Dharamsala

Dharamsala was a nice relief from the hot weather tucked in the Himalayan mountains. This town is home to the 14th Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile, along with thousands of refugees, who have made the treacherous journey across the Himalayas and through political turmoil to reside near His Holiness. It is a distinctly different culture than the India that we had been traveling through, touristy and calm with friendly people (and a lot of dirty hippies). The Lama was there while we were stopping through, but unfortunately he wasn't giving any talks or lessons on those days. The streets are filled with red robed monks of all ages, some talking on cell phones and wearing tennis shoes, making for an interesting sight.

It was also nice to have a few more options on the normal Indian menu, some Tibetan specialties. We ate momos - a steamed dumpling filled with veggies or potatoes and thenkthan - a Tibetan soup with noodles and veggies.

The surrounding mountainsides were littered with Tibetan prayer flags, along with every home, bridge, and street (we had to buy one strand...). And the scenery was breathtaking, snow capped peaks in the distance and pine tree forests, and cool weather! The Himalayas are a whole new class of mountain than the Rockies, even the small mountains are impressive.

We would have liked to do more hikes around the area, but both of us fell sick with the flu or food poisoning or a mix of both. The Indians would have chalked it up to the change in weather, from the desert to the mountains, so thats what we went with.