLeodganj was quite something. Small road, very windy because we’re in the mountains. Regularly barely enough place for two cars to pass. Add to that some weat-and-tear of the road …
In the smaller towns, the road was not even big enough for two cars to pass. It did give the opportunity to look at the stalls and people. You can clearly see the influence of the Tibetan community living here. First of all, the monks. They really stick out with their traditional garments. You also see other people that clearly show a Tibetan heritage.
Futhermore, there are quite some visitors from all over the world. Also, the bulletins on the road speak of a lot of spiritual oriented community: Yoga, Reiki, Massage, … are all very common. Something I will explore some more later.
After that long drive, which at the end was really a tight road, we reached a small shop. Here, the taxi couldn’t continue so somebody from the guest house was there to show me the rest of the way. Over a track, through the village of Heini.
The guest house itself is well tended for. I’m on the top floor with a nice view of the village of Bhagsunag. It’s a lot more peaceful than I would expect it to be in Dharamsala or McLeodganj. Good choice.
A view of the room I’m staying in.
Bavinder welcomed me personally. And then I crashed on the bed 🙂
Waking up again to 18:30. Enough time to unpack, have a dinner and then skype with Anne and the kids. That was great ! I got to see the new things they got from the fair and had a great chat with all of them.
The night was pretty good till about 5 o’clock in the morning. It was getting light but even more, there was quite a downpour going on. At the end, with associated thunderstorm and very strong winds.
After dosing off, got out of bed around 9 o’clock. Seemed like everybody woke up then after the storm had subsided.
And now too (at 11:00) there is another rain storm. The monsoon really has started !
Edit: due to cut in internet connection, completed edditing it later. I slept some more and now I’m ready to start exploring a bit. But first I wanted to have this posted so you can see more what I’m doing 🙂
