Trek? In truth, this title is a gross exaggeration, but we'll come to that. Share a breakfast table with Deborah from New York, debating Americans' social health care (lack of), air conditioning (excess of) and international awareness (indifference to). More pertinently she reveals that HH the Dalai Lama returned early from Japan and is back home in McLeod Ganj, just a stone's throw from our hotel. She saw the welcoming crowds and grabbed a photo. We missed him! But monks are more in evidence today in the streets (chatting on their mobiles), cafes (milk shakes) and monastery precinct (fingering their prayer beads.) This evening, a long candlelit procession - hundreds of chanting maroon clad figures - wends its way down Temple Road below our balcony. The new Chinese leadersip seems to give the Tibet issue a new urgency.
We've designated this a landscape day. We book a taxi and head upwards, pausing at Dal Lake (little more than a murky green pond) on the way to Naddi, where we walk round a ridge for amazing views see next post across fir-clad slopes to a distant range with pockets of snow on its heights. Then to a thought-provoking exhibition about Sahaja Yoga (there's a Yoga school here). One panel claims "Spread of AIDS can be prevented by Sahaja Yoga". Someone his written over the top "BE CAREFUL!". Sara kneels on the hard tiled floor of the exhibition room to test her knee complaint and declares it cured (not yoga, but the powdered roots she bought at the roadside, she says.)
Ashok, our driver, is a local (i.e. Himalchi, not Tibetan refugee) and speaks quite good English, though we both find ourselves unconsciously lapsing into a sort of pidgin English devoid of articles (definite or indefinite) that echoes his usage. He tells us that black bears (see Thurs) do indeed live in the forest, come out at night, and are dangerous. He whisks us back down hill, then up the opposite side of the valley, past Dharamkhot (see Tues) and on uphill. Here the road narrows to a slate shale-covered track hewn out of the hillside with a sheer drop below. It is barely wide enough for a single narrow car such as ours, and luckily when we meet a descending vehicle it is near a passing point. We stop briefly to photograph a colony of cuddly snow monkeys with thick grey fur and inquisitive black faces.
The vehicular track ends with a parking spot, a Hindu shrine, a couple of cafes and a guest house. We meet a young man from Sandhurst who, armed with a TEFL qualification, is teaching at the same Buddhist monastery we visited (see Weds) in Bir. Contrary to our assumptions, he says it is the smallest monastery there, the largest having 1000 monks, but with another in a nearby village with 2000 monks. He's glad we found the young monks so studious. He's just set them an English exam!
From the parking spot, the ascent is strictly on foot only. And so we continue uphill for 45 minutes or so following a trekkers track before turning back. The track (given several days and sacks of stamina) leads to a hamlet called Triund (9000 ft.), then over a pass through the Dhauladhar range (summer only). Back at the cafe, we buy sodas and books. The mountainside cafes all have shelves of used books for sale on a "buy now, return for a half price refund" basis. S buys biographies of Gandhi and the Dalai Lama (just in case we spot him.)
Return to MG, where S shops for shawls and I for a second visit to the DL's monastery, much busier than before. Eat again at Mc Llo - we go European and have fish and chips (steamed trout "from just below the snowline"). The shop opposite Mc Llo sells a range of imaginatively named cakes most featuring chocolate - choco pyramid, choco bite, choco fussion (sic), black current or swish roll (both also sic) at Rs. 40 (50p) per slice, or whole cakes such as "The Ultimate" at Rs. 130. We settle for a choco truffle and wander back scoffing it off the pink spoon provided.
 |
| More monks circumambulating |
 |
| The track - not good for suspension |
 |
| Trekkers Track - my personal "air conditioning" |
 |
| S & friend in the cafe/bookshop |
From the parking spot, the ascent is strictly on foot only. And so we continue uphill for 45 minutes or so following a trekkers track before turning back. The track (given several days and sacks of stamina) leads to a hamlet called Triund (9000 ft.), then over a pass through the Dhauladhar range (summer only). Back at the cafe, we buy sodas and books. The mountainside cafes all have shelves of used books for sale on a "buy now, return for a half price refund" basis. S buys biographies of Gandhi and the Dalai Lama (just in case we spot him.)
Return to MG, where S shops for shawls and I for a second visit to the DL's monastery, much busier than before. Eat again at Mc Llo - we go European and have fish and chips (steamed trout "from just below the snowline"). The shop opposite Mc Llo sells a range of imaginatively named cakes most featuring chocolate - choco pyramid, choco bite, choco fussion (sic), black current or swish roll (both also sic) at Rs. 40 (50p) per slice, or whole cakes such as "The Ultimate" at Rs. 130. We settle for a choco truffle and wander back scoffing it off the pink spoon provided.
 |
| Setting sunlight over MG viewed from Temple - colours accurate |
No comments:
Post a Comment