Dharamshala is the residence of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile. His Holiness decided to take a trip to the U.K while we were there. He was apparently gigging at the Royal Albert hall with Russell Brand. Dharamshala has a cricket stadium and recent matches have been televised across India showing the hills and snow-capped mountains behind. This has led to boomtime in the place - attracting more and more Indian tourists to Dharamsala and McLeod Ganj the town further up the hill where we were staying. Tourism means the usual traffic conjestion. Despite the televised scenes, the area struggles to be pretty, there are very few scenic walks around the place. Slightly different to Manali, the area attracts not backpackers but vulnerable middle aged women trying to find themselves and gap year students wanting to learn the Tabla (Indian drums), Yoga and Ayurveda. We gegged into many a restaurant conversation and amused ourselves with the pretentiousness of it all "Hey Marcus why don't you join a jamming session this evening, me and some friends are gonna do some improv raga with our tablas and mandolins, whilst Julia does some freestyle tantric ayurveda mime." McLeod Ganj does have a nice vibe to it though, lots of Buddhist monks and nuns around, no hassle and people are friendly. As you might expect there are a lot of presentations, talks and videos at various venues highlighting the plight of the Tibetans. The temperature was much hotter than what we had been used to. We struggled with the food to0, not as much choice as Manali. Mainly Tibetan and poor imitations of western fare. We spent most mealtimes at the Peace Cafe - a Tibetan restaurant below our guesthouse. We turned a blind eye to the owner changing her baby's nappy on the back table, handing me a menu with a dirty nappy in her hand and breast feeding for all to see. Our guesthouse Takyhil was refreshingly clean, very hard beds though and with a TV so we could watch the Euro quarterfinals. After waiting up until 12:15am to see the England v Italy match the channel lost its signal just as the second half was starting. We went to bed and decided to watch the highlights the following morning. Next morning there was a powercut just as the penalties started, then, when power was resumed another channel we were watching lost its signal. We finally caught the penalties on a news channel - not worth the build up really. Our day trips included a 4km walk to Dal Lake, sacred Hindu lake nearby, this can be summed up nicely by Paul's little joke if STA will allow it "I've p*ssed more and it smelled better." Dal Lake was a stagnant cesspool which the local government had been cleaning up and developing for the last 5 years - good job!! We walked to Bhagsu, described by lonely planet as a quiet alternative to MG. The Hindu temple, the natural spring and baths and the nearby waterfall have turned the town into a bit of a tourist circus. The one town road is gridlocked and the passageways are jammed with people, the baths are crowded with male bathers and the crowded waterfall pool practically had a cloud of urine steam over it. A trip to nearby Dharamkot was nicer and quieter with woodland areas and a less developed feel. We took some ginger lemon honey tea at a local cafe and spoke to a local guesthouse owner, he talked to Paul about his camera then, asked questions about our jobs etc. He addressed Paul several times asking questions about me "What does she do?" "What does she want to drink?" It is as if I wasn't there. Paul had to redirect him twice by saying "Ask her, she's there!" Persona non grata again. We also walked downhill to the complex housing the temples, lecture rooms and other buildings of the Tibetan government. We passed a bookshop with the following quote from the Dalai Lama on the door "There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies. My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness." Anyway we passed this sign and headed for his temple. The temple was aesthetically a bit of a disappointment - not photo worthy for Paul - concrete tenement-looking building with a temple room full of gaudy tacky displays, one with a decorated Deity statue surrounded by tins of foodstuff, Nutella and money. We watched some spectacular thunderstorms of an evening in McLeod Ganj, the sky being constantly lit up by lightning and the thunder continuously rumbling. There was also a shower of great big hailstones. Dharamsala has over 3.3ms of rain over the year - wow! With only 5 more days of this 5 month trip left we treated ourselves to an AC taxi to our final stop Amritsar in the Indian Punjab, home of the Sikh Golden temple and currently experiencing a heatwave... oh boy!