My trip to McLeodganj and Dharamshala

I am Ena Rastogi from Lucknow

On 10th april 2016, I reached to my dream location “Delhi” my mom’s house where i born and boughtup.

Amazing…

Some experiences stay with you through out your life. I have created a short story out of one such experience. This short story is from my stay in Mcleodganj.

We, me and my husband were planned to visit to some nice hill station for a week. So we end up on Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh.

After reaching I was desperately looking for a volvo bus from delhi. It would be hard to find a seat. So, I decided to book a seat from goibibo site for a fragmented journey.

I boarded a bus from delhi (majnu ka tila near kashmiri gate) directly to dharamshala.

Bus halted at a place called “DEHRA” for tea. It seemed to be a nice little town.

Finally i was in Dharamshala

The bus reached Dharamsala bus stand at 5:45pm. From there it took 30 minutes way for Mcleodganj. The journey uphill instantly refreshed me. Pristine natural beauty, lush green Dhauladhar mountain range, chilled weather… even in April.. and i was very well able to see ice on mountains. I already felt a lot better.

I was awestruck by the view of myraids of monks roaming around. I hadn’t seen so many Buddhist and monks together before.

I have been to hill stations like, Nainital, Dehradun etc. But Mcleodganj is different and awesome in its own ways.

It’s a small cantonment area spread in max 2–3 kms with markets and hotels approachable by foot.

From the McLeodganj bus stand I took a taxi for my hotel. The taxi driver kept telling me I should have booked a hotel in the McLeodganj area which was lively and also the main market area. Above all, it was close to the Namygal Monastery which also housed the residence of the Dalai Lama. Finally we booked hotel, The hotel we stayed at was Villa INN at Jogiwara road-Top Hill. Whose staff was very friendly and very local to the location.

The weather was bright and sunny. After shifting into Villa Inn, I set out on the 2km walk down to McLeodganj. Here’s a view of the Bhagsu area… In the above photo, the waterfall in the centre of the hills is the Bhagsu Nag waterfall and Bhagsu nag temple. Meanwhile on the way, I got a beautiful view of dharamshala and Mcleodganj.

In the morning, we visited to Bhagsu Nag temple, the ancient hindu temple dedicated to the snake god and to lord shiva, we saw the puiblic swimming pool in the temple premises, travellers were having the gala time over there.

We folowed the path which led us to the bhagsu nag waterfalls some 2 kms away.

The surrounding was breathtaking beautiful.

There were plenty of foreign tourists around. I was told that most of them stayed with villagers in the hills of Upper Bhagsu.

A street vendor recommended me to visit the Upper Bhagsu area. “It’s a beautiful place inhabited mostly by young Israelis who live with the local villagers,” he told me. But we were very much tired so coudn’t go there.

I loved the peace of the lush green surroundings. It felt so amazingly good to see such a nice beauty.

On my way down, i stopped at one tibitian stall and bought 2 shawls. One for my mother, another was for my mother in law. The shawls were too cozy, I liked it very much and cheaper too. I also liked some stone jewellery but too very expensive.

I met a lady who was running a shawl stall. I never met such a sweet and honest people in my life. She was all the way smiling, although she dosnt know english, she hold my hand smiled and said-no english.. tibitian,,.. tibitian.. english no and then again smiled.. oh i cant forget that smile and her eyes. She stolen my heart.

We went down to hotel, took fresh cold bath, changed clothes and took some rest at terris.

Evening was getting colder, my husband takes out cigrete and was sitting on a row bench. He was looking so relaxed.. looking at the mountains and talking to me. Amazing…!

Later in the evening, we went down to road had coffee latte at chocolate lodge with free wi-fi. This was believe me so relaxing.

My earlier plan had been to stay in McLeodganj for one nights and one night in Palampur but I loved McLeodganj so much that I decided to spend two days there and return to Delhi by a Volvo bus.

We bought my Volvo bus ticket and then lunched at Tibetan Kitchen, a nice place for Tibetan food. It was delicious meal of momos and Szechuan veg noodles with machurian. Due to navratras we had to eat vegetarian food although we were carving for chicken and famous tibitian Non-vegetarian food.

The busy road leading to the hotel was lined with stalls, shops and cafe with free wifi on both sides.

There was a small Tibetan Museum which offered an interesting presentation on Tibet’s history, the Chinese occupation and the subsequent Tibetan exodus through texts.

It had been a great day! I had felt so relaxed at Upper Bhagsu and… had walked almost 20 km during the day without getting tired!

The town has very good eating joints that offer delicious food at reasonable prices. The cheaper options are also available. I have seen the range of Mount Everest Triund for the first time. That was amazing and full of ice. That was the winter ice which was very well visible in april also. I loved it. Yes, it was pretty cold. Although i was not preare for that. But i enjoyed it.

Another good place to visit in Bhagsu Nath Temple of lord shiva. And Bhagsu Nath Waterfalls. It is also a small trek of around an hour to reach a top. Unlike other waterfalls it has made a provision where people can go actually inside the waterfalls and enjoy amongst rocks and water, spend sometime with friends and family and click a lot of photgraphs. Also don’t forget to goto the top of the waterfall, there is a small cafe named Shiva Cafe there and it’s known by the same name.

While returning we also went to a monastery in Dharamshala. It was very very peaceful. The Kangra fort nearby is also a good.