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Published: November 25th 2007
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"The idea of a little Lhasa in India is not ridiculous" is something that we realized on our visit to Mcleodganj from the 15th to 17th November' 2007. As we got off wearily from our train at Pathankot after a long one and a half day journey at 4 PM on 14th Nov, '07, little did we realize as to what was in store for us in the next three days.
We started our ascent to Dharamasala/Mcledoganj at 5 : 00 PM in a hired Toyota Qualis, which charged us Rs 1500/- for the trip to Mcleodganj. ABout an hour from Pathankot on the hilly drive, we stopped over at a road side dhaba - THE FAUJI DHABA - had a sumptuous snacking of yummy mooli /gobi parathas with butter and some pakodas. Weary as we were, devoid of some good food for the last two days in the train journey, the FAUJI DHABA provided some real nice welcome relief to the 7 stomaches aching for good food !
The drive up to mcleodganj is a 3 hour one from Pathankot. Even though it had got dark, we cud make out the sillouettes of the flora / vegetation alongside
and were a little dissapointed that we were yet not seeing any pine / conifers (which are the trademarks of hill stations) even after about 2 hours of drive. Moreso, the drive was not in sync with the normal hill driving and the classic hair pin bends etc were conspicous by their absence.
The situation changed as we reached dharamsala, which again is not exactly a hill station, as it is made out to be in many journals etc. Thereafter started a steep climb to Mcleodganj. ( Over a distance of 7 kms to mcleoadganj from Dharamsala, the road gains an altitude of appx 450 m , with Mcleodganj standing tall at appx 1750 m above mean sea level).
Tired as we were, as we reached Mcleodganj, we had our dinner early at the HPTDC Hotel Bhagsu. Fiarly priced at about Rs 800 -1500 per day rooms, the Hotel Bhagsu happens to be one of the better places to stay in Mcleodganj. Dont go by its name - the Hotel isnt at Bhagsu ( Bhagsu is a place about 2 kms from Mc leodganj), it is bang at Mcleodganj at the end of about a 50 m steep
slope walk along the place most hotels in Mcleodganj are located. Chonor House, is another good option to stay, though is fared a little high around Rs 1800/ - per day. The Chonor House has a connection with the Norbulingka Tibetean Institute and as such, would give the traveller a greater insight into the Tibetean Culture in case the visit is shorter. The rooms are supposedly done up by individual local artists.
One thing that we realised during our stay at Mcleodganj was that the Markets close very early. At 7 PM, everyone in the market is off. Similarly, most of the restaurants also do not serve anything after 10 PM. Another peculiar thing was that hard liquor is not served in any of the Restuarants, and as such one has to be content with only beer and wine in the Bar and Restaurants. In case, travellors want hard liquor, most of the Hotels provide that ! (incidentally The HPTDC Hotel Bhagsue doesnt serve hard liquor in the Hotel).
There are two main streets in Mcleodganj, which house local shops selling curios and similar stuff. Though most of the Stuff is known to be sourced from either Delhi
or Ludhiana and is failry expensive. For example, we tried buying prayer Wheels and the smallest one made of gun metal cost about Rs 250 ! (Very exorbitant).
The streets are just about 80 -100 m in length and taking walks there is a pleasurable expereince. The sight of the monks in their red wrap around clothes as also the hot steaming momos selling like hot cakes is something that would be imprinted in my mind for years to come. The streets also have small shops of tibetean and buddhist music CDs , VCDs and DVDs, and being there, it is imperative that we take back some as souveniers. The cost of Audio CDs is appx Rs 150/- each.
Delicious momos are readily available at many shops in the streets of Mcleodganj. SOme lady vendors also sell the same on the Streets. But, i would recommend the OM Hotel for eating out during the day time. There are reasons to it :
1. Theres a wonderful terrace where one can sit, relax , read books and enjoy the view of the valley besides having your authentic tibetean grub including momos.
2. The moms here are superb. The
fired versions, which wud be generally more palatable to us Indians, being tibetean equivalents of samosas.
3. The minus points here are that the entry to the Hotel is a lil bit shady as also the fact that the restaurant does not seve any NOn vegetarian food. Otherwise, the restaurant as also the baording accomodation seems ok for the Budget traveller, who wud end up getting the room to himslef for a meagre 250 bucks per day (shared toilet) and 350 bucks per day(individual toilet).
4. All in all , OM is recommended for one and all for one meal at least during ur stay at mcleodganj, in case u aint a fanatic of fantastic ambience etc for food !
We travelled to Baijnath Temple (one of the 12 Jyotirlings - shiva temples), palampur and on way also stopped for a long time at the norbulingka Tibetean Institute. The institute has been set up by the Tibetean Govt in exile to ensure that the culture, art and craft of Tibet gets a continuity. The centre keeps on getting the Tibetean refugees from Tibet and organises somevocational training for them. This place is worth visiting and in fact, one can
also stay over there at very reasonable rates (Rs 1150 for a fantastic room ).
The Norbulignka Institute also has a shop selling the tibetean stuff as also the special THANGKA PAINTINGS of Tibet, but most of the Stuff is extremely expensive. Theres also a small shop selling clothes and stuff. The best part about this place is the ambience and the environement. The way the whole institute is covered by Trees and the tibetean flags, really adds a lot of charm to the place. Besides this, theres a small Doll museum, that displays the tibetean Dolls. The entry fee is meagre Rs 5 per head.
The best part of the Norbulignka institute is the Monastry which houses inside itself a magnificient Buddha Statue. The place is veri quiet and all of us urban people, who have lost their sense of what "quiet" is, need to really make a visit to this place to refresh and sanitize themselves of the meaning of quietness.
Some more okayish places to be seen around Mcleodganj within a 20 Km radius are the bahgsu temple and waterfall, Naddi (Sunset point), Dal Lake (a small lake surrounded by beautiful deodar trees- dont
go in for the size of the lake, just enjoy the view, believe me, i wudnt fail u on that one ! ) Naddi also gives a wonderful view of the Dhauladhar Mountains as also the sunset(not behind the dhauladhars). We were unfortunate not to be having the Dhauladhars snow covered. The ranges are really wonderful too look at...their sheer magnificience with a touch of baldness (no vegetation) makes them look like behemoths towering over Naddi.
The trip to mcleodganj is incomplete without the visit to the dalai lama temple in mcleodganj itself. When we were in town, Dalai lama wasnt there, we were told that dalai lama, when in town, does make it a point to make public appearances !
The three days finally came to an end and we look forward to many more "family" visits in future
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okish
true Priti ,I visited this place with students and were quite dissappointed from Botanical point of you.Dry and deforested... Palampur is a better place