Or almost. McLeod Ganj is clean, quiet, small, bouddhist, tibetan, sells alcohol... and still in India! Here the Dalai-Lama is living, as well as tibetan government in exile. We also found a place to live, with tibetan monks!
Three sentences, three times the word tibetan : it seems here everything is about Tibet. Well, yes it is. Tibetan food, tibetan music, tibetan schools, pro-Tibet NGO... Since China invaded Tibet, India offered tibetan government to exist in McLeod Ganj. Many Tibetans followed and settled in this city as well as in different others in India. But McLeod Ganj stands as a center of tibetan culture in India, with many events involving tibetan issues. During our stay here I went to give english conversation classes to tibetan refugees. It was like discussions around very open questions. I only had to speak a little bit and they were sharing so much about themselves.
And the mountain is the right place for resting after the cities. The road was harsh but the view was worth it. Much less crazy cars up there too. At night, only dogs were barking. And also a kind of cat, but bigger and creepier...
We didn't do much here. Mostly resting (and recovering from indian stomachache...). And we had walk in the nature. We reached a couple of other villages that way :
- Dharamkot, a village of israeli hippies. We had a great breakfast, with hummus and vegetables here, in a psychedelic café. Near the synagogue someone asked us "Are you jewish?" But walked away when he got the answer... Is "no" a rude word in hebrew?
- Nadi, very small countryside indian place. Not much to see beside the amazing view from up there, but very typical.
And in-between : the mountain, the buddhist flags, the monks, the monkeys, the cows, a school... Here are some pictures of our walk!
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