Back online! Amritsar/Dharamsala 24 Dec Mon

We thought yesterday was foggy, this morning was even worse.  We had to drive through it for two hours and Deepak even had his hazard lights on. 

Once the fog lifted we made a toilet stop.  When Deepak and I got back into the car Jim had ACDC’s “Highway to Hell” playing.  How apt!  I’m so glad he didn’t have it playing whilst we were driving through the fog.

Driving past fields Jim pointed out a tractor with a cover, he says, “Your Mum has been here”.  For those of you who don’t know, my Mum likes to make covers for things to protect them e.g. the washing machine, the fans.  We’re not laughing at you Mum but it was funny.

Leaving the last district town (large, noisy, bustling centres) the scenery changed to mountains and rivers.  I said to Deepak this reminds me of Nepal.  I don’t think I have mentioned that Deepak is Nepalese.  He is 27 years old, married with two little girls (5 & 1).  He tends to work for a number of weeks and then goes home, a village near Pokara for 7 to 10 days.  Deepak asked if we were an arranged marriage, we both answered no!  Deepak told us his was.  Jim asked, “Did you get a good deal?” He laughed.

Anyway, back to the days driving.  We stopped for lunch at a restaurant where Santa was flagging cars down.  He was the scary Santa I was talking about yesterday.  The restaurant sat high above the river.  The food was really tasty, I had veggie thal, Jim had chicken pakora (like chicken fritters) and Deepak had chicken in gravy (a curry sauce).

Scary Santa

Driving to McLeod Ganj

Temple Road, McLeod Ganj

We arrived in McLeod Ganj, 10kms out of Dharamsala about 3.30pm.  There are many tourists here, foreign and domestic.  Our hotel is on Temple Road, which is one long market place.  There are stalls of Tibetan jewellery, ornaments, meditation & music DVD’s, hippy clothes, Kashmiri goods (rugs, cushion covers etc), hiking gear etc etc.  It is lovely hearing the Tibetan chant “Om Mani Padme Hum” on the streets.  The stall owners selling the DVD’s all play it to entice sales, it worked with me.