McLeodGanj - Funky Town

Friday was another busy day in all the education centres and it was a good feeling to know that we had a weekend break ahead of us. Straight after work we drove to Dharamsala market and caught a 4X4 up to McLeodGanj. We all poured into the vehicle, three project workers, three mountaneers with all their gear an Indian family and a waiter going to work. There followed a thirty minute drive up hair pin bends with little room to breath or gasp at the drop below.

McLeod is like the Wild West, every nationality all out to have a good time on the top of the mountain. We climbed four floors to the restaurant onto a terrace overlooking the Daulhadoor mountain range and ordered our meal. The terrace was open to the stars and the lights of the villages twinkled below us, truly a moment I will remember all my life.

We were late home and I decided not to drive the five and a half hours there and five and a half hours back to Amritsar and the Golden Temple and spend some time relaxing nearer to home. I visited the Norbulingka Institute just down the round, a Tibetan centre built to conserve their culture now that China has invaded Tibet. I had a lovely day walking in the gardens set with exotic flowers, running streams and prayer flags fluttering in the trees. I lit some butter lamps in the monastery, spun some prayer wheels and generally relaxed away from the hurly burly of India. I also ate a large portion of Tibetan cake and had a pot of chai. I wonder what tomorrow will bring?