Day 14 Nurpur to Mcleodganj (Dharamshala) 85 kms
By 6am the noise level had risen to that of the Chandi chowk market but that was Ok because escape was always attractive option.
Best part of the whole
ride (was this morning coming up fr Nurpur on a good piece of road (very
unusual) up a long climb through the hills to Dharamshala to Mcleodganj (where
the Dali Lama, took refuge when he fled from China.
So why is it that this
road is smooth and well maintained while the Dalhousie road is like the
frontline in France in WW1 ???
Only a few more days
before I go down to Delhi and return the bike, so I need to make the most of them.
Cool and cloud cover comes down and envelopes the
place. Better chance of finding food that is suitable , not highly spiced stuff
that the road side dhabbas dish up (rest of boys found this OK, but I struggled
to get stuff that was not to oily and spiced.
The hill towns are
wonderfully cool at 2000m, in contrast to Delhi, so it's great being here. I
stopped at this church which I saw from the road as I climbed up the wonderful road from Dharamshala to McLeodganj
(classic stone type -1863)
- St John in the Wilderness, and it was just a wonderful setting,
being surrounded with terraces of daffodils. Walked through the graveyard and
it was very emotional reading the inscriptions - " ..............
22 years, darling beloved wife bride of ................ of the
Indian Civil Service. Daughter of ........... (some english village). I I I
I I imagine the parents eventually
getting the news months later, that she had died in some remote Indian
hilltown.
Even if you survived
being shot at, you could get wiped out by an earthquake. This guy only aged 25.
There is very little
trace remaining of the Brit presence, here now, and Indians do not want to keep
anything that is a memory of the Raj. The Tibetan influence is very strong here
and the town exudes a tranquility that is probably a by product of this. It’s
hard not to smile though, when you go into a ‘western’ coffee shop and the
monks are all in there tapping away on their WIFI I phones or laptops and
ordering lattees.
The place I am staying at- Mcleodganj Homestay is fabulous, being an offbeat place
with great rooms and scrupulously clean. Straightaway I ask for another night and will stay here for a couple of days and relax.
There’s just something
restful about the whole of MCLG despite the streets being clogged with cars,
and the market stalls are full of good craft gear.
This shows the
architectural flavor of the place –
And the view looking
south down the mountain and out over the Indian plain, way below, in the far
distance. (very top of pic)
Maybe the Dalai Lama’s presence
is responsible for the more relaxed feel of the town and the Tibetan monks are
there in big numbers.
I see this, where women
are bringing baskets of rocks from the hillside behind and wonder if this is a
new type of 'static load testing'.
I spend day 15 here as a rest day and get ready for the ride
tomorrow to Chandigarth, down on the hot plains, by tipping in ½ a liter of oil
but the bike has only done 200kms since the mechanic filled it at Pathankot and
the level still seems to be low. I’ve just got to get back the 800kms to Delhi
without the motor seizing
Nice...
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