I got a night bus from Delhi to Dharamsala over a week ago. It turned out to be a long night with the bus being two hours late without any explanation. In the middle of the night at about 3 am the bus suddenly stopped and I woke up coughing. The whole bus was filled with smoke and my first reaction was to get out as quickly as possible. Everybody else seemed calm enough though, so I relaxed back in my seat again. The bus didn't seem to be going anywhere, so I got out after a while to see what was going on. The bus had broke down and it was even smokier outside. About five Indian guys where crowded around the smoking engine watching it and trying to figure out what to do.
This is so typical for India, there's no such thing as maintainance service on vehicles, you drive it until it breaks down. This bus looked pretty new, but still it had broken down. After about thirty minutes, the guys staring at the smoky engine decided the bus wasn't going to go anywhere. They got us all out of the bus and divided us onto other buses passing the same way. Me and the girl I was sitting next to were lucky enough to get the front seats on the other bus. A nice Indian guy surrendered his seat to us. It wasn't a normal sleeper bus with beds, but a regular bus with seats you could lean back. The front seats we got though had a nice leg rest, so I slept really well the rest of the trip.
I arrived in beautiful Dharamsala in the morning. Dharamsala is where the Dalai Lama normally resides, so there are a lot of monks and Tibetan people here.
As I was looking for a place to stay I bumped into an Indian guy I'd talked to while waiting for the bus in Delhi. We found a guesthouse with a balcony and a beautiful view of the valley and the snow capped mountains beyond.
I spent a few days with Chandan, the Indian guy, we went for a walk to the nearby waterfall in the neighbouring village Bagshu.
The next day we met an Israelian guy who joined us for a hike halfway up the trekk to Triund. We had a dark sky above us, so we figured we shouldn't go all the way up to the snowy peaks.
We saw a temple halfway up, so we decided to go there. As soon as we reached the shelter of the temple the sky opened above us. We weren't dressed for either rain or cold so we started a little fire to keep us warm. The weather only got worse though and soon it was hailing and the lightning was flashing in the sky while thunder rumbled loudly all around us. It was crazy how quickly the storm was upon us, one moment we could see the valley below, the next the misty clouds were sweeping up towards us at alarming speed. Before we knew it the whole valley was gone and all we could see were clouds. It was scary and magical at the same time.
We huddled up in the temple for an hour or two waiting for the weather to pass. Eventually it cleared up and we took the chance and hurried down again. When we were back in safety it didn't seem like it had been that bad, but while we were sitting up there freezing and hoping for the rain to stop, it felt like quite an adventure.
A few days ago I went horse riding. I haven't been on a horse in several years and I just couldn't resist when I saw they had horse riding here. Of course it was not like riding a horse back home. The horse didn't know any of the commands I've learnt so it was pretty slow going. I had an Indian guide with me and we were out for three hours, going up and down the mountain paths. The roads didn't really permit us to go any faster anyway and it was pretty nice sitting in the saddle and just watching the magical views.
Most of the days here I've taken it easy, just reading, talking to people I've met, walking around in the village, sat in a cosy cafe drinking good coffee and just enjoyed the fresh, cool mountain air.
Tonight I'm off to Rishikesh and I'll be spending a month at an ashram there doing yoga. I'm looking forward to staying in one place for a longer time and focusing on my self.
Namaste ॐ