Monday, October 26, 2009

Dharamshala

Last weekend me and 13 others took a bus overnight to Dharamshala and McCleod Ganj. They are both beautiful cities in the northeast of the country towards nepal and tibet. The Dalai Lama lives in Dharamshala if im not mistaken.
Mcleod ganj is known as the litle tibet...it doesnt even feel like you are in india anymore, the people look differently, wear different clothes, sell different things, eat different foods..it was incredible to see a town so close, but different on so many levels...it was incredibly relaxed and the people were all friendly -

The food was particularly sweet - first time eating Tibetan - Momos and Panthenthuk...momos are like dumplings...either steamed or friend and filled with veg stuff or chicken..pantenthuk is a great dish of noodles in a clear soup with a bunch of other tasty things inside...

On the saturday a group of us hiked just outside the main hub to a beautiful waterfall where we relaxed and drank tea for a couple of hours..the rest of hte day we spent walking around, exploring, talking to locals, taking photos and eating food

The city was much busier than usual becasue the dalai lama was in town giving 4 days of 'teachings'. thousands of tibetans came to the city to catch a glimpse of the dalai and listen to him speak...we were lucky enough to go to one of these - which was a wicked experience...no cell phones, cameras, electronics etc..monks everywhere, everyone but me knowing the prayers...the lamas words were lost on me but being around the huge mass of tibetans and watching them was great

sunday some of us hired a car which took us around to some of the best sites outside the city...took about 7 hours round trip but we stopped at 4 or 5 really beautiful places, including a couple of old, and a couple of new beautiful monasteries...view photos!...not sure if ive posted them yet but will within a couple days if i havent already

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