In Amritsar we stayed in Mrs. Bhandari’s Guest House because the truck could be parked securely in the grounds. The place looks as if it was an old British Army transport depot that had gone to seed having seen better days. Derrick and myself shared a room there at what was considered to be an exorbitant price. The place was really trading on what was past glories. They charged £30 for the room 200 rupees (£2.50) for access to the internet for 24 hours when most places allow access for free. I think only two people paid for access, others somehow managed to find access in other ways. I did find a Tudor style dolls house on the shelf in one room!
We left at 0700 hours for Dharamsala, the journey taking six and a half hours. Pictures below were taken during the journey.
As we could not get in-touch with our illustrious leader we sent an email to London advising the we could only find a suitable room in another hotel for £18 per night for both of us, the town being just about completely full due to a visit by the Dalai Lama. An immediate reply advised that if we changed rooms it would be at our cost as this was a budget trip and we had to take the good with the bad. The trip organisers have stuck to that view though we were told that a change of room would be arranged for the following morning.
Would you use a shower room like this? If this is what is considered to be good then what do they consider to be bad? (As Derrick is a plumber he suggested to the manager here that the parts be bought and he would repair the shower!)
We did stay in the room last night but did not use the shower or the toilet next door to the shower!
Dharamsala is the home of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government. Last night it was a complete and utter mess of a place with car horns blaring continually and the narrow streets at a standstill. The Dalai Lama was in town so thousands of people had come to see him and this place can in no way cope with that number of people and the associated traffic. Even the police did not stand a chance of sorting out the traffic as most of the drivers just ignored them and as all the drivers here have no patience what-so- ever then nothing could help.
The town itself is a hodge podge of narrow dirt streets with shops and stalls either side selling mainly junk and artefacts of unknown origin. The population is mainly Tibetan and as an aside, the code for access to the internet in the guest house is ‘freetibet’.
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| The garden and front of the house |
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| Bedroom |
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| Bathroom with a huge bath |
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| The garden with water buffalo |
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| A careful look will see these to be real air guitars |
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| This is for Sally and Emily Rose |
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| Teak logs seen in plenty |
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| The bridge arches were too low for the truck so we had to go through the river bed |
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| How now brown cow!
On arrival in Dharamsala Derrick and myself were taken to the Kunga Guest House where a room had been arranged for us. The room was alright but when we saw the shower room we blew!!
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| The shower |
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| The toilet/shower block |
Would you use a shower room like this? If this is what is considered to be good then what do they consider to be bad? (As Derrick is a plumber he suggested to the manager here that the parts be bought and he would repair the shower!)
We did stay in the room last night but did not use the shower or the toilet next door to the shower!
Dharamsala is the home of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government. Last night it was a complete and utter mess of a place with car horns blaring continually and the narrow streets at a standstill. The Dalai Lama was in town so thousands of people had come to see him and this place can in no way cope with that number of people and the associated traffic. Even the police did not stand a chance of sorting out the traffic as most of the drivers just ignored them and as all the drivers here have no patience what-so- ever then nothing could help.
The town itself is a hodge podge of narrow dirt streets with shops and stalls either side selling mainly junk and artefacts of unknown origin. The population is mainly Tibetan and as an aside, the code for access to the internet in the guest house is ‘freetibet’.
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