Journey to the City of Virtue: Himalayan Adventures: Dharamshala and Dalhousie

What a week. With a 24-hour journey on both ends, myself and three other girls from the program managed to make it to the Himalayas and home again in one piece! Well, somewhat. K and I were both victim to our body’s protests against the extreme cold. I am just now feeling well enough to write about it after several day’s rest. If only I had some honey lemon ginger tea! This was a favorite traditional “cure all” beverage up in the mountains. I was first introduced to it in Dharamshala, where we began our adventures.

Upon arrival at 2am, the only thing we could focus our eyes on was the taunting stone staircase down the side of a steep hill that led to our hotel. I’m actually surprised none of us fell to our doom that night. It was freezing and we were all exhausted so we crawled under our fleece and duvet blankets and went to sleep. Around 10am the next morning, we woke up to catch the last bit of breakfast on the rooftop restaurant of our hotel. I threw on as many layers as I could and J and I ran upstairs to meet the other girls.

So, was the trip worth it? That morning alone was worth it. It was beyond words. Clear blue sunny skies and mountains for miles. Evergreen trees, prayer flags hanging on the nearby buildings, and the temperature was perfect if you sat in the sun. It was incredible, I never wanted to leave. We spent the next two days in Dharamshala wandering through the town checking out the handicrafts, the old run-down St. John’s Church, and of course the Dalai Lama’s Temple. Unfortunately, the Dalai Lama himself did not join us but the complex was exquisite. It was a giant maze of layers and temples and prayer wheels and Buddhists of all ages doing their prostrations. We also visited the Tibetan Museum which was the first time I had really bothered to learn anything in depth about the Tibetan struggle, if I’m being honest. It really is horrifying to learn how Tibet has been, and continues to be, treated. I have to wonder why the rest of the world does nothing. I’m also very curious to talk to my Chinese studies friends to hear what they know/think about the situation.

The first morning in Dharamshala, we encountered a nice Kashmiri man in his 20s who was selling fur slippers, hats, gloves, etc. He was very nice and as we began chatting and trying on his slippers, he offered us tea and you can never say no to tea! We were very fond of him and chatted for a good while. Later that evening, we wandered into a lovely shop with more Kashmiri goods and realized it was owned by his cousin. Naturally, we were given a ‘good friend price’. One of the Kashmiris, the Class Clown, extended an invitation to dinner and we tried to decline, explaining that we already had plans with three other friends for dinner. That didn’t work because they invited all seven of us over for dinner! We descended some more rocky trails towards their flat and played cards and chatted while we waited for dinner. We taught them how to play slapjack and one of them was very good at it! The game came down to just him and one of the other girls with us. He eventually lost, but it lasted a good while. Finally, it was time for dinner which was absolutely delicious. Rice and some sort of paneer dish with fresh vegetables. We all devoured it.

We had a lot of fun chatting with our Kashmiri friends, learning all about their family’s houseboat in Kashmir, their ability to speak about eight languages just from interacting with tourists, and of course their affinity for slapjack. But alas, it was time to say goodbye! Next stop: Dalhousie. Another hill station farther up in the mountains. The drive was absolutely breathtaking. Just mountains on mountains on mountains. We reached our hotel a couple of hours before dinner and spent some time huddled near the space heater. Unfortunately, there is only a few months of winter so none of these places have real heating systems - just tiny little space heaters that don’t actually heat the room. I even spent one night sleeping on the couch huddled with my toes in front of the space heater because the bed was too cold.

If it hadn’t been for the cold, I would’ve absolutely loved Dalhousie. There was basically nothing to do which was perfect for me. We took a day trip the first day to Khajjiar, a beautiful meadowy area. We even played frisbee in the middle of the mountains! Check that off our bucket list! Like everywhere else we went, we stopped for tea at Khajjiar and enjoyed the cool sunny day. As we were enjoying our tea, I noticed one of the flower boys up close. There were several boys carrying around baskets of flowers to take pictures with. A nice idea, right? Well, it gets better. They had bunnies in the baskets too! I tried to take a picture but I would’ve had to pay for it so I opted out. Soon our time in the mountains had to come to an end, but not before we enjoyed some cheesecake made with yak cheese! It was actually delicious, although it sounds quite strange, I know. I highly suggest yak cheesecake if you ever get the chance!

Although our time in the mountains came to a halt for now, our journey was not over yet! We had two more cities to explore: Amritsar and Delhi. To Be Continued...