Foothills of the Himalaya - a 6-week trip.

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Saturday 7th June.
Today we are in the hills again having left the scorching plains of India. It took us 6 hours of travelling by car, the 200 ks to Dharamsala. We drove on very busy roads often pitted with pot-holes, and in quite a few places the road had all been partially washed away by last year's monsoon. Our driver, Dal is careful and slow! I reckon I could have got here in half the bleeding time had I been driving! Anyway, we got here safely at 3pm.
As soon as we entered Himachal Pradesh from the Punjab we noticed that the roads improved dramatically, and the houses had slated roofs - or at least the older ones did.
As we started to climb, we started to see the same landscape as we had previously seen in Sikkim. We entered mist, and the forests changed to teak and fir.
Dharamsala is at an elevation of 4,000 feet but there is an upper part The 72 year old lives in what was called Brian's Cottage. We never saw the place when we were up there but to my mind the old chap would be better off at the White Haven Estate where we are staying! It is the most lovely little hotel with absolutely lovely surroundings So far, it is by far the best location that I have ever experienced in India, and there are no steps to climb; no idiot temple at the top; and no idiot tourists! The DL needs his head examining living up there - and it gets deep snow in the Winter whereas down here gets none!
I sat outside in brilliant sunshine for over 2 hours, and it was lovely. 10 minutes sitting out in Amritsar, and you either needed to plunge into a pool , or you had to go outside with a bucket of cold water and flannel, and sluice yourself down - and you did that every 10 minutes or so. And there are loads more birdywinks up here too. You can tootle out for a walk when the mood takes you.
Our Guide hails from Britain. She's called Jane, and has been here for 21 years. She is very informative and helpful, and she speaks good English too!
Sunday 8th June.
We travelled up to the higher bits of Dharamsala today, and went round the temple. I had anticipated an audience with the Dalai Lama but it seems he was too busy, and anyway he's off galavanting to Australia tomorrow! Some people seem to have their priorities all wrong!
One can spell the town as Dharamasala which is quite good as we all had cups of masala tea in Dharamasala!
The locals are almost all Tibetan. Today half the population was comprised of holiday-makers - those horrible folk mainly from India and Korea but with a few Israelis too! Of course we don't fit into this category!

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