Dharamsala and McLeodganj Part-2

It was a wonderful experience visiting the tea estate in Dharamsala. But we had to cover couple of more destinations before we could end our day and there was no way we could  walk to those places. Fortunately we found a cab on our way back and got a good bargain for war memorial and cricket stadium.

Both the destinations are only 2 Km apart. So we decided to visit the cricket stadium first.

This stadium is unique because of its altitude. The stadium is situated at 4,780 Ft above the sea level and second highest cricket stadium in the world. Established in 2003 by the Himachal Pradesh cricket association, the stadium had witnessed many international one days and test matches. From the 1^st ODI between India and England to the latest match between Australia vs New Zealand this stadium has covered many milestones. The location offers a very beautiful view of snow-capped Himalaya Mountains in the background.

The road to the stadium was very narrow and cars are allowed to a certain distance. But as it happens in India almost all the time our friends from Punjab will always try to take their SUV’s anywhere causing major traffic jam. Anyway, we asked our driver to wait and decided to cover the last 5 minute distance by foot. We were lucky because there was a match going on and the best part is that it was an all-girls match. The stadium is not as huge but still very spacious. The sitting area for public is painted in yellow, blue and green. The two buildings (may be observation area)  are in red colour, perhaps because one of the buildings serve as a dressing room and commentary station. The day was hot and we left after 15-20 minutes heading to the war memorial.

War memorial is situated around two KM from the cricket stadium. The memorial pays tribute to those fallen soldiers who laid down their lives in the service of our mother land. Dharamsala is also the land of the undefeated and brave Gorkha regiments. For the Gorkhas, loosing is not an option and the whole world praises their bravery in war. Adolf Hitler once said that if “I could have only one regiment of Gurkhas than no one can stop my army”. The war memorial pays tribute to all the wars India had fought starting from the 1947 J&K operation to 1999 operation Vijay.

The place is huge and well maintained with lots of trees and plants. In between the place there are two stones with the name of the fallen soldiers. There is a GNAT and a field artillery situated at the entry point. Also in a distance there is a captured Pakistani tank. The place is like a temple but again some very insensitive people from neighbouring states have no sense and even take selfies with the memorial stones. Well can’t do anything about it. It hurts!

The next day our target was Naddi, Dal Lake, and St. John in the wilderness, Dalai Lama Temple in Mc Laudganj and Khanyara.

Naddi is a village situated 2000 meters above sea level. This place is situated in Kangra valley and offers a very good view of nearby Dhauladhar Mountains. The landscape is very green but on the same time crawling with tourists. There is a spot where you can try to view the mountains using some pre-installed telescope. Personally I found the place no so great.

Dal lake was nothing special. I was very disappointed how some people and website over rated this place with Photoshop Pics.

Ddharamsala and Mcleodganj Part-1

A new trip to Himachal and this time we opted for Dharamsala and Mcleodganj. We were planning for Dalhousie and Khajjiar but due to lack of time and no direct state run Volvo service we went to Dharamsala and Mcleodganj . The first part of any backpacker traveller is to look for a decent hotel as we were going in peak season so it was obvious that finding one will be not easy. After checking many hotels online we finally decided for” The Kashmir House” (Himachal Tourism hotel). The bus reached Dharamsala at about 6:30 A: M and our check in time was for 12:00 PM. The hotel was situated 2 K.M from bus stand which looks very easy to cover in Google Map. But it was an endurance walk as the roads are elevated. After a tiring walk we finally reached our hotel at 7:30 A: M. But we had to wait a lot because no rooms were vacant, finally we got our room at 11:30 A:M after we had finished our breakfast. The hotel was the residence of Raja of Kashmir. The carvings on the doors clearly showcase the work of Kashmir art and the architecture of the building endorses the beauty.

Unlike from the hustle in Dharamsala this property is located at a quiet place in the arms of mother nature. There was a huge and beautiful garden in front of the hotel surrounded by big trees loaded with flowers. There was also a small fountain in between the garden but was not working. The best part was that we got a room in second floor and every room has its own balcony. The only problem in the property is of privacy because all the rooms in terrace were interlinked. We understand the issue because it was a residence turned into a heritage hotel. The best part was hotel was surrounded with so many trees that it seems more as a Jungle cottage.

Dharamsala- Bird eye view

After a small nap we started our trip and the 1^st destination was Tea Gardens. As there are many tea estate but the nearest is Mann tea estate. In Google map the distance was only 2 KM but in actual it was more than 4 KM with elevated roads. The direction was little confusing because someone had guided us to a wrong path. However the view of the tea estate was worth the effort! Miles of lush green velvety expanse was soothing and extremely joyful. It was my first experience in a tea garden which I will cherish forever!

Green all the way

The location was far from the city, so was not crowded at all and we are the only ones with some local women plucking tea leaves. I wanted to go to the top but the path was quite elevated as well as slippery. We spent nearly an hour taking lot of pictures. I tried to click an old women working in the plantation but she got angry and told me not to click anymore. By that time I had already got few shots. We also met some school children who cover a long distance every day across the town, while we were exhausted in one day!

School days

Road to nowhere

Don't click