Visiting Mr. Lama (Shalini)

Waterfall at the top of our hike

McLeodganj

Taking a breather

At the Dalai Lama's temple

Momo-making class

On thursday evening we hopped on a bus for what we felt might be the rest of our lives. A few of us were feeling pretty stomach sick that day, but we figured that how many times in our lives will we get to see where the dalai lama lives. Furthermore, he had turned 75 that very tuesday, so it was our duty to go help celebrate.

20 hours later, some turned stomachs, and a billion twisty-road-life-flashes-before-ones-eyes incidences later, we arrive in the beautiful mcleodganj. We spent friday exploring and shopping. The hills were such an unbelievably welcome sight for sore eyes. Everything here was so beautiful- it no longer felt like the same landscape that we've been surrounded by for these two months. The air was so much cooler and fresher. Everything was so cheap- we ate like kings!

The next day we took a momo making class. It was really awesome, just the 6 of us (sam, michelle, jon, lisa, cait and I) and this cool couple from new zealand. Some were better at momo making than others (we attribute lisa's incredible pastry folding talent to her growing up on a farm), we all had a terrific time. After this, we hiked up the Bagsu waterfall, which was spectacular. We then hiked down and sat among the rocks and water, and watched the monks scale the rocks as easily as mountain goats. I think that this is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life.

That night we watched the third place game of germany and uruguay, in a pub that was jam packed with super interesting people- tons of backpackers.

The following morning we went to the dalai lama temple. I think one of the most striking things about this place was how peaceful everything is, and how immensely spiritual it felt. We spent the rest of the day shopping, walking, eating, and dodging the rain until our bus home.

So on the way down, we took the luxurious volvo ac bus. However, I couldn't find enough tickets for us all on one volvo bus for the way back, and thus we settled for the tata ac. What a a difference. The bus felt a lot less spacious, but more importantly, the bus leaked. Water dripped on us all night from the broken roof of the vehicle- it was like chinese water torture as we tried to sleep to pass the time.

A few more turned stomachs later, 4 fake north face jackets to keep us protected from the rain inside, and with big smiles on all of our faces after an awesome weekend, we returned around 7am monday morning, and headed to work.