Although everyone talks about Dharamsala it is actually two places, Lower Dharamsala which is ten kilometres lower down the mountain from Upper Dharamsala (Mcleod Ganj) which is the tourist trap that everyone calls Dharamsala.
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| Looking down the mountain |
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| A typical street |
We moved room this morning to a more pleasant room in the Kunga Guest House. No further comment!
This place is perfect for ladies who shop as there is plenty of stuff (I will not quantify the word as it will get me in trouble with others) at a cheap price. ‘You
get what you pay for’
would be the normal comment. There are notices everywhere to keep the place clean, put the rubbish in the bin, save water, save electricity, and it is pity that no-one practises what they preach as this place is filthy with seemingly no-one picking up rubbish only the cows which eat anything they fancy from overflowing bins or rubbish tipped everywhere. Obviously the Dalai Lama nor his Government can see any of the filth about the place as perhaps they could spend some money cleaning it up. It is said that ‘Cleanliness is next to Godliness’, but not here! A tirade but this place could look much better than it is now.
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| The sign above is directly on the wall behind the cows |
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| Pattern blocks for henna painting |
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| A pilgrim |
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| The town square with seven roads leading to it so no wonder they have traffic jams |
I went for a walk to the public baths and the river beyond. There were hundreds of people, (including monks), washing clothes, carpets and other things in the river, about a one kilometre length long washing machine. Washing is carried out in the river because there is a shortage of water here, not that can be told from the water leaking from pipes all over the place.
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| The open air swimming pool |
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| People washing in the river |
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| People washing in the river |
Is there anything good here? Plenty of cheap eating places with tasty food with a good half of them being vegetarian.
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| This is good! Knitting a water bottle carrier. |
Down the hill is the Church of St. John in the Wilderness, very much alone in the trees and visited by many Indians while I was there. Built in the 1850’s it would have been the parish church for the British Officers and other ranks of the Gurkha Rifles who were stationed here in the past. It must have been a hard life then as the tablets in the church and gravestones indicated the young age of those who died, mainly it seemed of women and children.
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| The Church of St. Johns in the Wilderness. This could be a church anywhere in the UK. |
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| The stained glass window |
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| Inside the church |
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