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McLeod Ganj is the name of a small town just outside Dharamsala, in mountainous Himachal Pradesh state, in the northwest of India. It's full of Tibetan refugees, being the home of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile. It's also full of hippies - doi oi.


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This morning I was woken by beautiful sunshine and a man singing devotional hymns right below my balcony. First I imagined him as a small, red-robed Tibetan monk, smiling beatifically re: the awesome state of his eternal soul, etc. Then I imagined the chanter as a 60-something white guy with dirty trousers and a scraggly beard. I was so enraged by the second vision that I purposefully did not investigate further, fearing disappointment.

Despite its spiritual significance and beautiful setting, McLeod Ganj forcibly reminds me of other places along the beaten path - Vang Vieng in Laos, San Pedro (Lake Atitlan) in Guatemala. I have no doubt there are a dozen more in a dozen countries I haven't visited. Internet cafes, international menus, Israelis: the holy trinity that marks a very well-travelled backpacker hotspot. I want to find this irritating, but there are also a fair number of resident normals who balance out the hordes of shabby travellers. Also, Tibetans are the total babes of the Asian world! Who knew?

The bus trip from Amritsar to here was lengthy and tiring. An urgent desire to get out of the stuffy and sweltering plains nagged at me. All of the villages and towns in the Punjab had a sort of unfinished look, with stalks of rebar spraying from the roofs of concrete structures like headless bouquets. My hair was stiff with grime by the end of day two. But the best part about Amritsar, and Punjab in general: people are polite as hell. Very welcome after the exhausting experience of Delhi. (Do not recommend.) A friendly local guy in Amritsar told me that the roads between Manali and Leh are open until October 31 so I may give it a shot. Leh suffered some terrible flooding and mudslides a couple of months ago so I'm sure they'd welcome the tourist bucks.

On the way to breakfast this morning, I was dropping off my laundry and lookee - baby's first sacred cow incident! I was talking to the Tibetan bakery/laundry shop owner while behind me in the street a cow was snuffling around my heels, whistling innocently with hooves in her leather pockets. The bakery guy started tsking and shouting over my shoulder, running out just too late to stop the frisky cow from grabbing a loaf of bread from the shop across the street, tossing it into the air with her teeth so that slices of bread flew everywhere. She proceeded to block traffic for several minutes while taking care of the tasty mess. The scammed Hindu shopkeeper grumbled helplessly; the cow was very pleased.

While in these backpacker meccas, it's important to live this shit up! So I'm gonna eat three+ delicious meals per day, read my book, perhaps dabble in yoga, see a movie, visit a museum and go for walks.

It can be so hard.