Hippies and hiking up hills

18 June - 23 June

By now I have become accustomed to long journeys, so I took the 7 hour bus from Amritsar to Dharamshala in my stride.  What Dharamshala gives you, that is new, is that everywhere you go from it, as the starting point, is one long hike up.  The bus takes you the short distance to northern Dharamshala, or better known of McLeodganj, but this was a destination of travelers of a previous time, and has since succumbed (as many places in India are sure to do in the years to follow), to an increase in local tourism and popularity.  What comes as a consequence, is too many shops, too many people, too much traffic, too much western food and influence, and overall, just not a nice place to be.

To reach better pastures, you must face the challenge of the uphill, meaning a 45 minute walk (with my overpacked bags) to the small hamlet of Bhagsu.  Braver souls, or ones with motorbikes, cars, or far more appropriately packed backpacks, can travel even further up the mountain to upper Bhagsu, or Dharamkot.  But truly, the atmosphere in each of these three places is similar, and more importantly, I was exhausted by the time I got to Bhagsu.  Luckily I found a nice hostel soon thereafter.

Hundreds of years from now, when future archaeologists
are excavating Dharamkot, they will use these artefacts
to deduce that hippies roamed this area

Unfortunately, trading the hustle of McLeodganj only gave way to a place that has been overrun, changed, and assimilated by foreign (read here, mainly Israeli) tourists.  While a nice place to visit, encircled by mountains, treks and a waterfall or two, you soon come to realise that all the surrounding places have all-too-common characteristics: Israeli writing and food options; vegan-friendly; yoga courses; ecstatic dance (this one gave it away); dreamcatchers; and people without shoes.  I had arrived at a flipping hippie town.

Street art in Bhagsu.  Nice, but I would say, not very Indian?

Hippie towns are great.  Contrary to all the external projections by its inhabitants of a simple life, restaurants are stocked with foodstuffs - all too foreign for the mountains of India (I had a seriously good pasta alfredo, although it took my stomach by surprise, but that’s another story), great internet, fluent English (and Hebrew) staff, and the general catering to the spoilt western needs (I admit, I too benefited.  I found dental floss, after searching for 2 months – when they stock floss, then you must know the privileged, European elite have arrived).

However, for a short time, western comforts are great, and admittedly, I indulged.  There is no shortage of musicians (surprise, hippies like playing music).  So, on different nights, different cafes have live music.  Although, I came to this place to meet a friend (a host from the volunteering in Kanatal), who had been staying here a month, playing music.  I therefore got to know the local band, who played in different cafes each night, and following them (as any good groupie does), on the fourth night, even though the songs were all in Hindi, you realise they are playing the same thing.  

Perhaps the hippies are too clouded by the cloudy (smokey) clouds up in the mountains, to realise.

The highlights for me though was the trekking.  Getting out of the inhabited areas, you appreciate the beauty that attracted the early travelers to this area (well first the below area, and then that got crowded, so then the above area).  My first hike was up to Gallu Devi temple.  While the hike was interesting, mostly because I got lost, and made my own path through the jungle, the temple was most underwhelming.

Gallu Devi Temple, Bhagsu (really that's all of it)
Judge for yourself if that's worth climbing up a mountain

Got lost, so this is not on the official path,
but sometimes it works out well :)

The hike to Bhagsu waterfall, which I did early in the morning to avoid the crowds, is worth seeing too.  But really, the big hiking attraction here is the climb up to the 2,800m Triund hill.  Luckily, I bumped into the militant vegans from my farm in Damta (or unluckily  because lady militant vegan is a proper pain in the ass), and they invited me to do the trek with them.  I was happy to have company, because we took basically an unmarked “trail”, and relied on Google Maps, who have clearly never hiked Triund.  

Bhagsu waterfall

Anyhow, the hike was beautiful, although difficult, particularly at over 2000m in altitude.  We got to the summit just before the clouds came over, so we got a great view of the Dhaulhar range. 

The clouds though also signaled rain, so we did not stay up for too long, and hurried down.  As we had started at 6am, we were going down while the crowds were coming up, and as we got down, we just missed the thunderstorm (and I am told hail) that caught those at the top

Near the summit, Triund hike

Dhaulhar range, and Triund peak

I cannot though tell you much about the way down, as my sole concentration for 2 HOURS was on not pooping my pants.  My stomach had been on edge for a few days (I am blaming the alfredo in this regard) and needing to go, with a less than solid (pun intended) stomach at the summit of a mountain somehow takes the beauty and panache off a hike.  I would have gone in the bushes, except the bushes were cliff faces and sharp downward slopes.  So, well ya, you can imagine, and the guesthouse staff whose bathroom I ran into at the base of the hill (despite their protestation that it was private property too) realised too, that this was no drill.

Though, stomach issues aside, this was a nice place, good food, music, and vibe, but after a week of hippies and hills, I was done with this place, and it was time to move on. 

You know its time to leave when the menus start
having this to say