McLeod Ganj: Exile Home of the Dalai Lama

Amir and I seemed to have adopted a specific pattern of inactivity whenever we find ourselves in one place for 10 days or more. To whit, Sihanoukville, Cambodia and Pokhara, Nepal. We have been in McLeod Ganj in Northern India, Himachal Pradesh province for about 12 days now. What have we accomplished?

1) A thorough sampling of the McLeod Ganj cuisine including Tibetan, Indian, American, Italian and Israeli.

2) A 16km round trip hike almost up to the snow line. Why almost? Well, because I was too lazy to walk the last vertical kilometer and decided it didn't matter because we just saw all the Annapurnas anyway.

3) Intimate knowledge of our hotel room as well as the view out the balcony including the morning activities of the monkeys that like to hang out just below. Did you know that monkeys and cows alike love to dumpster dive? Photos to follow.

4) A visit to the Dalai Lama's "palace" (not nearly as big or nice as the one in Tibet). The Dalai Lama was actually speaking one time we were there but only Amir saw him because I couldn't take all the pushing and shoving. Really, you ask? Pushing and shoving at the home of his holiness? Yes, I kid you not. Those Buddhists know how to shove hard!

5) ...there really isn't a 5. That's all we have done here for the last 12 days (if you don't count reading and watching movies as accomplishments).

I think we would both agree that aside from the absolute joy and pleasure of Ciara's company for 10 days, McLeod Ganj is the best we've experienced of India. And even here, there are some drawbacks. Take, for instance, the constant horn honking and fear of being mowed down due to lack of sidewalks and super narrow streets. Also consider the rude comments dropped by various Indian men, particularly when I'm walking on my own. You wouldn't think "Where's your camera?" could sound rude and lascivious, but trust the Indian men to make it both. And, finally, the complete lack of decent wine. These, however, are problems one encounters everywhere in India, but to a much greater extent. So our time here has been a respite regardless of the minor stuff.

We leave tonight for Mumbai via Delhi. First we take a 12 hour overnight bus to Delhi. Then find a local bus to get us from downtown Delhi to Gurgaon where Amir's friend Ashish lives and where our big bags are (having left them there in favor of smaller bags for our 12 day respite). Then we repack and find a way to get to the New Delhi railway station to catch a 9:50pm overnight train to Mumbai. We arrive in Mumbai at 6pm the following day, at which point in time, we will need showers like the Dalai Lama needs to find the 11th Panchen Lama who was kidnapped by China and, if not found, will leave the entire nation without a spiritual leader.

In Mumbai, we'll spend 5 days visiting Shirin, Amir's aunt. After that, next stop is Ireland for 10 days at least via a 14-hour layover in Brussels airport. You might be thinking, that sucks. In reality, it will be fantastic because it will be the first time in 6 months that I will be able to find decent wine. I'm sure those 14 hours will fly by.

See you in Kilkenny!