Goodbye, Dharamsala!

Tara

We started another day with stroll in the streets, waiting for the sleepy town to wake up [and provide us with breakfast ;-) ]. We went to the small temple once again - a peaceful and beautiful place, in the not-yet-busy street. The temple has beautiful, miniature paintings of goddess Tara on the pillars, and those of Buddha/Bodhisatva on the wall, all around the periphery. The colors, shading, and miniscule details that are carefully attended to, in all these paintings make one wonder at the patience of the artist(s)!

Bodhisatva

Different colors used to depict Bodhisatva's have significance - wrt the aspect of life they are believed to bless [eg, health, prosperity, learning, etc, though unfortunately I do not remember the details now].

The Temple with the Prayer Wheels

This time we were also able to take a picture of the entrance of the temple, though only the side that faced the street - the adjoining buildings/shops hid the rest.

Wild flowers
(can someone tell me what are they called?)

Himachal Tourism department has a guest house right at the end of the twin streets that constitute the main market. Though this guest house does not look very modern or comfortable, but it is much more spacious compared to the private properties around, and more important, has a vantage point in terms of location - located on the side of the hill, it has lawns one can walk in, or even have tea etc, while enjoying a view of the mountains, but undisturbed by the general traffic. We took a walk in the garden [perhaps we shouldn't have done it, but there was no-one around to tell us that we couldn't ;-)]

Contrast

At around 11 we checked out of the hotel (but left the luggage in their cloak room), as our bus was scheduled to depart at 6 pm in the evening, and we were to remain outside for most of this time.

Monastery in the valley
(This was visible from the lobby, didn't catch the name, perhaps it is Namgyal)

We decided to walk to Bhagsunag temple, an ancient temple of great religious import, dedicated to Lord Shiva. This required a 2.5 km walk, up and down the slopes, amidst scenic views and rhododendron trees. There was a lot of activity at the temple. There was a small market, almost like a fair, outside the temple. A pool, where water collected as it flowed down the mountain streams, and where people took bath before offering prayers. There were some parts which really did look ancient, but most of it was (relatively) recent construction. No pictures, unfortunately, of the temple :-(

Waterfall, as seen from Bhagsunag Temple

Taking a turn along the street, we sighted the waterfall we had glimpsed earlier from afar. The side of the rocky hill had been cut and paved with stones, to create a walkway to the waterfall. A signboard warned that the path was risky [due to previous landslides, that broke down the paved walk in some places, and blocked it in some others.] Morover, it was 1.5 kms long, and looked decidedly steep. We were in a dilemma as to go to the falls or not, as it seemed difficult to make it uptil there, and also to return to McLeodganj in time for the bus.

Waterfall - closer to the goal
In the left is the part of the path we walked

It's beauty really pulled us, and the attraction won over the misgivings :-) We decided we'd walk on, and return back if at any point we felt too tired, or seemed to be getting too late.


The only thing that marred the amazing beauty of the place was a few little shops to sell snacks and cold-drinks, two of them right at the foot of the fall. Worse than their sheer presence was the litter caused by apathetic shopkeepers and vistiors - the former washing dirty utensils in the hitherto pure water, and the latter throwing empty packages, cans and bottles any which way.


With some difficulty [my stamina is really poor!] we reached the falls, and the sights we were rewarded with, were more than worth the trouble we undertook. We would have liked to climb up the mountains to the top, from where the water was falling down, but time [and stamina too, to some extent] did not permit that at all.

Tiny white flowers growing in the rocks

We spent close to an hour there, though it was a place one could have spent hours on end, without tiring of the scenery, and there seemed to be a lot to explore around. I would have liked to walk down the hill to the stream that the waterfall transformed in to. But again, the fear of missing the bus prevailed :-)
Reluctantly, we dragged ourselves back, and started back. Coming down to Bhagsunag was much easier. And walking back to McLeodganj was not difficult either. In fact, we reached back with more than enough time in hand, and rued not spending more time in the falls!

And then, we had a bite to eat, collected our luggage from the hotel, and bid adieu to the Little Lhasa.

Goodbye, Dharamsala!

We found our bus was the same volvo we had come in [two buses ply on the route, starting from each end in the evening.] A few passengers boarded from McLeodGang, the majority were to board at Dharamsala. It is really a tough task maneouvering the huge bus on the narrow road on hair-pin bends. At one place, the driver realized that he had gone too far to turn, and reversed it, with the helper directing him about the wheels' position - this excercise actually scared on passenger off the bus! She hurriedly climbed down, and didnt climb back up until the driver had completed the turn! There was quite a wait at Dharamsala, but finally, after all the passengers boarded and settled down, the conductor switched on the movie - and imagine our extreme frustration, when a few seconds later we realized that the movie was none other than 'Jaani Dost'! Yes, the same hopeless nonsense one that they had shown on the onward journey!!