I made it, yes, I eventually got to Dharamsala.

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The bus journeys were not to horrendous, well not compared to the Nepal to India trip anyway. It was a bit galling though having to get a bus to Pathenkot (3hrs) when only yesterday I had lobbed past in the train! Then at the bus station I managed to find a bus to Kanga (4hrs), change there and get and get a bus to Dharamsala. Then I caught a taxi to McLeod Ganj.

I already knew where I wanted to stay. I had sourced a little guesthouse ran by Tibetan monks called the Loseling. The taxi driver had to ask a few people along the way but eventually after me paying him more to carry my case up the long flight of wet stairs, there I was. Although I must have got the name wrong because it was called the Loling guesthouse and.... it was full! Just mu luck, but they said that a room would be free the next night so I stayed in the place next door. Not great but O.K.

The next morning I went for a stroll and found the Loseling! He had taken me to the wrong place. Anyway they only had one room with absolutely no views, so that was out. I eventually found a reasonable hotel with T.V. and cable (yes) and settled in, or so I thought. As you would know by now, nothing is that straight forward in India.
Apart from the bed being uncomfortable - the mattress, if you can call it that, dips in the middle and is like cardboard, the room is right next door to the kitchen. At 6a.m. I wake up to the smell of cooking and pots being banged and food being chopped. Then at midnight they are cleaning up. I tried to cope for a second night, but no, gotta go.

I was also beginning to feel a little lonesome, ahhhh! Being in an ashram is wonderful because there are always other people there and you have meals together, but in a hotel, you’re on your own. I need to get into teaching again I though, so I set off for Volunteer Tibet, an organisation that I have been in touch with many times during my planning period. But, they were closed for the weekend.
So there I was wondering around McLeod Ganj, feeling a bit alone and not knowing where to stay when....... I heard a dijerido (no idea how to spell this one). The Manu who was playing and I started chatting, a lovely man and we had chai together and talked about various places in India we had been to and I asked if he had any ideas of a nice place I could stay.

Well that was it, we were off and running looking at room after room. He is a local Dharamsala boy so knows everyone. One were what I was looking for so then he took me to a place that has what we would call bed sits, with a little kitchen. But, all booked out. Then a heads came over one of the balconies and we were being called up for a cup of tea. Doria is amazing. Can talk under water with a mouth full of marbles but is such fun. She is a Singaporean living in Queensland but has been spending many months here trying to get a passport for her ex monk Tibetan boyfriend to come to Australia. We all sat around having tea and then she had an idea. She knows of a wealthy Tibetan from Lhasa who has an apartment nearby and is here to learn English. Her idea was for me to teach him English and he would give me accommodation and food for free. Sounded good, but what would he think?

Well, he was summonsed and agreed to the whole thing. The only problem was that an English girl would be staying for the first 6 nights to learn Tibetan cooking (supposedly he is a great cook) and to help him with his English, but if I didn’t mind sharing, then it was all go. I thought, why not, so am also going to learn Tibetan cooking. The other people in the apartments seem lovely and really friendly and there is a yoga school on the top floor so I will try to get in a bit of yoga which I have been missing recently. I have landed on my feet yet again. Someone is looking after me. Lobsang (my new student) also has an ex-monk, Tensing living there who can translate for me if necessary. And tonight we are all meeting for dinner at a restaurant nearby called Carpe Diem, well I am certainly doing that!

Oh, forgot to mention, yesterday while having breakfast I met a lovely American woman, a professional photographer. She was running a one day course on how to improve your photography so I went along. Played with our cameras for a bit, talked about composition, angle, texture, exposure etcetera then went on a shoot excursion to Norbalingka Monastery. I really enjoyed it and got a lot out of it too. Enjoy the photos.

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