Another one of my random trips - this time to McLeod Ganj. I had just had possibly the most depressing 7 weeks of my life in the Delhi summer, and desperately needed a break. Two very close friends, Ronak and Dalia, were already in McLeod Ganj (Himachal, gotta love it!) and I just HAD to go!
It started out pretty bad when my phone got stolen on the metro while I was heading to the station to get the bus. Fortunately I have a tendency to remember people's phone numbers, so I was fine. I had a very nice German lady next to me on the bus ride. How did I know she was German? - I just somehow always know! We spoke for a long time on the bus and I found out she has been in Pune for almost a quarter of a century, working as an artist!
After a fairly ordinary night, we finally reached Dharamsala in the morning, which is about 8 km downhill from McLeod, also known as Upper Dharamsala. To my surprise, Dalia and Ronak were standing groggy-eyed at the door looking for me! After reaching McLeod at about 8 a.m. we obviously went to First Cup for a coffee.
[Ok I should give you some background at this point - I have worked at an NGO in McLeod Ganj for two months in 2008, so I know the town pretty much inside out. (Watch out for the internship post a little later).]
Ok so back to my story - Hot Chocolate and scrambled eggs on toast was my standard order. Sitting at First Cup, I was overwhelmed with memories of the last time I was there - with Chris, in December on the day I left. It was exciting, I wanted to go to all my favorite places, eat the yummy food and drink my favorite ginger-lemon-honey.
And eat we did! We just went hopping from one restaurant and cafe to the next. What was the best part of this trip though? The fact that during the hopping, everyone on the streets, in the stores, and the lodge, recognised me! It made me feel pretty special, I must say!
This post is less about the travel, and more about the yummy pizza, pasta, Cordon Bleu and chocolate cake I ate, the easy conversations with Ronak and Dalia, the feeling of being back home I had, and the sheer peace I felt in those two days. It's true!
I'll talk a LOT about Carpe Diem later, but for now, let me just tell you, you HAVE to go there when you visit McLeod Ganj. The people there are so nice and friendly, they have the simplest, yet nicest ambience, and YUMMY food!
Another place I discovered in McLeod that's really nice is this very nondescript place from the outside, called Nick's Italian Kitchen on Bhagsu Road (a road leading to the Bhagsu town and waterfall). So this place, Nick's, serves very nice cake - their banana chocolate (also the one at First Cup, actually!) and plain chocolate cake - soft, almost melts in the mouth, and coupled with some of their cappucino... blows my mind!
One thing I discovered about finding peace in McLeod, and for this I have Ronak to thank a little, is to look at the eagles flying in the sky - frees your mind, and while singing random songs to myself, I did a lot of that while we spent the entire afternoon on the terrace of Nick's which, by the way, gives you a completely different view of the valley and the rest of McLeod town.
Unfortunately, it was time to leave and all three of us just fell quiet, sad and wishing we could stay back just another day. The bus ride back was a little amusing, because we had the last three seats on the bus, and pretty much flew downhill over all the bumps! Far from comfortable. But it helped me deal with the horrible summer I had just spent in Delhi! Can't wait to go back...