Lovely Himachal!

Back from a laid back december holiday , we were all eager to venture into the unknown.
Snow always facinates those living in the plains ,and Himachal had received plenty of it this time.
So Rakshit , Tushar and I decided to go to Mcleodganj , which has emerged as a hot tourist destination in the past years.
Took the friday off ,which gave us three days time. Booked tatkal tickets(sleeper) in Jammu Mail for the 19th January,2012(thursday) to Pathankot from old delhi railway station . This turned out to be a rather bad decision as the train was late by 5 hours and halted more than a blueline does in Delhi, while all other trains zipped past.

12 P.M. -We reached pathankot .

Yes , we were starving but had no time for lunch , so headed directly to the pathankot bus stop which is 5 mins from the station. We got a bus till Dharamshala which cost Rs.100/person. On enquiring further , the conductor told us that the first bus for Dharamshala leaves at 9:45 a.m. After around 3 hours of travelling , we could see the snow capped Dhauldhars for the first time, Dharamshala was only 5 kms away.
3:10 P.M. - reached Dharamshala

The weather had changed signficantly from the plains , it was cold! Had awesome veg momos with adhrak and lehsun ki chatni...
Again wasted no time and boarded a minibus to mcleod (Rs.10 each) , which took half an hour!

In Mcleod , we could see snow around and it was significantly more cold than had been in Delhi throughout the winter...

Being a off season , most guest house owners were lined up to lure customers.
We went with the owner of the Mountain View Guest house located on Jogibara Road. He offered us a double bed room with geyser for Rs.300(after bargaining) . The room was good but I wanted to check out the famous Pema Thang. So we went to the road which had the elite hotels(offering the view of the valley) , Pema Thang was closed and others were quite expensive, so we returned to the guest house. Had a quick bath and then took a walk to the market.

Napolitano Pasta

The Peri Peri Pizza

Mix Veg Lasagne

We spotted Jimmy's Kitchen and went in to satisfy our hunger... The restaurant is very similar to the famous Big Chills in Delhi in terms food , aesthetics. Only where it differs is the price(its significantly cheaper)...
The italian here was so good that we wanted to try everything on the menu , but then somehow resisted.

For the desserts we were headed to Nicks Kitchen on Bhagsu Road,had great difficulity in finding it.
The peculiar thing about both Jimmys and Nicks was that there were hardly any Indians tourists here.

Spinach quiche-not worth trying again

Pancake with honey- didn't dissapoint

Chocolate cake- Not worth trying again

We also tried the brownie , which was different and good.
After roaming through Mcleod , we went back to Jogibara Road . There we spotted a pool and billiards cafe. Not familar with billiards we took the only pool table free , which was quite fun.

Then there was a party on the top floor of our guest house . It hosts parties every tuesday and friday and also a Tibetan Music party on Saturdays. Again there were not many Indians , it was like we were in Tibet.

After the party was over at around 11 , we strolled to Mcllo's Restaurant to grab a pastry and then were back to our room to get some rest.
The blankets ensured that we had a good nights sleep.
Next morning woke up at around 8 o clock, freshened up and left for breakfast. We kept our bags with the guest house owner and vacated the room. At 10 we were at JJI's Cafe,Bhagsu Road .

Cheese Omlette

Farmers Breakfast

Tofu in Garlic Sauce

Thentuk

Chocolate cookies

JJI's Cafe

The little cafe had a very nice ambience, even better hospitality and some awesome food.We ordered a JJI's breakfast, a cheese omlett,tofu in garlic sauce and then thentuk(which were flat noodles). Food was a bit spicy , but we loved it.
After this fulfilling and healthy breakfast we were off to Bhagsu Falls and Bhagsunag Temple.

Then I had a bath in the swimming pool opposite to the temple. We headed to the temple then and after that too the falls. The Bhagsunag falls were covered by snow all around , and although we couldnt trek to Triund(because of 7-8 feet snow) , we were happy with the snow here.We even trekked to Shiva Cafe which is above the Bhagsunag Falls , had a maggi there .

Swimming Pool at Bhagsunag

The Bhagsunag Falls

Cafe at Bhagsunag Falls

Shiva Cafe ,500m trek from Bhagsunag

Shiva Cafe

After this trek we were tired and had plans to visit JwalaJi , so headed to the Dalai Lama Temple to complete what was left of Mcleodganj to see. Took an auto from Bhagsu Chowk to the temple for 80 bucks.

Dalai Lama Temple

The temple was beautiful , one thing which was peculiar was that Dalai Lama was offered biscuits,chocolates and juices by his followers and not any traditional sweets like ladoos that we do.
After this we walked upto the St. Johns Church which was around 2kms away from the temple. The church was closed , we found a couple romancing their instead. After this we were feeling hungry and for lunch decided to check out Oogo's Cafe now called the Four Seasons cafe which serves Italian, and this was a really bad decision. Yes, the food was cheaper compared to Jimmy's Italian Kitchen but the service was slow. The food was pathetic. After this we collected our luggage from the hotel and hurried to the bus stop to catch a bus. Found one of the cars which run till Dharamshala. From Dharamshala took a bus to Kangra , from there a bus to Jwalaji. In doing all this , we reached JwalaJi by 9 p.m. The temple closes at 9 , so we got a room in Prayag Hotel(opposite to main mandir gate) for Rs.250. The room was not very clean but good enough. Then we went to have dinner in one of the dhabas on the main chowk. The food was delicious . We ordered maa chole ki daal, kadhi and matar paneer. Everything was too good. It was like returning back to your country after a foreign tour.