This morning we left Chandigarh, the capital of Punjab and road 8 hours in a mountainized schoolbus with enough legroom for a person who is 5 feet tall. I have to hand it to these drivers, they can maneuver the crazyiest roads I have ever seen with relative ease. Donkeys, children, 500m drops, cows, water buffalo, oncoming trucks and buses all presented little apparent challenge for our driver, who I have affectionately named the ‘Indian Hammer’. Anyhow, we arrived at 4pm, I climbed onto the top of the bus to retrieve our bags and next thing the driver is pulling away. Some quick dancing and I avoided some power lines and threw the bags down as the driver pulled off. A lot of excitement after 8 hours of sitting on a bus. A short cab ride (500m climb in 6km) and we at our hotel.
It is considerably colder here. Roadside stalls sell just about everything including touqs and socks and mittens. It is not the India we left. Many of the people here are of Tibetan descent and look nothing like your typical Indian. Prayer wheels line the streets and prayer flags are strung overhead. Lots and lots of shops of just about everything Tibetan you can imagine. Everything is a hill here - McLeod Ganj is literally on the side of a mountain. I am pretty excited to be here - the air is clean and cold and the feeling is chilled and relaxed. Looking forward to some good walks and hikes and some quiet time for reading, planning world domination and whatnot.
Lots of beautiful sights here, we will make a concerted effort over the next couple of days to get some photos uploaded.
Bye for now!
Chris
XOXO
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