Rediculousness
A weekend in Tibet (almost)
Monday, December 5
So this weekend I had a comatose trip to the mountains which is exactly what I needed. On Friday night / Saturday morning we hoped on a freezing cold bus to Dharamsala. It's an old hill station in the mountains and where the Tibetan Government in Exile and the Dali Lamma stay. The bus ride up was nice because there were not many people on it but it was freezing. It was probably around 2c and the buses are not heated and none of the windows close properly. Luckily I was thinking ahead and even though it was a pain I took my blanket. There were four of us and within an hour we all had made our blankets into cocoons and pulled them up over our heads. The bus ride was unbelievably bumpy and once again I'm not sure if I slept or just floated in a semi conscious state as another bump sent me a half foot off my seat.
We got into Dharamsala at about 9am and had a not very tasty parantha for breakfast in a small restaurant with an amazing view of the sun rising over the foggy valley. There is not much to do in Dharamsala so we started hiking up towards McLeod Ganj where the actual town is on top of the hill. After about 30 minutes of walking up a steep hill we decided it's time to catch a taxi the rest of the way. Once in the city we found a nice little hotel with hot water (yey) and a fantastic sunset view out over the hills.
After we were settled in it was straight to veg momos and coffee for me. These tasty little Tibetan treats are like a steamed perogey filled with mixed veg or mutton if you want. They were so tasty sitting on the sidewalk in the sun the I barley even complained about another bad cup of coffee. Then we hit the market and shopped up a storm buying Tibetan jewelry. It was so nice because instead of the usual hassle involved in an Indian market everyone just sat back and let you shop away.
A beautiful sunset into the foggy hills was followed by the best pasta I've had in India. I have to say that for me India has earned a reputation of consistently making the worst pasta in the world. I was pleasantly surprised by Nick's Italian Kitchen with homemade spinach and cheese ravioli and an atmosphere that made me beg for a glass of red wine which off course was no where to be found.
Sunday was another relaxing day visiting the Tibetan monetary and taking photos in front of the Dali Lamma's house. He was there this weekend but not giving any talks which is too bad. He starts a week long teaching session next week and I wish I could go but guess I'll have to hang with him another time. In the temple they have an organic, vegetarian restaurant for visitors where I had the best thin crust pizza in India. The menu even said real olives (I wonder what the fake ones are). Another sunset and we got on a crowded public bus back to Chandigarh. I sat with my bag in my lap the whole way and my knees have bruises from being jammed into the seat in front of me but still it was a fantastic trip and I could have stayed weeks up there.
Leave a comment and tell me what you did last weekend.
We got into Dharamsala at about 9am and had a not very tasty parantha for breakfast in a small restaurant with an amazing view of the sun rising over the foggy valley. There is not much to do in Dharamsala so we started hiking up towards McLeod Ganj where the actual town is on top of the hill. After about 30 minutes of walking up a steep hill we decided it's time to catch a taxi the rest of the way. Once in the city we found a nice little hotel with hot water (yey) and a fantastic sunset view out over the hills.
After we were settled in it was straight to veg momos and coffee for me. These tasty little Tibetan treats are like a steamed perogey filled with mixed veg or mutton if you want. They were so tasty sitting on the sidewalk in the sun the I barley even complained about another bad cup of coffee. Then we hit the market and shopped up a storm buying Tibetan jewelry. It was so nice because instead of the usual hassle involved in an Indian market everyone just sat back and let you shop away.
A beautiful sunset into the foggy hills was followed by the best pasta I've had in India. I have to say that for me India has earned a reputation of consistently making the worst pasta in the world. I was pleasantly surprised by Nick's Italian Kitchen with homemade spinach and cheese ravioli and an atmosphere that made me beg for a glass of red wine which off course was no where to be found.
Sunday was another relaxing day visiting the Tibetan monetary and taking photos in front of the Dali Lamma's house. He was there this weekend but not giving any talks which is too bad. He starts a week long teaching session next week and I wish I could go but guess I'll have to hang with him another time. In the temple they have an organic, vegetarian restaurant for visitors where I had the best thin crust pizza in India. The menu even said real olives (I wonder what the fake ones are). Another sunset and we got on a crowded public bus back to Chandigarh. I sat with my bag in my lap the whole way and my knees have bruises from being jammed into the seat in front of me but still it was a fantastic trip and I could have stayed weeks up there.
Leave a comment and tell me what you did last weekend.
nicholas, 10:34 PM
3 Comments:
I think you know what I did on the weekend. And it definitely involved freezing my ass off.
Mcleod-Ganj had the best food of any place I have been so far. Did you happen to get to the Korean restaurant?
Mcleod-Ganj had the best food of any place I have been so far. Did you happen to get to the Korean restaurant?
Wow...trip to Tibet..that's gorgeous..that's something I can only dream of right now..hope to do it soon!!
Nice blog!
Nice blog!
i had a fascinating weekend full of neuroanatomy - thrilling!! oh - but i did buy the most amazing dark chocolate brown knee length fall-ish jacket, that of course is too thin to be worn anytime in the decent future. winter should have died out with the dinosoaurs....
