I spent just over two weeks in McLeod and I have to admit if it wasn't for the fact it was beginning to get so cold in the evenings - my hands nearly dropped off with frost bite when I was in bed trying to read my book - then I would've stayed longer. It's the only place to date I've felt at home. I loved it.
McLeod is home to thousands of Tibetan refugees. So it's really not India at all, more like a mini Tibet. At least without the Chinese breathing down their necks. People mainly talk Tibetan or Hindi. The Tibetan way of life and customs are clearly evident around the village. From the elderly women who wear traditional head dresses, the prayer wheels that people hold as they walk around the village mumbling their mantras to the turquoise jewellery on stalls, to the momos sold by street vendors. The Tibetan way of life is very strong. And there's a real village/community feel to McLeod too which is rather nice. A breath of fresh air in fact from the hecticness of dirty Delhi.
McLeod is set in a valley. The mountains are the backdrop for the small village which is set on both sides of the valley. It's busy, lots of shops which obviously I like but not too hectic. The temple is one of the most important to Tibetan Buddhists outside of Tibet plus it's the home of the Dalai Lama and certain areas of the surrounding area of the temple are really beautiful.
The sun shines brightly during the day and the sky is a crystal blue. It's quite surreal sometimes. For example you'll be sitting on the veranda at Nick's drinking a lassi and overlooking the valley when an eagle will swoop past. Then you look at the roof tops and a few monkeys will run across!
At night it's freezing which has naturally meant I had to go shopping for the must-have wrap. I also had to have a strong word with myself in order to avoid going for the ultimate traveller look of a hooded multi coloured yak wool jacket. Seriously, I brought a copy of Vogue (admittedly 3 months out of date but who cares) to sort myself out. It's actually frightening how if you see something enough it starts to grow on you. I wouldn't mind if it was a Marni jacket but I was starting to eye up some seriously tree-hugger esq items. Please forgive me.
McLeod has everything I like to do on offer. I practiced yoga daily with the world renowned Vijay, meditated, hiked (well, okay I walked up to a waterfall in a near by village called Bagsu and nearly lacerated my feet. It took longer than 30 mins which in my book qualifies as a trek!), there are a few movie houses with some of the latest releases, you can teach conversational English to Nun's and Monks (which I did - see pic!). And there's the temple which is really peaceful. Most importantly McLeod allows you to take chilling out on to another level. Plus it's really friendly.
The hub of the activity happened at a vegetarian Tibetan cafe called Gakyi - home of the best veg curry and brown rice. I virtually set-up home there. I met a ton of people from all walks of life: Swiss, German, Brazilian, Canadian, Scottish, Norwegian, Austrian, American and Australian. Each evening we'd all meet up, take over the small cafe and tell jokes. Well, they did. Jokes aren't really my thing. The only ones I do know tend offend people so for the benefit of world relations and for the first time in a long time I thought it best not to share my humour - I was trying to make friends after all!
Overall the pace of life in McLeod is so much more relaxed. I ended up chatting to all manner of people be it monks, nuns, travellers, locals. And some of the stories I heard were definitely eye openers. From local Tibetan guys who 'pray' on young innocent western woman to monks that de-robe for their lovers to the best skin care treatment (yep, I think I may have found the best anti-wrinkle cream to date!). It was fantastic. I could've stayed there for a very long time. But I had to leave. Someone 'kindly' introduced me to the Tibetan Bakery. It was there that I experienced chocolate balls for the first time. Amazing. Too good in fact. I had to leave to save my waistline!
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