In the morning our Bus broke down, which meant delay of another 30mins.
Finally, we reached at the Dharamshala Bus-stand at 10.30AM, took a cab for Rs. 150 to Bhagsu road. Alternatively, pay Rs. 120 and get down at McLeodGanj market (9+2KM), walk 2 mins on Bhagsu road and look around for cheap places to stay. Everything was were very reasonable, if you ask me. After having lived in places like Delhi and Noida where we’re used to paying insane rates for daily commute.
Lower Dharamshala is basically the commercial part of the place – bus and taxi stands are only over here. The tourism attraction is upper Dharamshala part of McLeodGanj.
Local commute and lodging
It could have been even cheaper if we would have waited a bit longer for the local Bus (Rs. 20 odd). But, looking at the hustle-bustle of the place (pun-intended). It was a wise decision to take the cab. It took barely 15 mins to reach our hotel, which we had researched for before arrival. We had booked a room for Rs. 600 with an attached bath. You may go cheaper with rooms ranging Rs. 100-200 but you’d have to use the common bathrooms.
We had a shower and went down for breakfast. Tibetan bread toast and Tibetan burger, that bread was like thick Indian chapati. I probably dipped it for more than a minute in hot tea to soften it up.
This little town of McLeodGanj [link], was exactly what I had anticipated while reading about it on the internet. Only a handful of people in the town, lesser percentage of main-landers; greater percentage of foreigners (mostly Israelis and Tibetans). Very quiet place overall, I bet everybody goes to bed by 7PM!
Trek to Bhagsu waterfall
After Brunch, we walked on the Bhagsu road, following which we reached the Bhagsu nag temple [link]. Next on the route was The Bhagsu waterfall – a very treacherous walk if you have a backpack or/and if you’re fat. You have been warned!
There were Monks bathing, washing clothes and playing football! at such a height, one odd bounce and the ball would be lost into the oblivion!
The water was very chilled. Amazing how the locals had set shops down there; 3 cafes. Most drinks were for Rs. 25. If the weather was a little bit better it would have been almost magical for me. Lots of photo opportunities.
On our walk back to the hotel, we stopped and chatted with a taxi driver about other local places to see. We ended up hiring the guy for Rs. 250 for a trip down the opposite way to check out Dalai lama temple, Dal lake, sun-set point and a church.
Dalai Lama Temple
It was a 5 min walk from the place we were staying. This temple carries missionary work, lots of Tibetan culture and similar influences can be seen here. Very calm and soothing place. I found out later that it was in fact sometimes possible to personally meet Dalai Lama.
Dal Lake
Situated at a pretty location, it actually is located on way down towards Dharamshala away from McLeodGanj. We went to the Shiv Temple which was right next to the lake. The lake in itself is not much of a view. Few meters above the lake was a sunset viewpoint (nadnii village). If you plan to witness the sunset, make sure to reach there by 6.00-7.00 PM. Lots of snow clad mountain ranges and cloud covered peaks can be spotted from this point.
St. John’s Church
On our way back we visited the church (services are on Sundays). Quite an abandoned looking place, perfect place for some eerie photography. One of my favorite places.
The McLeodGanj market
After this excursion we were a bit tired, so, we decided to retire to our hotel to take a break and then come out to browse the market later in the evening.
The market as we had a glimpse of earlier, was full of Tibetan handicrafts, Kashmiri shawls, stones, jewelry and lots of small restaurants scattered around the place. Number of liquor shops too. The market as such is pretty small, but, was at its busiest around 5.00-6.30 PM. As a result of our extended break we were able to visit the market only around 7.10 PM. To our disappointment, the place was more or less deserted by then – looks like my prediction was right!
Dinner
Anyways, since we were hungry, we went to Mclo Restaurant and Bar. We were looking to try some Tibetan cuisine, but, since that place barely had any (the rates were pretty average – Rs. 50-90 for most items), we decided to try the other popular restaurant of the place Ashoka’s. We didn’t exactly find Tibetan but settled for an Israeli dish. Ordered something which looked liked boneless version of KFC’s chicken wings. Pretty good. The rates were slightly above average for the place (Rs. 120-180). There was an open-terrace sitting area as well. Additionally, the music being played was really good.
After the dinner, we went out for shopping, looked around for shawls.
Shopping
About Rs. 300 for Kashmiri shawls of several variety. Bought mufflers, funky woolen caps, skirt, scarfs as a gift for Rs. 250-400. Not very ripping-off for us, but, the foreigners are likely to spend around twice for it. Still cheap. It also could’ve been the result of off-season. The tourism season begins early April and adventure sports around April-May.
We went back to our rooms, packed up our stuff and went to sleep as we had to get up leave by 7.30 AM next day to catch the 8.30 AM Bus to Dalhousie.
Triund
Our plans to go to Triund were short lived as we didn’t had enough time.
Tags: Travel Trip