McLeod Ganj

after a 200km drive from amritsar we left the foggy and smoggy flatland of punjab and entered the mountain-area of himachal-pradesh-state.

Near Dharamsala there's McLeod Ganj (altidude 1700 m), the exile of the tibetan government and exile-home of the dalai-lama.

The air feels like a relief for our lungs. Mc Leod Ganj is full with travellers and people more or lesse interested in the tibetan cause (Volunteers and Hippies)

on the way to the mountains we stopped at a kind of buffalo-fair.

we and our bikes, a nicely composed picture ;)

the same (now with helmets, due to the increased amount of "action" going on in this picture)

we were the most safely adjusted motorbike-drivers we saw along our whole trip.

on the national highway, sometimes you have to give way to trucks or busses coming towards you at full speed.

sometimes the roads are totally gone for a few hundred meters (but continue perfectly paved afterwards)

this specially happens before and after bridges and fly-overs which are still (since years ?) in construction and you have to drive around them in the dirt.

monkeys are found along the roadside of many mountain-streets.

The sign says "Brigde damaged, only light vehicles are allowed to cross."

Milestones like this are your constant, reliable friend on even the smallest roads in india.

(you have to memorize the next town-names in hindi-writing, as sometimes the words are written in hindi only)

"at the mechanics" #2

when arriving in mcleod ganj i had a tire-puncture.

a guy from israel helped and called his friend at "Ray's Garage"

The mechanics came with a vespa and a spare-wheel, replaced my whole back-wheel within seconds with their own and escorted me to their workshop where they fixed the broken tube. The whole procedure took about 20minutes and costed about 3 EUR.

a kind of "public water router" in mcleod-ganj

obviously: a buddhist temple

the only picture with tibetan monks, as we did not want to take pictures of them too offendingly

nice request ;)

power supply with live-wires in an arms-distance

This "we offer everything" (but nothing tastes right) Mentality is often found in the more touristy places in india.

every little space is used for living or business.

Zeljko managed to get his warm shawl in the bazaar of McLeod Ganj.

dogs again. ("children and animals", the most essential elements in TV and Blogs ;)

The view across our guesthouse to the mountains (>4.000m) above Dharamsala.

again, mountains

keep the prayer-mills going

In the post-office:

You have to glue your stamps with a brush and a jar of glue. (no tongue-licking-stamps available)

Post-Box in McLeod Ganj, looks a bit like a litter-box

but they rarely have any litter-boxes in india anyway, you have to get used to throw your trash on the floor (its best to drop your trash in front of a business, where they might have someone to clean the area every morning - but maybe just to move the trash a few meters round the next corner )

Just like Trash, Cows are also everywhere in India, this picture shows both.

Stereotype for tourists in McLeod Ganj

tasty road-side food. Food is often cooked along the street, but most of the time you see only men preparing the food, women are mostly hidden from the public.

"at the mechanics" #3

now also zeljko got his tire-puncture when leaving McLeod Ganj, the same mechanic fixed his tire in the same way as mine 48hours ago.

this is the mechanic's dog, checking the tires after successfull fixing