Himalayan India

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Saturday 7 June

Very,very hot last night as we couldn't get the airconditioners to work. Vivid dreams perhaps because I kept waking up or perhaps because yesterday was the day for the weekly dose of Chloroquine.

Time to move out of the Punjab & into Himachal Pradesh.
The roads were extremely busy, as usual, at first, made worse by lots of roadworks as they prepare for the monsoons. It was like driving over rubble.

Eventually we left the plains with very dry mainly bare fields & started to climb up into the mountains where there was terracing with some areas flooded & planted with rice & then as we got higher up we came into the area of tea gardens. Lovely views & fortunately the roads became a bit quieter but it was still quite hair-raising as apart from cars, we met buses & lorries on roads which only looked wide enough for one vehicle, with a sharp drop to a deep drain on one side & a precipice on the other.

Anyway we arrived safely, thanks to our excellent driver Dalprasaad, at White Haven in Dharamsala.
This was formerly the colonial home of Robert Shaw, a great European adventurer & trader, & is set in a lovely garden surrounded by tea gardens & woods with superb views south over the Kangra valley & north to the Dhauladhar mountains. We went for a walk to observe the birds until it started to pour heavily with rain. During the night there was another great thunderstorm.


Sunday 8 June

Dry & sunny this morning with a good view of the mountains while we were having breakfast.

We met Jane Perkins, a British lady who has lived here for over 21 years, who is our guide. She is a book editor & is active in publicising the plight of the Tibetans who are being persecuted by the Chinese,

First we went to Gangchen Kyishong which is the administrative centre for the Tibetan Government in excile.

Next door was the Nechung Monastery where we saw the Tibetan State Oracle was leading the prayers with lots of loud banging of drums, blowing of long horns & trumpets made out of human thigh bones.

We drove on up to Mcleod Ganj to see the Tsuglagkhang Complex which included the Tibet Museum demonstrating the plight of the Tibetans under the Chinese with film & photos showing illtreatment & instruments of torture. All very harrowing.

The Namygal Monastery was next with lots of monks at prayer & outside many people sitting on the ground spinning prayer wheels. Some monks were bringing out large buckets full of food in preparation for feeding everyone there.

Next to this is the Dalai Lama's Residence which we were not allowed to enter.

Finally we went into the Kalachakra Temple where there were fabulous murals & lots of statues & bags full of tiny prayer pills which may be sent all over the world. I particularly like the Kalachaka (Wheel of Time) Mandala.

Everywhere is busy in Mcleod Ganj as it is the height of Indian tourism as the schools in the plains are on holiday. There were a few traffic jams in the narrow lanes. I certainly would not like to drive here.

We ended up at a tiny hilltop cafe just as the heavens opened. However by the time we had drunk our hot marsala tea it was dry again.

I will try to add some photos tomorrow.

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