Wednesday 12th May 2010
10.45am
Triund (2900m) under a large rock
India
This morning I slept through my 5.30am alarm and got up around 6.15am. By 7am I was climbing the 150 or so steps from the monastery up to the road leading McLeod's central square. I bought 10 half rupee eclairs and two pieces of Tibetan bread. I had a bottle of water in my bag.
I walked to Dharamkot, a small village behind McLeod Ganj, and then began the long hard slog upwards to where I am now at an initial peak called Triund. It took a good 3 hours.
I've been rewarded with a stunning view. There is also not a man-made sound to be heard. Just birds. There are a few flies buzzing around me, but most of all I am being over-run by Ladybirds, which are everywhere, and to honest I don't mind them at all.
I've good childhood memories of Ladybirds.
I'm sat just above the hiking path which carries on to my left. You can continue for a few days along various stages. Above me hanging up over me is a large jetty of rock providing me with shade.
There is blue sky and white cloud in front of me, and trees on a lush green hillside opposite. However between the two and dominating the view are rocky snow covered mountains with a couple of glaciers running down them. It looks so...pure. Clouds skim their peaks.
Coming up I met barely anyone for most of the way. Then in the final 1km I bumped into many people heading down. There is a rest house at Triund you see. A basic hut with floor space. There were several groups of Indian tourists as well as western ones.
I was photographed like an animal in a zoo (or should that be like a model on a catwalk?) at the start of the hike by some young Indian lads also heading up, but the slow pace of the 6 of them meant I passed them by soon enough. Two English people gave me good directions at the beginning of the hike in Dharamkot.
It was quite a tough climb, at least I sweated a lot, thankfully I was/am wearing my Rovers 99/00 home shirt so it kept me cool.
There were also monks heading down earlier. At Triund there are many prayer flags tied to the trees. There are two snack stores at Triund, and halfway up there was a tea stall too with inflated prices to match the height at which it stood. The owner could not have been any more disinterested in my custom that he was.
Yesterday no sooner had I finished writing this diary than I was approached by a Tibetan guy heading to Dharamkot, we walked back towards McLeod talking. His name was Lobsong and he's in the process of building his own cafe, he's a chef.
He told me about his plans and asked me, as I'm a tourist here, for some tips. I told him to get a big TV and show the football on it. We exchanged e-mail addresses and parted. He kindly took a photo of me stood on a mountain roadside with a lush valley of trees behind me. He also explained a few things to me about the area, mainly that the Dalai Lama's sister ran the Tibetan Children's Village nearby. A school for Tibetan orphans.
After getting back to McLeod I had time to go to the Tibet Museum.
It was very insightful and well timed as I was able to see a documentary about the Tibetan uprising in Lhasa in 2008.
Afterwards I walked around the town aimlessly for an hour and stopped in a cafe to get a mango milkshake, it was okay, but the rooftop view from the cafe was better.
I bought some momos (4 veg, 4 potato) some chapatis, water, and biscuits, and some Pepsi and went back to the monastery.
I read some of my books for a while and a chapter of The Last Mughal, only 2 left.
I haven't met anyone at the monastery yet, just passing hellos, I'm not really bothered about that for now though.
I see lots of adverts for English teaching and conversation classes here. I've a feeling I may get sucked into making inquiries, we'll see.
My Tibetan bread was wrapped in Unit 17 of an exercise book on interviews and public speaking.
I couldn't buy a newspaper this morning because I was at the shop too early before they had been delivered.
I wonder how long it'll take me to get down this mountain.
Tomorrow I'm pretty sure I'm going to inquire at the Tibetan Government Complex tomorrow about getting a library pass and doing a philosophy course.
Some grey clouds have appeared.
I need to do some laundry and use the internet soon.
Dharamkot seemed a very peaceful place.
Coming up I met barely anyone for most of the way. Then in the final 1km I bumped into many people heading down. There is a rest house at Triund you see. A basic hut with floor space. There were several groups of Indian tourists as well as western ones.
I was photographed like an animal in a zoo (or should that be like a model on a catwalk?) at the start of the hike by some young Indian lads also heading up, but the slow pace of the 6 of them meant I passed them by soon enough. Two English people gave me good directions at the beginning of the hike in Dharamkot.
It was quite a tough climb, at least I sweated a lot, thankfully I was/am wearing my Rovers 99/00 home shirt so it kept me cool.
There were also monks heading down earlier. At Triund there are many prayer flags tied to the trees. There are two snack stores at Triund, and halfway up there was a tea stall too with inflated prices to match the height at which it stood. The owner could not have been any more disinterested in my custom that he was.
Yesterday no sooner had I finished writing this diary than I was approached by a Tibetan guy heading to Dharamkot, we walked back towards McLeod talking. His name was Lobsong and he's in the process of building his own cafe, he's a chef.
He told me about his plans and asked me, as I'm a tourist here, for some tips. I told him to get a big TV and show the football on it. We exchanged e-mail addresses and parted. He kindly took a photo of me stood on a mountain roadside with a lush valley of trees behind me. He also explained a few things to me about the area, mainly that the Dalai Lama's sister ran the Tibetan Children's Village nearby. A school for Tibetan orphans.
After getting back to McLeod I had time to go to the Tibet Museum.
It was very insightful and well timed as I was able to see a documentary about the Tibetan uprising in Lhasa in 2008.
Afterwards I walked around the town aimlessly for an hour and stopped in a cafe to get a mango milkshake, it was okay, but the rooftop view from the cafe was better.
I bought some momos (4 veg, 4 potato) some chapatis, water, and biscuits, and some Pepsi and went back to the monastery.
I read some of my books for a while and a chapter of The Last Mughal, only 2 left.
I haven't met anyone at the monastery yet, just passing hellos, I'm not really bothered about that for now though.
I see lots of adverts for English teaching and conversation classes here. I've a feeling I may get sucked into making inquiries, we'll see.
My Tibetan bread was wrapped in Unit 17 of an exercise book on interviews and public speaking.
I couldn't buy a newspaper this morning because I was at the shop too early before they had been delivered.
I wonder how long it'll take me to get down this mountain.
Tomorrow I'm pretty sure I'm going to inquire at the Tibetan Government Complex tomorrow about getting a library pass and doing a philosophy course.
Some grey clouds have appeared.
I need to do some laundry and use the internet soon.
Dharamkot seemed a very peaceful place.