Dharamsala

After Amritsar we went by bus to the Himalaya. Originally it was planed to go by train, but due to a high delay we canceled the train ticket and bought one for the bus. After a long day we finally arrived in Dharamsala and stayed in McLeod Ganj, originally founded by the British as a hill station in 1855. This place is situated on an altitude of about 1850 meters and has a more comfortable climate.
The Himalaya range starts here from nearly 0 up to 5000 meters and it's going up very steep! Dharamsala is famous because it's the place where the Dalai Lama lives (when he isn't somewhere abroad, and this happens quite often). McLeod Ganj is a small village with many Tibetan refugees, so people, but also temple, houses and food is different.
When we were there, the Dalai Lama just started a 4-day teaching course and the whole village was full of tourists from all over the world. For a short period I assisted also a teaching session (and could see the Dalai Lama passing in front of me!!), but I didn't have a radio receiver for the translation and due to no understanding, I left.

From Lower Dharamsala it's possible to see the first Himalayan range and a bit up the mountains lies McLeod Ganj.

The Namgyal Monastry is the main Tibetan temple there and next to it is the house where the Dalai Lama uses to live.

Another Tibetan monastery and in the mountains around are many prayer flags visible.

The only British remaining in their former Hill Station (destroyed by an earthquake) is the church St. John in the Wilderness.

On a short trip we went to a waterfall, but the weather often got cloudy already in the morning and in the afternoon it rained a few times.