We then took the bus to dharamsala, and changed there to a bus heading to McLeod ganj. The bus climbed the hills until we were in the clouds - really breathtaking. We had a quick wander through a couple of streets and bought some popcorn and guava juice before walking through the forest/ farm land to reach our remote home stay. There are lots of hippies here, more foreigners than we have seen so far put together but still not met another British tourist! Monks wander the streets and Tibetan people dressed in traditional atire sell jewellery and woollen blankets by the roadside. We met a Canadian woman who was here taking a prenatal yoga course as she is hoping to become a holisitic health specialist. She has been living in India for a year, and was staying at the same place so showed us the way. We reached the home stay and looked out from the balcony - paradise! The sun was setting over the mountains, with the lights in the villages below beginning to turn on. The following morning we walked in to town and went shopping. We haggled on a woollen wall hanging and cushion cover, and bought a couple of presents from a very informative and lovely man, who also sold wooden boxes like in the hsbc advert, where each box is a puzzle with no key. We stopped for lunch in a Tibetan cafe, and enjoyed some noodles and momos, before heading off to the dalai lama complex. After handing in all electronic items and going through the scanner, we entered the building to the hum of meditating monks. They were sat on the floor chanting as a choir, with the notes gradually getting higher. The building was very simple and reflected their lifestyle and the limited means of the Tibetan people. Outside there was a poster with all the faces of people that had set themselves alight in protest to free Tibet - many young faces and some as recent as this year - quite harrowing. We stopped for a drink at a WiFi cafe and then headed back with our torches. We had booked to do a two day trek up the mountain behind our home stay, and so after an omelette for breakfast, our guide arrived and we set off on the 9km uphill trek. Little did we know what we had let ourselves in for. Three and a quarter hours of pure physical endurance, sweat bathing our bodies, and puffing like the magic dragon as the altitude increased and the air got thinner. Luckily there were well stocked chai shops along the route to buy water. We passed women carrying huge piles of grass on their backs for their livestock - this is when you realise how unfit you are. I'm convinced our guide was a mountain goat in his past life - not a bead of sweat and only a few glugs of water the whole way. One saving grace was that it got cooler the higher you climbed, relieving the humidity somewhat. Finally, we took our last few steps to the top - we had made it to Triund 'hill', at a height of 2800m or so above sea level - a great achievement for us both. We joined many similar facial expressions at the top. We talked with people from Spain, Germany (who had incidentally lived in Berchtesgaden for two years!), Kuwait, Canada, Finland, Columbia and Israel. Everyone spoke to each other in English, and this is when you appreciate having it as your first language! Hugo spoke with a very cheerful and reflective man, who expressed his happiness at 'being' rather than always 'becoming' - i think he was trying to get at the point of carpe diem.There was also a philosophical indian author who had left his job and now wrote books on finding your true profession, his book titled 'love your mondays'. The Israelis told us about how film titles were poorly translated into Hebrew - translated back into English, employee of the month was 'not just blonde', and the hangover was 'on the way to the wedding you stop in vegas'?! The Israelis were also staying the night but in some accommodation nearby, whereas we were in a tent. It was cloudy when we reached the top, but as the afternoon passed, the clouds cleared and we were rewarded with the best view we had ever seen. Huge mountains rose to our left, and the deep valley to our right. Whilst playing cards with our guide and the chai stall owner, a rainbow appeared and everyone rushed out to take photos. Later that evening, we watched the amazing sunset, and after tea, the stars appeared. We camped under the stars with blankets - an unforgettable day. The next morning we set off to reach 'snowline', the next section of the trek, although we didn't see any snow. We did, however, see many goats and shepherds. I also met my dream dog - pictures to come. We had a dairy milk at the top, but it just wasn't an English dairy milk. I must also mention the great wildlife - vultures swoop overhead as you walk, and on the way to snowline, we saw a group of about 8 eating a dead cow. The paths are lined by pretty flowers and orchids, and there are lots of butterflies and huge slugs. Hugo got a shock when a skinny snake crossed his path. I got a shock when Hugo dragged me to the toilet at the home stay to show me a huge spider that must have watched me have a shower! Anyway, back to the trek, we headed back down after lunch, and halfway down got caught in a thunderstorm and had to shelter in the chai stall. We met a group from Australia who were fundraising for arthritis south Australia, and were on day 35 trekking. We also met a group from India who worked on the broadband helpline service for BT! We reached the bottom and said goodbye to our guide before heading back to the home stay. The group of people that had been doing the prenatal course were having dinner on the balcony and we were invited to join them. Out of 13 of them, there were 10 different nationalities, covering all continents! We had a great meal, whilst listening to talk of energy and karma and all things yoga. Apparently there were bears below the balcony the night we were up the mountain! Today we hope to catch a bus to manali.