Things to do in Western Himachal Pradesh
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McLlo Restaurant
Crowded nightly and justifiably popular, this big place above the noisy bus stand area serves a mind-boggling menu of Indian, Chinese and international fare, including pizzas and pasta. It’s also one of the best places to enjoy an icy cold beer (Rs100), and it has cider and wines.
reviewed
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Tibetan Handicrafts Cooperative Centre
Tibetan Handicrafts Cooperative Centre employs newly arrived refugees in the weaving of Tibetan carpets. You’ll pay around Rs6000 for a 0.9m by 1.8m wool carpet in traditional Tibetan colours and you can watch the weavers in action. For made-to-order clothing, head over the road to the Tailoring Section.
reviewed
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Oogo’s Cafe Italiano
This cute hole-in-the-wall place serves up mainly Italian fare, but with a few surprises – waffles, baked potatoes, intriguing pasta dishes like ‘chicken vodka’ and even grilled lamb chops. The atmosphere is warm and busy and there are tempting desserts, as well as a bookshelf full of reading material.
reviewed
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Tibet Museum
Just inside the main entry gate of the Tsuglagkhang Complex is the Tibet Museum, telling the tragic story of the Chinese occupation and the subsequent Tibetan exodus through photographs, interviews and video clips. A visit here is a must for anyone staying in McLeod Ganj.
reviewed
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Lung Ta
The set menu changes daily at this popular, nonprofit, vegetarian Japanese restaurant. Food and ambience are authentic and many Japanese travellers come here for a taste of home.
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Moonpeak Espresso
A little bit of Seattle, transported to India. Come for excellent coffee, cakes, imaginative sandwiches and dishes like poached chicken with mango, lime and coriander sauce.
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Namgyal Cafe
Located at Namgyal Gompa (part of the Tsuglagkhang Complex), and this cafe serves cakes and vegetarian food. It also provides vocational training for refugees.
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Tushita Meditation Centre
Near Dharamkot, Tushita offers eight-day nonresidential courses and 10-day residential retreats in Buddhist philosophy, plus courses for advanced students.
reviewed
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Chocolate Log
One of McLeod’s original cake shops and still setting a high standard for sweets, coffee and freshly baked cakes.
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Sangye's Kitchen Cooking Courses
Tibetan treats, with a different menu daily. Book one day in advance.
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Taste of India
This tiny place has just five tables and is often full with diners savouring North Indian veg and nonveg curries and tandoori chicken.
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Branch Security Office
Meeting face to face with the Dalai Lama is a lifelong dream for many travellers and certainly for Buddhists, but private audiences are rarely granted. Put simply, the Dalai Lama is too busy with spiritual duties and running the government in exile to meet everyone who comes to Dharamsala. Tibetan refugees are automatically guaranteed an audience, but travellers must make do with the occasional public teachings held at Gangchen Kyishong during the monsoon (July/August), after Losar (Tibetan New Year) in February/March and on other occasions, depending on his schedule. For annual schedules and just about everything you need to know about His Holiness, check out www.dalaila…
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Walks
Interesting short walks around McLeod include the 2km stroll to Bhagsu and the 3km walk northeast to Dharamkot, for uplifting views south over the valley and north towards the Dhauladhar Ridge.
A popular longer walk is the two-day return trip through boulder fields and rhododendron forests to Triund (2900m), a 9km walk past Dharamkot. Triund has a simple rest house and you can stop overnight and stroll up to the glacier at Laka Got (3350m) before turning back to McLeod Ganj. There's a scenic route along the gorge from the waterfall at Bhagsu. From Triund, you can trek to Indrahar La (4300m) and the Chamba Valley.
reviewed
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Secretariat of the Tibetan Government in Exile
Inside the government compound at Gangchen Kyishong, the Library Of Tibetan Works & Archives preserves the Tibetan texts saved from the Cultural Revolution. Many of the texts have since been translated into English and other European languages, but you must become a temporary member (Rs 50 per month; passport needed for ID) to access the collection.
Upstairs is a fascinating cultural museum with statues, old Tibetan artefacts and books, and some astonishing three-dimensional mandalas in wood and sand. Also worth a visit is the Nechung Gompa, home to the Tibetan state oracle.
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Kangra Fort
On the far side of town, an Rs80 autorickshaw ride from the bus stand, the impregnable-looking Kangra Fort soars above the confluence of the Manjhi and Banganga Rivers. The fort was used by Hindu rajas, Mughal warlords and even the British before it was finally toppled by the earthquake of 1905. On clear days, head to the battlements for views north to the mountains and south to the plains. A small museum at the fort has stone carvings from temples inside the compound and miniature paintings from the Kangra School.
reviewed
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Norbulingka Institute
About 6km from Dharamsala, the wonderful Norbulingka Institute was established in 1988 to teach and preserve traditional Tibetan art forms, including woodcarving, statue-making, thangka painting and embroidery. The centre produces expensive but exquisite souvenirs, including embroidered clothes, cushions and wall hangings, and sales benefit refugee artists. Also here are delightful Japanese-influenced gardens and a central Buddhist temple with a 4m-high gilded statue of Sakyamuni.
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Z Meditation
McLeod Ganj has dozens of practitioners of holistic and alternative therapies, some legitimate and some making a fast buck at the expense of gullible travellers. Adverts for courses and sessions are posted on noticeboards all over McLeod Ganj and in Contact magazine, but talking to other travellers is a better way to find the good practitioners. Be warned that some women travellers have been molested by so-called 'therapists'. Readers have recommended Z Meditation.
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Taragarh Palace
About 2km south of Tashijong, at Taragarh, is the extraordinary Taragarh Palace, the summer palace of the last maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. Now a luxury hotel, this elegant country seat is full of portraits of the Dogra royal family, Italian marble, crystal chandeliers, tiger skins and other ostentatious furnishings. It’s set in beautiful grounds with a pool and tennis courts. The restaurant serves lavish buffet meals (Rs300 to Rs500).
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Bhuttico
Close to Gandhi Chowk on Garam Sarak, you’ll find fair-priced Kullu shawls and hats at Bhuttico. Established in 1944 by a group of village women, Bhuttico charges fixed prices, so it’s a good place to gauge price and quality. Expect to pay upwards of Rs300 for lambswool, from Rs1000 for angora, from Rs3000 for pashmina and Rs6500 for the exquisitely embroidered shawls worn by village women.
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Bhuri Singh Museum
Founded in 1908 and named after the Chamba ruler of that time, this museum has a wonderful collection of miniature paintings from the Chamba, Kangra and Basohli schools, plus woodcarvings, weapons, rumals, intriguing copper-plate inscriptions, relics from the rajas and ornately carved fountain slabs from around the Chamba Valley. There’s detailed labelling in English.
reviewed
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Kalachakra Temple
Next to the Tsuglagkhang is the Kalachakra Temple, built in 1992, which contains mesmerising murals of the Kalachakra (Wheel of Time) mandala, specifically linked to Avalokitesvara, currently represented on earth by the Dalai Lama. Sand mandalas are created here annually on the fifth day of the third Tibetan month. Photography is allowed in the Tsuglagkhang, but not in the Kalachakra Temple.
reviewed
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Library of Tibetan Works & Archives
Inside the government compound at Gangchen Kyishong, the Library of Tibetan Works & Archives preserves the Tibetan texts saved from the Cultural Revolution. Many have since been translated into English and other European languages. Regular visitors can become temporary members (Rs50 per month; passport needed for ID) to access the collection.
reviewed
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Temples
A winding road runs southwest from Gaggal through pleasant green hills to the 10th century temples at Masrur. Although badly damaged by the 1905 earthquake, the sikharas owe more than a passing resemblance to the Hindu temples at Angkor Wat in Cambodia. You can climb to the upper level for mountain views.
reviewed
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Men-Tsee-Khang
Established to preserve the ancient arts of amchi (traditional Tibetan medicine) and astrology, the Men-Tsee-Khang is a five-minute walk below the Secretariat. There’s a library and training college, and if you know the exact time you were born, you can have a whole life horoscope prepared in English.
reviewed
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Tsechokling Gompa
At the bottom of a long flight of steps below the bus stand, this peaceful gompa was built in 1987 to replace the original Dip Tse Chokling Gompa in Tibet, destroyed in the Cultural Revolution. Home to a small order of Gelukpa monks, the prayer hall enshrines a statue of Sakyamuni in a magnificent jewelled headdress.
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