If you're looking for some peace and lots of quiet while in India, head to McLeod Ganj. Granted the bus ride to the small mountain town is nothing short of insanity, but you'll see that it was worth every second upon arrival.
We boarded a local, overnight bus out of Shimla to Dharamasala then took a minivan to McLeod Ganj. The first hour of the bus ride was insane. The bus filled to the max before we left Shimla's station, all men of course and all on top of one another, packed in like sardines, smushed up against those of us who paid for a seat and hanging out the door with one foot in the bus just to get to where they need to be. The bus would stop, 10 people would get off and 15 would get on, wonderful. Having the very front seats by the door proved to be a great annoyance, but quite the experience as men glared and stared at the two white girls while more men packed in to any available slice of space. P won many staring contests during this time. Finally after about an hour of this chaos, the bus aisle cleared and we were off along the long, winding dirt road into the hills for Dharamasala.
McLeod Gang, is home to HH the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan government in exile and countless Tibetan refugees...oh and the best museum in India, the Tibet Museum. M took advantage of every opportunity to stop at any of the numerous roadside MoMo stands and P enoyed taking endless photos of the amazing, snow capped Himalayas and passing maroon robed monks. Our evenings consisted of catching a free film at one of the local restaurants around town and taking in the fresh mountain air. MoMos weren't the only thing M wanted to stay for, there were tons of workshops where she could work on her secret passion of being a silversmith around town. The Tibet Museum was another highlight of McLeod, a definite must see for anyone in town. The museum chronicles Tibetan history and China's invasion as well as testimonials of the refugees who currently reside in McLeod and put the museum together. It's truly a moving experience, go see it.
Strolling through the town where the smiles on people's faces are contagious and the "Namaste" greeting is rarely followed by "buy something," made us want to stay forever. Unfortunately, we had a flight to catch out of Mumbai, so staying forever wasn't an option...guess we'll just have to come back!
We boarded a local, overnight bus out of Shimla to Dharamasala then took a minivan to McLeod Ganj. The first hour of the bus ride was insane. The bus filled to the max before we left Shimla's station, all men of course and all on top of one another, packed in like sardines, smushed up against those of us who paid for a seat and hanging out the door with one foot in the bus just to get to where they need to be. The bus would stop, 10 people would get off and 15 would get on, wonderful. Having the very front seats by the door proved to be a great annoyance, but quite the experience as men glared and stared at the two white girls while more men packed in to any available slice of space. P won many staring contests during this time. Finally after about an hour of this chaos, the bus aisle cleared and we were off along the long, winding dirt road into the hills for Dharamasala.
McLeod Gang, is home to HH the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan government in exile and countless Tibetan refugees...oh and the best museum in India, the Tibet Museum. M took advantage of every opportunity to stop at any of the numerous roadside MoMo stands and P enoyed taking endless photos of the amazing, snow capped Himalayas and passing maroon robed monks. Our evenings consisted of catching a free film at one of the local restaurants around town and taking in the fresh mountain air. MoMos weren't the only thing M wanted to stay for, there were tons of workshops where she could work on her secret passion of being a silversmith around town. The Tibet Museum was another highlight of McLeod, a definite must see for anyone in town. The museum chronicles Tibetan history and China's invasion as well as testimonials of the refugees who currently reside in McLeod and put the museum together. It's truly a moving experience, go see it.
Strolling through the town where the smiles on people's faces are contagious and the "Namaste" greeting is rarely followed by "buy something," made us want to stay forever. Unfortunately, we had a flight to catch out of Mumbai, so staying forever wasn't an option...guess we'll just have to come back!
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1 comment:
what??!! did m just say we could go back to Hindia?!
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