Arrive in Delhi 12am Tuesday - so tired (been travelling since 1pm Sunday). Step outside airport and notice the haze, noise, and warmth. Little Indian man from airport hotel has my name on a sign (thank god I don't have to deal with a taxi right now). We chat as we wait for the driver to bring the car around... an HOUR later and I'm starting to get impatient. Check into hotel (already seems like I've been scammed with jacking up prices and anyone who just looks at me asking for a tip). Hotel is pretty rundown, in a garage looking area - but I've got a bed and a shower (cold) and its 2am and I need sleep. Get my adapters out to charge my phone/tablet, oh great they don't work!

Wake up at 7am and have my first Indian breakfast...yum! (Photo) head back to airport at 9am to catch plane to Dharamsala. Couldn't see much of Delhi along the way b/c haze - I could only see about 5m in front of me. Long wait at airport b/c flight was delayed 2hrs (i think due to the fog). Have a small rickety plane ride for 1.5hr and arrive in Dharamsala (finally!)

Taxi ride from airport to McLeod Ganj takes about 30min. A local guy about my age at airport asked if he could get a ride in taxi cos his car being fixed (from what I could understand anyway). Yep, some alarm bells went off in my head..but he ended up being very helpful giving me tips for seeing dalai, telling taxi driver to stop so I could take photos of the tea gardens and cricket stadium on the way (where he was proud to say he saw Brett Lee play, and get very pissed after the game).

Checked into hotel (definitely the best out of a bad bunch). Its run by 2 very lovely brothers who also do the cooking. I got a room on the top floor with balcony looking out onto the valley. From the hotel rooftop common area you can see the Dalai Lama's house and temple. Every morning and evening I can hear the monks chanting (its that real low pitched slow chant which vibrates and is nkinda spooky - sends chills up my spine).

Got a double bed with extra blankets - no heating here - and its bloody cold (i prob shoulda thought about that being at high altitude in the mountains... really wish I had my 1 and only jumper that I forgot to pick up off the couch when leaving home!) Didn't really pack for this climate (left all my winter stuff in Vanc) - so I'm layering up what I've got (wear 2 pairs of socks, leggings under pants, tshirt under long sleeve top under knitt top etc..). Looking forward to a shower, hot shower... well that didn't happen. After 10min trying to figure out how the shower works and concluding that its broken, i resort to crouching under the bath tap with a bucket...brrrr! Definitely out of my comfort zone (not to mention that I can't breathe in the bathroom b/c of the sewage smell). Decide to do some washing before bed ( I figured that's what the bucket was actually meant for). Oh, yep that'd b right, now I figure out how to get the shower working. Annnddd... after hanging washing out in room with my groovy portable washing line, I see the sign on back of door saying 'no washing in rooms' ..oops! So what's the bucket for?