Palampur Dharamsala and goats. Lots of goats

I know, I've been remiss. It's been over a week since we got back from our trip and I haven't even finished posting about that.

So I'm moving back in time yet again.

We had originally intended to spend a day in Palampur. There's a tea factory there that sells purportedly, the best tea ever.

But apparently, they don't give tours. (thank you Becky for snapping a quick pic before were ushered back out of the building)

and there wasn't much else we really wanted to see there so instead we headed up to Dharamsala.

Dharamsala is the home of the Tibetan government in exile. It's also the home of the Dalai Llama. He wasn't in residence while were there although there were a couple of protests. Five people committed self immolation in China the day we arrived (that's burning yourself alive).

If you want to get involved in the Free Tibet campaign, Dharamsala is the place to be.



We did watch The Cry of the Slow Lion (a documentary about Tibet and the situation with China) and ate Tibetan food, but my favorite part of this leg of the trip was what turned out to be a 28km hike up into the hills.

We made it up to the top just in time  for a 30 second glance at the peak before it was completely covered in clouds. 

Then we were totally covered in clouds. 

We headed back down the mountain and immediately started attracting animals. There were three dogs that we had thought belonged to some other hikers... but no, they were like our traveling companion from Bir... but more annoying than cute. They kept tripping us and fighting with each other and generally making a nuisance of themselves. Apparently dogs just take up with hikers and go up and down the mountains with them. Maybe there's not a lot to do in Dharamsala if you're a dog.

Then we met with even more animals.



Goats. Lots and lots of goats. Somehow we ended up in a heard of goats and hiked through them for a good km or so.

I'm not gonna lie... there was a lot of goat poo.

And the dogs were totally worthless. I thought they were herding dogs at first based on the way they kept cutting in front of us and almost sending us tumbling down the side of the mountain, but no such luck. One mama sheep charged one of the dogs and he cowered behind Becky's legs.

But it was interesting. And kind of funny. There were random sheep wandering off different places. Other sheep/goats were butting heads. I enjoyed watching the shepherds. It all seemed like chaos to me, but they somehow had everything in hand. I couldn't help thinking that this was what God must feel like with all of us people.

But if we extend that metaphor, I hope guardian angels aren't like our worthless traveling canine companions. If they are... we are all in some serious goat poo.

But I digress.

We headed back down the mountain and made plans to leave the next day for Dehradun.

In the meantime  i dropped my hiking boots off at a street corner shoe polish/repair guy. He said that he offered water proofing services for leather boots and he said that he fix some spots on the stitching that had come loose.

I said I'd come back later that day but due to some mis-communication, he ended up leaving for the day before I'd had a chance to collect my boots.

I figured my boots were probably a lost cause at that point since I had no idea where the guy lived, and our bus was due to leave in an hour and a half or so.

I found another shoe repair guy and asked if he knew my guy and wonder of wonders, he did. And he knew the guys' nephew. So then I met the guys nephew, and before I knew what was happening, I was in a cab with the nephew on the way to the shoe guys house in lower Dharamsala.

ahh, the things I would never ever consider doing in the US just seem like the next logical step in India.

But I got my shoes back and paid the guy. So all's well that ends well.

Now off to bed.

When I come back, we'll talk about Diwali or Deepawali or however you want to spell it.