On our second day in Dharamsala, we took a local sightseeing tour. There’s a fair amount of sightseeing to be done in Dharamsala and we started off by visiting the War Memorial. A nicely kept, sombre place with a memorial for the unknown soldier and a Wall of Honour for all the Himachali soldiers martyred in various battles. On the way, we drove past the recently built Cricket Stadium which is probably one of the highest in the world and offers breathtaking views of the Dhauladhar Mountains. A little further is a beautiful tea garden where we stopped to taste a cuppa and bought some varieties of Himachal Tea. A precarious drive down a narrow hill road brought us to the Church of St. John in the Wilderness, a really beautiful church established in 1852. Besides the church itself, the stained glass windows inside are a sight to admire. We continued our journey by visiting the local bazaar and market, which is no different from any of the markets you see in almost all hill stations. Further down, we reached the base of the Bhagsu Falls, where the Bhagsunag Temple is also located. The place provides a good view of the falls and though there is a decent path and a 1.2 km climb to the top of the falls, we did not go up. Actually, we were heading to McleodGanj which I thought would be more interesting so wasn’t keen on spending too much unnecessary time along the way.
It took us just a few minutes to get to Mcleodganj. Perhaps my expectations were high, but the Dalai Lama Temple was nothing remarkable and I’ve seen far better monastries in Gangtok and Ladakh. Much of the temple is closed for public access but we were able to get a glimpse of the huge Buddha seated on his pedestal in the temple sanctum santorum. There were plenty of trainee monks happily chanting around and learning some kind of ritual. That was interesting.
By now hunger pangs were striking and we landed up at Kara Kitchen – a restaurant within the Dalai Lama Temple Complex. A nice homely place where we enjoyed a freshly cooked hot Chinese meal. We had planned to return to Mcleodganj tomorrow by the Cable Car Skyway and spend more leisurely time here, so after lunch we headed back to our hotel for some well-needed rest.
Another enjoyable day we spent. Some pictures from our second day are in the gallery below:
The following day, as decided, we took an adventurous trip. There was a Bus Stop just 1Km from our hotel from where we figured we would get a bus to Dharamsala Bus-stand. It cost us just Rs. 10 each and in 20 minutes we were in the middle of Dharamsala. The Skyway Terminal is supposed to be just a few hundred metres away, but because of the rain, the path was a total mess and we had to take a detour. Climbing a gradient in these hilly towns is not easy, but we managed. Our first stop was the Museum of Kangra Art, which was interesting. Then we started our trek through the bazaar, did a little shopping and headed to the Skyway Terminal. There were hardly any people and we were quickly ushered into a waiting Cabin and whisked away for a 10-minute ride to McleodGanj. The Skyway drops you in the middle of the bazaar and since we had no interest in going back to the Dala Lama Temple, we aimlessly toured the bazaar, which is really very attractive. Plenty of food places too and we first picked one which claimed to be serving Shawarma but didn’t. So we went into what looked like a nice popular restaurant called Makye Ama and had a leisurely lunch. Lunch done, we decided not to tire ourselves aimlessly and headed back slowly to the Skyway Terminal. Another Gondola Ride, a descent to the bus stop and a bus ride back and we were soon back at our hotel in time for our evening tea.
Pictures from our McleodGanj day trip are below:
