Four dayz in McLeodGanj...

Well nothing excites me more than riding on those winding mountain roads in the Himalayas. Managed to steal a few more dayz from the summer internship and here we head once more towards the hills - Me and my bike. This one turned out yet another 1300+ Km ride a bit longer though. After Manali made a trip to Narkanda(60 Kms from Shimla) but didn't write anything during that one(some reason.. may be I will write about it later). Well here it is a 4 day n 3 nite trip to McLeodganj (10 Kms from Dharmsala) in Himachal Pradesh.

Day 1 (May 5' 2005)

Started the jouney at 4:30 AM from home and within 50 mins I was out of Delhi and cruising on NH-1 at comfortable speeds. It was still dark so limited the speed to 80Kmph. It was a beautiful clear day and the going was gud apart form the deluge of bugs which wud get splattered against my helmet visor and windsheeter. Then what? A traffic jam on a 4 lane highway! Well it turned out that two trucks had collided during the nite forcing the diversion of traffic to the other side.

After that brief interruption rode non-stop till a few kms beyond Ludhiana where I stopped for some tea and had the biscuits that I carried along. That was some 350 Kms of ride(longest till date). From then on it was smooth tarmac all the way to Pathankot. As per my original plan I proceeded towards Dalhousie but then as luck(gud or bad you never know!) would have it found that a gud 15-20 stretch was all broken up(a patch of loose rocks). So I rode back to Pathankot and proceeded towards Dharmsala a gud 90 kms away. It was getting pretty hot by then I was getting roasted in the sweltering heat. But gradually as I gained altitude things began to cool and by the time I neared Dharmsala it was a bit chilly due to the late afternoon showers. From Dharmsala I rode upwards towards McLeodGanj taking the short but very steep route. I looked at the watch and it was 4:30 now. A good 12 hrs of ride covering some 700 Kms. Started looking for accomodation checked into a guest house at Temple road(A nice little room with a brilliant view from the terrace). I found out that I was the only Indian staying there(probably less than 10% tourists here are from India as I wud know later on..).

The last leg of the ride was the most enjoyable as mountain roads always are. Rested for some time and then went around the various streets and alleys in Mcleod and explore the area around. The momos here are damn gud(much better than the stuff handed out at IIMK canteen!). And what a sight it was .. you feel as if you are not in India anymore. There are firangs all over the place.. the place is teeming with foreign tourists. Partly the rush is due to the fact that McLeod is the seat of the Tibetan govt. in exile and Dalai Lama's official residence. As with other places in the hills, most of the tourists are from Israel. Apart from the pot smoking crowd there are some real interesting ppl too. Visited a small chai shop called Sunrise Cafe. The stall is very small but has a lot of character. The owner has maintained slam books since the last several years and they have grown to several inches of volumes now. They make an interesting read with notes scribbled down in almost any language existing in the world. Some are funny some outright absurd... but nice to go along with tea. Its has become sort of a hub for the travellers of all shades. Talked to a few ppl and found that many of them have been staying here for weeks and some are even cooking their own food(probably that explains why many rooms here come equipped with a small pantry). Now I needed to have a good nite's sleep to soothe my tired body.

Day 2 (May 6' 2005)

It rained heavily most of da day. Managed to visit the St. John's Church in the morning and the Dal Lake. Walked to Bhagsu but got drenched while returning. Spent some time checking mail etc. But with nothing much to do.. sat down with a novel and watched the rain pelting down.

 

Day 3 (May 7' 2005)

The start cudn't be better -  woke up early enuff to watch the sunrise and it was a bright clear day. Rode to Dharmkot and around. Then turned towards the trekking route for Triund(9 Kms). There were bits of road for only a Km or two but the route looked interesting so parked my bike at McLeod and began hiking towards Triund.

Met an old swiss lady on the route. Was amazed when got to hear "Namaste!" in response to gud morning. She cud speak broken hindi and she had some rudimentary knowledge of Malayalam too. She was surprised that even after one year in Kerala I had no clue regarding the local language. Its humbling to meet such ppl who know more about your country than you do! She is over 50 and has walked the Manali - Leh rode last august! i.e. some 400+ Kms. And today she was guiding two Columbian gals who cudn't speak english along the trail. I covered a few kms chatting with her. People like that surely give that recoommnded dose of inspiration. One thing I remember form the conversation.. she uttered a Forrest Gump dialogue.."You got a nice pair of shoes! They will take you places..." don't remember exactly.. She told me how the terrain here was similar to the Andes mountains in South America and told me that I wud love to bike around that terrain. May be someday I wud!(I am a dreamer..but perhaps .. not the only one.. ;-).

The route is very seep towards the end but very beautiful lined with oak and cedar trees. You encounter a snow covered slope after about 6 Kms of climb and that requires a bit of caution as it is easy to slip across down to the valley below.

There are patches of trail where the path is llined with red coloured floweres and its simply amazing to tread the path while enjoying the stunning views and snow laden mountains all around. Stopped for some water at a stall en route and was surprised to hear Thanda Matlab Coca Cola coming from a european gurl. The Coke guys have surely hit the right nerves with their ad campaign. It has really worked for them!

Finally after a 3 hr trek and some 9 Kms I reach the summit and onto a grassy meadow surrounded by tall mountains on all sides. There are a few tents strewn across the landscape along with some tibetan prayer flags like all other places. But the view from the top is breathtaking to say the least.

Someday later I wud trek to the snow line which is a few Kms further form Triund. I cud have done that today itself had I started earlier. But its already late and the weather is turning bad. Well the mountains will keep me coming back for more again and again!

 

Day 4 (May 8' 2005)

Rode back home covering 600 Kms in 8.5 hrs(less traffic being a Sunday!).