Dharamsala

"Dharamshala! Dharamshala!" yelled the coach person.
I was half awake and was hoping that it would soon be time to disembark. The alarm on my phone had been set for 4.30 having been promised a 5am arrival time. Yet to sound I realised this was early. Looking at my watch I was stunned to read 3:30am.

We got off the coach and luckily there were a couple of others with us, 2 Thai girls and a French lass, we all got taxi into Mcleod Ganj (Dharamsala is nothing more than a stopping point) by now it was pushing 04:00. I whipped out the Rough Guide from my bag and began to search for some of the hotels advised to stop at. Setting off down a pitch black alley only my K750i in hand I used the light from its camera to guide the way, 5 mins later, and a long hill: Nothing. Every hotel we found was closed and had no bell to ring the reception.

After trying 5 hotels and desperatly needing sleep we were in no mind to give up and set off down another road, again phone torch in hand. 3 mins downt he road it was pitch black and the only sound we could here was barking dogs. From past experience in Delhi and Shimla dogs tend to have owners and hence be locked behind walls or gates so we carried on. All of a sudden the barking became louder, more aggressive and we could here paws clambering up the hill and heading our way.

"SHIT!" I thought. Before I knew it, five growling dogs were 2m from me, I was at the front being the bravest, hehe. As we all turned around to calmly (but really i was shitting it) walk away 3 more dogs appeared behind us. These were eyeing us up and worryingly one of them was limping and drooling, the worrying appearance of a Rabid little shit. I cannot describe my fear in words but it was a lot of not niceness. Luckily the Thai girls were good with animals and told us to stay calm as they made noises and calmed the mutts down. Eventually, after what seemed like forever, 2 mins, we were walking back down the street with the 3 dogs as our loyal guards; they actually turned to bark back at the orignal 5. Result!



Learn to read signs Mr Driver


A couple of minutes later we found a hotel which cost us 600Rs (rip!!) and we slept from 5:00 until 11 then wentto find our new room. We had the choice of two rooms, one with a TV and the Football channels, 600Rs or one for 300Rs without. We opted for the cheaper one and to pester Dad with texts for score updates, haha.

Since we have been here we have not really done much. A visit to the Tibet museum being the only notable event. We have been so lazy in fact that I have only taken 4 photos. During the days we have been wandering around the shops, mostly bookshops, reading and then going out to the pub in the evening. This is the first place we have found with a decent bar and a few travellers to speak to. We've also been chatting to some Tibettens which is really interesting.
One guy hiked here with a group of 12, It took him 40 days, really makes you realise how much of a crappy life some people have had. Puts in perspective the things that we moan about: Who stole my parking space? I can't get through to my bank because there isn't a human to speak to just a machine! My boss wants me to show the new person around, what a chore!

We've not had a chance to meet the Dalai Lama though apparantly he is in town at the moment. We took a walk down to his residence but didn't see him gardening to plotted revenge on China.



A Buddist Monk spins the prayer wheel.