McLeod Ganj

Continued From Here:  Kareri Lake

All About Food!

We reached hotel Nature feast and collected our bags. We had asked the taxi driver to drop us at McLeod Ganj for Rs200. While we were getting ready to leave Vijay ji arrived and requested me to stop at his hotel instead of heading to McLeod Ganj. I told him that we had already explored the place and would like to now discover McLeod Ganj and then take the bus from there next evening. He was disappointed. It was difficult for me to say no and I tried to be as rational and polite as possible about my plans. He was a kind man who believed in establishing friendship. I was sad to have refused his request but we had already booked a hostel in McLeod Ganj.

The hosteller in McLeod Ganj is away from the crowded streets. We dropped our bags, freshened up and headed out for lunch. We found a good local place where I had a Tibetan Thukpa. It was delicious. I also could not resist myself from trying their lemon cheese cake.

While Divyesh headed back to the hostel, I took a stroll in the town. I tasted some desserts in a local sweet shop and had a Tibetan street food called Laphing which I did not like the taste of. 

Honestly, I found McLeod Ganj very unclean. There was garbage by the road and people were carelessly spitting on the road and sometimes you would narrowly escape it.  

Locals would gather at the corner of a street and play Ludo on their cell phone. Four people would stand around the phone held by one of them and play the game. 

In the night, I took a walk to Dharma cafe and had their Avocado toast and rhododendron tea. It was okay. I sat there finishing my sketch from Triund trek. 

Next morning, I took an early morning walk to the main square to have some tea. Local Tibetans were selling homemade Tibetan bread. I bought one. It lacked flavour and taste. I believe I might have picked a wrong bread. This probably is eaten with some dish. McLeod Ganj wakes up really late. Only one tea shop was open at 7am in the morning. 

I headed back to the hostel, freshened up and then headed out to visit the Dalai Lama temple. Dalai Lama was at his residence at that time. There was tight security and a bunch of journalists were waiting to meet him outside his residence, located adjacent to the temple. 

I visited the temple and headed back to town to have Tibetan poori or bun with a Channa dish for breakfast at Tsampa cafe. It was delicious. 

We checked out at 11am and left the bags at reception before heading to the roof top cafe to relax. At 1PM, we headed out for lunch at Moonpeak Deli. I had Himachali thali there. The dishes were tasty. Among them were -  Madhra (Chickpea in tangy curd sauce), Khatta (Black gram in sweet and sour black sauce), Sepuwari (Lentil cubes in spinach sauce), local rice and sourdough rotis. 

We spent all afternoon at the roof top cafe in Hosteller. Form there we had a beautiful view of the mountains. 

At around 8PM, we were picked up by a taxi and taken to the bus pickup point in Dharamshala (By the petrol refilling station). We met Anuj and Vikas there. They were on the same bus as us. They narrated to us the funny incidents of the day. 

Next morning, I said goodbye to Divyesh and headed to Connaught place. I decided to have some South Indian breakfast at Sarvana Bhavan. I enjoyed some idlis, aappam and Sukku mali milk. It was perfect!

Since I had enough time, I decided to take the local metro to the airport terminal. It was a good decision. I was dropped directly at the terminal. The lounge was crowded as usually but the journey was uneventful. Thus an interesting travel episode came to an end.