Sunday 9th May
11.05pm
Double room, Kalsang Guest House, McLeod Ganj
India
The toilets in the Golden Temple dorm area in the Sri Guru Nam Das Niwas complex have deliberately cut peepholes; if you're taking a dump anyone can look in and enjoy seeing you strain away or wipe your ass.
There is a lack of commercialism in India, well in the parts I've seen of it, which is nicely refreshing though bound to change. Walkers have got here though, their crisps are everywhere.
Most abundant of all on most street tea stalls, corner shacks and at all level of restaurant you can find a Coca-cola sign. Often they are above the entrance of an establishment and depict not only the name of the business in English but of course have the words 'Coca-cola' and a small head and shoulders picture of an Indian celebrity taking a swig. These red signs stand out everywhere.
I am now in McLeod Ganj, home of the Dalai Lama. I've settled for now for a double room (150Rs a night, a single if available would cost 100Rs) due to it being all I could find available. This is a busy hill town 1700m high above sea level and full of Tibetans obviously and many tourists. It certainly seems like a happening place with loads going on, not just shops and tourists things but many courses in various things, yoga, cooking, hypnosis, meditation, music and Buddhist philosophy...while English courses are also run.
The town itself isn't big, I wandered around for an hour or so earlier, but it does sprawl away into the various hills. Anyway I'll see more tomorrow and the tourist sites including where the Dalai Lama lives.
It feels like this place has a good atmosphere. There's lots to see and do and little hassle. I just watched Chelsea win the Premier League on the hotel TV. I only caught the last 30 minutes however as the night receptionist wanted to watch a Bollywood movie. He got a phone call however, from his mum or girlfriend I guess which kept him busy so I went behind the front desk to flick through the channels (no battery in the remote) until I found Andy Gray's soothing tones.
A restaurant/hotel in the town was advertising the screening of the game (Chelsea V Wigan) and charging 50Rs to see it.
I'm going to be trying to get by on 200Rs a day here.
I've no idea if I'll manage it. I did today. Meanwhile I am not entirely sure how long I'll stay here; one week maybe. It depends a lot on what I find to do, tourist stuff, cooking classes, English teaching?
I found a great cheap place to eat, it was recommended by a Korean guy in Amritsar and by luck I found it here and had dinner there. Rice, veg, dhal and some chapatis for 30Rs plus a 5Rs tea. The place has no name but it's popular despite being no wider than a car.
Later I bought a Pepsi and two packets of biscuits.
I can't get through an evening without some cheap biscuits in India.
I read a good chapter and a half of The Last Mughal earlier. It was good to lye on this double bed from which I am writing and enjoy a good read.
I didn't eat much during the day. I took the 7am bus from Amritsar to Pathankot. I had to shower and shit in the dark this morning though as the toilet light was out in the foreigners dorm.
At Pathankot, a small town near the border with Pakistan, I waited for a bus to Dharamsala which left at 10.30am. I must have reached McLeod Ganj at about 2.30pm.
It was all very efficient. A real jobsworth conductor on the second bus did make me move seats though at the last moment before leaving when all the the other comfortable seats were taken. Annoying, because I was one of the first on the bus to begin with an neither I noticed or had pointed out to me that I had actually chosen the conductors seat.
I ate some biscuits, some eclair sweets and an orange Indian sweet all curly wurly (Jalebi) on the bus up.
A man on the bus befriended me and told me he was heading to Dharamsala for marketing - basically to sell his rugs and towels - he told me his family was all from the Hindu Kush. He was incredibly polite and burdened by 4 heavy bags. I helped carry one bag up some steps to a taxi rank at the end of the journey. Like me he seemed to be a long way from home.
In McLeod Ganj not far from my eventual hotel I got the front turn-up on the front of my right trainer fixed. A 17 year-old India lad, taught the trade by his father, used all his tools to stretch up and fix the flailing piece of rubber that had become unstuck. I was reluctant at first, but I like my shoes to have a tidy symmetrical look.
The boy told me to pay whatever I wished, it was either 20 or 50 rupees...so I went with 50. He was from Dharamsala but his parents had moved from Rajasthan, though I was confused if they moved before or after he was born.
There are many monks in the town; Indian tourists who come to the hills to cool down; a few beggars of Hindu persuasion; buskers are on the main streets too. A white guy here was surrounded by a large crowd as he played on his didgeridoo. There are many arts and craft shops here.
The town also has many mountains surrounding it and some valleys which give good views of the plains. It's pretty scenic. I'll see more soon.
It's been a long day, I was up at 5.30am. I've been wearing the same set of clothes for 3 days now; time for a change tomorrow.
...I keeping thinking there is something else I should add but I can't remember what it is right now.
Time to sleep, tomorrow is another day.