Trip to Little Tibet - Mcleodganj

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Mcleodganj: Dharamshala



This blog is for all my unseen friends who wants to go away from fast life of metro city and wants to charge their batteries for a couple of days in the quite places of Himalayas.



Me and my wife were planning a good short trip from a long time, we were looking for a quite place, magnificent view, away from crowd, peaceful vacation but it materialized in June 2012 - only when I left my job and switched to another. Days between two jobs are the best as no one from your office calls you.

So, As everything was fast - we got two tickets booked in a bus instead of Train obviously because waiting was long and if you wait for that you stuck up in something else in your life. There are lots of buses from ISBT Kashmiri Gate (Delhi) to Dharamshala (Volvo, Tata A.C. , Ordinary, Private etc.)



Tip 1: Must visit hrtc.gov.in if you want online booking from Himachal Road Transport Corp.



It was an overnight journey and at 8:00 AM we were at Dharamshal – As soon as we stepped out of the bus luckily a Maruti Alto (Taxi) came and asked where we are heading to. We negotiated in Rs.250 to Mcleodganj which was quite reasonable as most of the time car was climbing the steep roads in 1^st gear. Nice ride and we realized that this is the best way to go to Mcleodganj otherwise you will wait for auto or take a city bus which will be a waste of time and not convenient as well.



Finally we reached our hotel – ‘Hotel Triund’ (Don’t go there) which is at a place called Bhagsunag (just 2 Km from Mcleodgand’s main chowk) but located in the market where you have all kind of noises.

Although we had booked one Super Deluxe room in advance, but we had no booking. Our luck favored us again and one family checked out. So, we went in and surprised to see that Super Deluxe rooms does not have a A.C. then I noticed from my rooms balcony that none of the hotel has an A.C. may be because the weather is cool and temperature is never above 30 degree centigrade. Locals were saying its very hot this year (2012) – I feel they need to put A.Cs in coming years if temperature continues to rise year after year.



Bhagsunag has a temple, an overcrowded swimming pool and a very small waterfall. The only good thing there was a restaurant called German Bakery (Must Try) – We spent some time at waterfall where water was really-really chilled. I found it difficult to stand in the water for continuous 5 minutes, I don’t know how people were bathing there from very long time. We clicked some good snaps there and had a Maggie on a local shop.



After that we headed to the market which has all Tibetan handicraft shops and food joints. In the market it feels like you are in Tibet. People are very calm and gentle. We purchased yak wool socks, chopsticks, some packaged food which usually I not available in Delhi.



Lunch Time: Jimmy’s kitchen in the place where you want to be every day. Italian food at its best and very reasonably priced. Big LCD where you can watch a movie, Some books to reads a guitar and awesome food.

Every day we visited this place and ate like crazy. (Avg. Price for a meal for two is Rs.250 only). There are lots of small roadside vendors who sell momos. We tried all different kind of momos steamed, fried, veg, non veg. etc. Same day in the evening we visited Dalai Lama’s monastery which is at walk able distance from the market. Clicked some good pics there then we came home walking late eve and after freshen up had a dinner at nearby restaurant.



Next morning I called up Udeechee Hut (Hotel at Naddi – Near Dal Lake) and enquired about a room – God smiled at us again and we got one vacant room as someone just vacated. So, first thing we did was not the breakfast but the check out from Triund and took an autorickshaw and went to Naddi (6 kms from Bhagsunag). Udeechee Huts is where we wanted to be – quite place, magnificent view, away from crowd and peaceful. Spacious, clean rooms, amazing lounge and balcony with much better view of Dhauladhar than Bhagsunag. We had also visited Dal Lake and had a good walk in the middle of the woods to Mcleodganj enjoying the serenity of green jungle and splendid nature. We had spent most of our evening time at Udeechee Hut only and enjoyed the view.



Tip 2: You can visit Mata Nirmala Devi’s free meditation centre which is at 5 mins walk from this place.



3^rd Day we left the hotel and raided Jimmi’s kitchen again. Had our lunch there and tired all different kind of wonderful dishes, after eating a lot we hired a cab (Same Maruti Alto) for half day and did sightseeing at Dharamshala (Do do this – as there is nothing to see at Dharamshala) – we saw Tea Estate, War Memorial, Cricket Stadium (Asia’s highest) where Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Dare Devils played, We also visited Gyoto Tantric Monastery and Norbulingka monastery.

We had very good coffee at Hotel Dhauladhar (HPTC- Near Dharamshala Bus Stand) with a magnificent view and a pathetic chilly paneer and chowmin. Our bus was at 8:30pm which was on time and Dropped us at delhi next morning 8:30 .



Tip 3: This bus starts from Mcleodganj only. (Tata A.C)



Finally battery is charged and I am all set to join my new job.

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