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Quiet day, I had my first decent shower since being in India. Hot and with power, it was worth paying the extra of a government hotel. The breakfast was ok as well.
Trying to find a taxi at a price I thought was reasonable was more difficult. The price at each stop seemed to get more expensive. I thought it would be cheaper from Chamba than Dalhousie but no it was more expensive. 3000 rupees. We tried walking away from the taxi guys to find cheaper but it didn't work. Next to the bus station a guy asked where we wanted to go and called a friend of his, who at first quoted 4000 but dropped his price to 3000. Jagdish the guy who helped us accompanied us to the pick up point. He was an electrical engineer who worked on hydro projects all over the north of India. He was a happy person who laughed a lot, he of course asked us the standard questions about job, marriage and kids. In fact it was a shame we only met when we were leaving. Such is life.
The taxi ride was uneventful but the views were amazing you saw the mountains with their snow covered peaks tucked behind the hills. The road we were on from Chamba was at least 500m up from the bottom of the valley which was a lake. This lake had been created by a dam. The difference of today was the sky was clear their was none of the mist that had obscured the views. Unfortunately I was unable to capture the beauty with my camera.
We arrived on Mcloud and noticed that all the Tibetan shops were closed. They had closed in support of a tibetan lama who had self immolated himself in Delhi and had just died. The town was strangely quiet until we heard the protest march by the westerners. It was strange for me as there the westerners from all nations were shouting anti-Chinese and free Tibet slogans but no Tibetan was with them. Most the Tibetans seem to watch curiously from the side-lines. To me it seemed the wrong type of protest, I think a dignified quiet march would have been more appropriate for Mcloud and the shouting of slogans outside the Chinese embassy. To me I just felt there was a disconnect between the two groups.
After spicy dinner for myself, it was back to the hotel to prepare for our big hike starting in the morning.
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