Delhi to Dharamsala

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Firstly, thanks for the e-mails of concern regarding our whereabouts when the earthquake hit Asia. We were still safe in Nepal and didn’t even find out about it until we flew back into Delhi the following day. According to the BBC, the tremor was felt as far away as Delhi, however the main areas affected were Kashmir and Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province.

Arriving back in Delhi was no treat, and after finding ourselves in a couple of ‘questionable situations’, we decided that the sooner we got away from the heat, noise, and smelly smog of Delhi, the better the chance we would leave with our sanity intact.

Our original plan had been to head to Rajasthan, but the true Canadians in us started to break through and we strangely started to crave cooler temperatures. So in a spontaneous change of plans we decided to head north, to Dharamsala.

The best option seemed to be the overnight ‘tourist bus’. Despite having bought tickets with assigned seat numbers, Lindsay and I, being the last ones on the bus (oops), earned the rights to sitting right up front in the area sectioned off for the 4 Indian men taking care of the driving of the bus. Unfortunatley, there was seating room for maybe 3 people so it was uncomfortably cosy, and all of the bus crew passed the time by smoking and yelling at each other. Needless to say it was a long 12 hours but sometime early this morning we arrived in Dharamsala, glad to have made it out of Delhi.

Dharamsala (meaning "Rest House") is a town in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The area we are staying in for the meantime is McLeod Ganj, or Upper Dharamsala, and there is a large community of Tibetan exiles resides in the town. As well, this part of town is the present home of the current Dalai Lama.

We’ll write soon and will post more pictures as soon as we are able to recharge our camera battery, take care all!

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Photos

A lot of monks to feed
These are the biggest pots we'd ever seen!

Comments

[Jen and Tom]

happy trails
hey there ladies! sounds like you guys are seeing tons of interesting stuff. hope that you're feeling better linds! the trek that you guys did makes our trip to the grand canyon seem easy in comparison!! keep on having fun!

[Melissa]

Glad you're safe
HI Linds! Glad to hear that you are safe and having a blast! My sister and I are off on the 20th and are so excited! Great to see this online journal idea....so smart! All the best and keep safe! Love ya'

[Jim Jacobsen]

Kuala Lumpur Travel
Glad to hear you guys are safe. I can imagine what you are going through. Do you have an idea when you will be arriving in Kuala Lumpur? When you get here we can share India pictures.

[Janis]

Wow!
Just after discussing the turmoil in the disputed Kashmir region with my Social Studies students, I find out you two were there! I’m relieved you two are safe and sound; in the end, it’s probably better you seized the opportunity and went there…besides, when else will you get the chance to do so? The pictures you put up are great – and keep them coming! I can’t wait to hear all of your stories! Miss you both!!!