We left Shimla for Dharamasala about 300km north on a 'local' bus, which ended up stopping every 10 mins to let people on and off, so instead of 9 hours took about 12. The bus was madness, going down and up mountains, round hair-raising turns and steep cliffs. When the bus got full the locals just sat on our laps or threw their babies on our laps. got kinda cosy! :D Well at least I can say I've experienced an authentic local indian bus. Arrived when it was dark to Dharamasala and decided to stay the night here before heading to McLeod Ganj in the morning. Met a nice Dutch couple who had been travelling/trekking through Nepal for 2 months and had just entered Northeren India and were making their way overland through Pakistan back to Holland. Its funny, the more you travel the more like-minded crazy travellers you meet and the more you become inspired by what others have done and seen. In the morning we decied to walk the 4km up to Mcleod Ganj from Dharamasala. Pretty hectic walk but was all worth it. The views of the Himilayas were stunning. The mountains are so huge and magnificent, you can only imagine what it would be like to trek through Nepal...and it got us thinking about another trip.... Found a great hotel again with stunning views and dropped our bags. Went for a walk to a little village in the mountains called Baghsu, they have a waterfall which you can walk to which is about another .5km up the mountain. This whole area of MG and Baghsu is beautiful and peacful and has that feeling of serenity everywhere. You still get the occasional homeless person with a sick child asking for money and beggars and the likes, but aside from this its just great. The town specialises in courses of yoga, meditation, cooking, silversmithing, trekking, paper mache and more....its a creative/crafty persons dream! Paul and I both wanted to do a silversmithing course but the tutor was out of town (oh just on a pilgramage to nepal, nothing fancy, hur hur), so bad luck for us. I enrolled in a Tibetan cooking class instead tomorrrow evening, so am really looking forward to that. Yipeee. Really wanted to do the paper mache course - this guy owns a shop and he also tutors and the stuff he makes is so beuatiful, vases, bowls and the likes, and paints them withthe most intricate painting which takes hours for every peice. well, because i couldnt take the course (min 7 days), i consolled myself and bought two small bowls, not sure what i will use them for yet. we have been so inspired by this region of india we are thinking of cancelling thailand and coming back up here and then even further north to kashmir for a couple of weeks at the end of our trip next year in March. MG is more Tibetan than INdian though and yousee Buddhist monks everywhere. Many of the people here too are Tibetan, and are refugees who followed the Dalai Lama fromTibet. Many of the shops sell authentic Tibetan crafts, such as yak wool rugs, shawls, hats, scarves etc, also authentic antiques which they carried form Tibet. All made locally by the Tibetan women for crazily low prices, it seems criminal to buy a pure wool rug, handloomed for 2 pounds! But its the going rate and they look so happy when you buy it, youknow its beenworth their time and the money is a lot to them. Walked around and down to the Dalai Lama residence, its pretty modest, nothing fancy, but there are plenty of monks, loads of lovely Tibetan prayer flags in the grounds, shrines, and prayer wheels everywhere, you almost feel you are in Tibet. TOmorrow we will do a walk to another local village abut 8kms away, i will send home some things and do the cooking course....keep y'all posted.

J x