Days 18-20

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We took an Auto Rickshaw to the bus station in Amritsar, and got another 'Deluxe' bus to Dharaamsala. It was a 6 hour journey so we thought it'd be a lot easier than the other bus trips we'd taken. We were wrong! It was a bad, bad journey. Graeme's back was hurting him a lot, bless him and because there was no room on the bus, people kept hitting him with their ridiculously over sized bags as he was sat in the aisle seat. We stopped at a couple of 'cafes' on the way.

As we headed up the mountains the landscape became more green and was really pretty compared to the surroundings of Amritsar which were really dry. Once we arrived in Dharamsala we got off the bus and had to get another bus up to where we were staying in Mcloud Ganj (where the Dalai Lama lives). But beore we could get on the next bus we waited for the bus driver to get our bags down from the roof. We waited, and waited. Nikki asked what was going on and the guy just blanked her, she shouted at him, and he still blanked her. There were about 5 of us waiting for our bags, so Nikki joined a French guy and climbed on top of the bus, untied our bags from the top of the bus and handed everyone their bags down. We were fuming. We'd already given the guy some money to put the bags up there, yet he decided to walk off and leave our bags on top of the bus. Lesson learned.

So we got on the bus up to Mcloud Ganj, which was around 12p for a 30 minute journey. Once we got off the bus we walked into the main square and made it to our hotel. Our room was the nicest we'd stayed in since being in India. Great size, very clean, roof top and mountain views - it was perfect. It was already pretty dark so for the rest of the night we had food at the hotel outside and enjoyed the views.

The next morning we spent ana hour or so organising future train tickets and accommodation before walking through the market and buying a few bits and bobs. Afterwards we went into the Tsuglagkhang Complex where Monks prayed and also where the Dalai Lama lives. We walked around for hours, it was such a peaceful place. We saw the Dalai Lama's house and took a long walk around the whole complex which was a forrested area filled with Temples, prayer aflags, prayer wheels and Monkeys - lots and lots of Monkeys. Graeme took it upon himself to become Attenborough, and took soooooo many photos of Monkeys playing and running about. Later we went to a small reccommended restaurant and the food was great. We spent the rest of the night sat on our balcony.

We went to a Tibetan cooking class the next morning at 10.30am. It was run by a Tibetan guy twice every day, he was so passionate about the food and was really friendly. We found out he was born in Tibet and his mother had taught him how to cook, but once the Chinese had occupied Tibet they took refuge in Dharamsala and he's been cooking ever since. We made Momos, veg, spinach and cheese and sweet ones. There were 9 of us in the class overall and luckily we were sat next to the most annoying American girl we've ever met. The class was amazing though, the chef gave everyone print outs of the recipes and he told us to note down extra little tips. After two hours the Momo's were cooked and it was testing time! I think we ate more Momo's than anyone else in the room, they were delicious.

After cooking we had to check out of our room, then we booked any remaining bus/train tickets for the whole of our trip. While we were using the internet the rain came down really hard, so we ran back to the cafe in our hotel (which was only a few blocks away) and had something to eat while we dried off. Later we went for a walk and before we knew it, it was time to head to the bus station for our next trip.

We arrived at the bus station a little early and our bus didn't look too bad. We set off around 9.30pm and headed for Shimla.

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