Dharamshala - Introduction

   Dharmashala is a one of the famous hill station in Himachal Pradesh.  Don't confuse yourself with Dharmasthala, Karnataka. I have known this place for 2 reasons : Dharmashala Cricket Ground and Dalai Lama Temple. Other than that I had no idea about Dharmashala.  But when we planned for this trip after Himalayan trek I explored lot of things and once I went there I got to know lot of information.

Few facts about Dharamshala :

• Dharmashala is famous for Dalai Lama Temple which is in McLeod Ganj(Upper Dharmshala). And it is obvious for this reason many people come here to learn Buddhism. You find more Buddhist and enthusiast foreigners here.
• This place was once the summer capital of India in British rule.
• You still find Tibetan government in exile working here. There is Tibetan parliament in Dharmashala. 
• It has world's highest altitude cricket stadium. 
• It is the district headquarter of Kangra district.
• Kangra which is 20 Km from Dharmashala is the largest fort in Himalayas and oldest dated in India which is mentioned in Mahabharata epic. But in 1905 earthquake it was severely damaged. It belonged to Rajput family and conquered by Ghajnis, Moghuls, Gurkhas and then British.
• Shopping is costly here since goods here come from Delhi, Chandigarh and even from Nepal.
• Gurkha Regiment is there in Dharmashala.

Few hidden facts :

• You speak a lot about spiritual place of Buddhism. But tourists from across the world come here to have the worldly pleasure. Instead of renting costly hotels they stay as a guest in Tibetan houses. Foreigners have attraction towards Tibetan people. They will enjoy their stay with sex and drugs here. This information is as collected by locals.

Journey to Dharmashala :

• After completing our trek, we had plan to visit Dharmashala, a spiritual place of Buddhist.
• Next day we had bus at 10:00 AM from Kullu. But when we went to Kullu bus stand we got to know buses are cancelled due to election.
• We reached there by 9 AM and were not knowing what is happening. We didn't get any SMS for the cancellation of bus. Even refund looked difficult as it is booked online. But they arranged us a bus to Mandi, a district place. From there we have to board another bus to Dharmashala. They only booked the ticket from Mandi to Dharmashala.
• We followed their instruction and boarded a private bus which gave a drop to Mandi. We had nearly an hour for the bus arrival.
• We had lunch in the nearby hotel. We had himachali thali which was very delicious and a lassi added a great flavor to our lunch.
• Then we boarded the bus to Dharmashala at 1:45 PM. We reached Dharmashala at 6 PM. We waited for nearly an hour to get a bus to MecLeod Ganj where we have booked the hotel.
• Finally we got a bus and we walked a mile to reach our hotel Bhagsu, a himachal governement's owned hotel.
• MecLeod Ganj is the tourist attraction place of Dharmashala. We had 3 days plan in Dharmashala. As mentioned in planning section in one of the post we chose option 1 with some modification.
• First day we hired a vehicle to roam around Dharmashala.
• Second day we went to Truind but didn't go to Lahesh caves.
• Third day we went to Dalai Lama temple and nearby place and did some shopping.

• Tweet
• Share
• Share
• Share
• Share

Sign up here with your email