When I got up at 8AM to turn on the water heater, I was displeased to find that there was no electricity. Since neither Debash nor I were inclined to do much without first having a hot shower, another round of chai and chat ensued before power returned just before midday. This was apparently the longest outage McLeod Ganj had had for months, and also affected other parts of Northern India. Debash's bus for Delhi left at 7PM, and looked to be the most comfortable bus I've seen in my time here. It was a shame to see him go, as it was most welcome to have a familiar face around, as well as having many interesting discussions about spirituality in perhaps one of the more spiritual places on the planet. Back on my own again, ... read more

First thing, we checked out of the Him Queen and into the Asian Plaza, which we subsequently found out was only a year old, which is why it's in such good shape. A friend of a friend of Debash's, who is studying Buddhism and art here for a few months, met up with us for a leisurely breakfast in the indoor portion of the terrace restaurant. Unfortunately it was overcast and a little breezy, so sitting outside would have made for quite a parky experience. Lunch was back at the Green Hotel, and this time I tried a ganthuk, which is a Tibetan soup containing noodles - almost like a ramen. Definitely a good option on a cold day. After lunch, we went to the temple complex containing, among other things, the Dalai Lama's residence. The ... read more

Another invigorating early rise (5AM) to catch a train, but fortunately this time the station was only 5 minutes' walk away. Unfortunately the train I was hoping to catch was delayed by 3 hours. After mulling over the best course of action, I decided to return to the hotel and reclaim my room key in order to get another couple of hours of sleep. On returning later, the arrivals board kept adding another 10 minutes to the expected arrival time, so it seemed clear no-one really knew when it was going to arrive. It then turned up but on a neighbouring platform to the one that it should have arrived at. The ticket seller in Delhi had told me that, even though I only had a wait-listed ticket, I would "easily" be able to get into ... read more

I had a good night's sleep considering all the activities that conspired to stop me. The sink tap in the bathroom dripped constantly, however maybe this acted on my brain like a lullaby, in the same way a gently burbling stream might do. And at 6AM a mass throat-clearing erupted from the other residents of the hotel as well as the neighbours. On that subject, it's amazing just how much phlegm people are capable of producing - not just the gargantuan gozzers first thing in the morning, but the other offerings throughout the day. The hot water in my shower proved to be as much of a myth as I had suspected. On a relative scale, it was warmer than the cold water, but on an absolute scale it was a little tepid. Again, my hair ... read more

Not 100% by any stretch yet, but getting closer. I received an expected, but nonetheless welcome, call from a friend from New York who I'm meeting up with soon in Pathankot. Since I will no doubt refer to him in subsequent entries, his name is Debasish Roy (hence his nickname "the doctor"), and he arrived in Mumbai yesterday, after a near disaster in which he managed to board the wrong flight from New York and almost started heading towards Gatwick instead. Quite how he managed that is something that terrorist training schools the world over are still scratching their heads about. In theory, we will be meeting up in Pathankot, then sharing a taxi from there to Dharamsala - this is assuming that both our trains (mine from Amritsar, his from Delhi) appear in Pathankot at ... read more