ToUriStS iN McLeoDGanJ...

"Day 0: Wednesday"

office was not the regular office... and had to go the CP office and not the Okhla one...
left at 1700 hrs somehow after completing some important work... and reached the Himachal Bhawan.. i was to find out about the buses to Dharamsaala here... it was only me and Tushar who were going on the trip...

i really really wanted to take Radha along.. but looks like Goddie had different plans and he made us take a bus.. actually not "A" bus but multiple buses on our way to Dharamsaala...

the Volvo leaves ISBT at 2000 hrs and was full... there is another bus at 2015 hrs which apprantly was cancelled.... so we could not take it either.. another funny thing that happened was that the guy at Himachal Bhawan told me that the buses leave from there.. but the buses are from ISBT which meant that we got late for both the buses and were not in a position to take any of them either...

anyway... a look at the queue for the ordinary bus to Dharamsaala made me almost cancel the plan... too many ppl... and rotten buses... so we decide to find out private buses to Dharamshaala... we managed to get one... which we boarded at 2130 hours from ISBT... it then went to Lal Quila... and then again to the IST.. and then again to the Lal Quila.. before it took at U-turn to stop on the other side of the road in front of the Lal Quila again...

i so far have never spent this much time in a bus ever without the bus going anywhere... oh.. and about the bus.. this was a sleeper class bus... someone which is kinda common in Rajasthan.. infact the bus had a registration on Jaipur as well...

we finally moved out of delhi around 2300 hrs... and then stopped at the border for fuel... and then again for some Tax related issues.... the bus finally picked up some speed after crossing the border which was around 0000 hrs... and it reached Chandigarh is about 4 hours only.. including a 30 minute break near Pipli...

"Day 1: Thursday"

most of the time in the bus was spent sleeping.. so i am not too sure of the route that the bus took after Chandigarh... however we had taken this bus till Pathankot and we managed to reach there around 0800 hrs... took a private bus to Gaggal from Pathankot and completed this distance of about 80 kms in about 3 hours... and then another bus to dharamsaala from Gaggal... and then one more bus to McLeodganj... our final stop !!!

her name is Zema which means beautiful... isn't she?

on our way we got some valuable information about what do to and where to stay from a guy too... so we decided not to stay in Dharamsaala and moved to McLeodganj instead... which actually turned out to be better...

i broke my favorite shades on the trip.. now left with only the frame :)

took a decent room for 350 bucks a night... and then moved out of the room to walk around... Tushar suggested that we should do the local sightseeing the same day.. which meant hiring an auto for 200 bucks... and a visit to nearby places like the Dal Lake, St. John's church, some view point, and finally the Bhagsu Nag Temple... we also went for a short long walk from the temple to a nearby waterfall... spent about 1.5 hours to and fro... got into an argument with the Auto-wala because he said that we should not have spent more then 30 minutes there... anyway...

a view from our hotel...the small hump that you see on the first mountain is Triun...

went back to the hotel... and then went out again for food and all...

McLeodganj is a very very neat place if you want to experiment with food.. there is so much to eat... i had Spaghetti with Cheese for Lunch, India Food (though i did not want to) for dinner.... all sorts of Italian, Tibetan, continental food is available.. and not too expensive either...

Another highlight of the place:
Figures to kill for and Skins to Die for... so many firangi chicks around... and if thats not enough.. there is more !!! the Local Chicks are more or less awesome too...

I was certainly feeling out of place... there were either Tibetans or firangies around.. anyway...

so after a long day.. i slept while i was talking to tushar... and then i guess he went out and sat in the balcony for a while.. before he slept too...

our room...nice.. clean...

Day 2: Friday

We had done some homework to find out about the bus back home the last evening... and managed to get a ticket for the Saturday Volvo in the morning...

next on the agenda was a trek to Triun... we could see it from our hotel balcony and it looked far away too...



the breakfast here is worth mentioning.. the farmer's breakfast and the JJI breakfast.. at the JJI cafe.. will talk about it later too...

we took an auto till Gallu Temple.. which was a good 6 kms away... and the roads ( well thats what i can think of calling that path as cars, jeeps, autos etc. are supposed to move on it) were scary... something that needs a good 4 wheel drive was being negotiated with a 150 cc three wheeler.... with all the weight at the back.. increasing the chances of going down the hill on the small mistake.. anyway.. we were lucky.. and managed to reach the place where we had to start off with the trek...

in about 10 minutes we reached a T point.. and had to choose between one of the two directions... and no one to guide too... i chose one... and it took us about 20 more minutes to reach a point which looked like a dead end.. crossed the mountain with some support from the rocks at the edge... and managed to move to the other side.. we had to be careful not to slip... we did not...

and after walking for a good 2.5 hours on a path second to the worst i have walked on.. we reached the top of the mountain... Triun... the pain was worth it... i cannot explain what it looked like with words.. maybe the picture would help...

Triun...

lots of foriegners... and a few shops... this was the best place to spend a couple of days... the only sounds were crows or air.. and an occasional cheer of the ppl around... lovely.. beautiful...

Triun again...

on our way back to McLeodganj... the walk took over 3 hours... phew... it was tough..

the walk back was tiring.. and longer.. as we had to walk those 6 kms done in the auto on foot this time... managed to reach McLeodganj around 1800 hrs... had tea and mango lassi in one of the roof-top restaurants... went back to the hotel... rested for a while.. and then came out for a walk...

somewhere....

just walked around before i wanted to sleep... came back to the hotel.. and slept in peace...

Day 3 : Saturday...

Saturday started late... packed our bags.. checked out of the hotel... went to Dharamshaala.. found the Kangra museum of Art closed because of a local holiday... came back to McLedoganj... spent the entire afternoon in the JJI's cafe... about this place now... JJI is a name that comes from the Initials of the JJI EXile Brothers... the cafe is a small shop with 4 tables.. and about 10 chairs... awesome music.. wonderful food.. and the best place to spend time in, if you want to just relax... had the best Honey ginger Lemon tea there... had some great Farmer's breakfast... and some delightful Pasta in Tomato Cheese Sauce...loved it...

took the bus back to Delhi @ 1900 hours... wonderful bus.. a semi sleeper to Delhi... reached delhi in 12 hours.. and home around 0800 hrs on sunday...

The Trip ends !!!! AWESOME... LOVED it...

time for some tips/statistics....
~ Total money spent in Travel : 1400 bucks per head (Private buses Delhi-Pathankot, Pathankot-Gaggal, Gaggal-Dharamsaala, Dharasaala-McLeodganj; Back in a Volvo 750+ bucks per head)
~ Stay : 350 a room per night...
~ Food : depending on what you want to eat.. the food however is not expensive at all... a meal for two should not cross 200 bucks even if you eat a lot...

~ This is a place to just relax.. and chill.. and go for a couple of treks... if you are interested in treks... ensure that you carry some good shoes, some medicine, water, and food...
~ Enjoy the variety of food available...

and HAVE FUN...

p.s. i will have the pics by Wednesday.. hope to upload them the same day too...