Mcleodganj has been my favorite destination to vacation at since I was a kid/teenager.

My inclincation towards Buddhism, Yoga, and Meditation from an early age is perhaps the reason this place holds a special place in my heart. And since it was Holi Weekend and my mom hadn’t been out since her surgery, we decided to travel together once again as a family before I resume my career.

For those of you who follow me on instagram might have already seen glimpses of my trip as I have been story-ing it all along haha. Here were some comments I got on some of my stories:

As you see Mcleodganj is a pretty famous and loved tourist spot for most North Indians. The road trip from my hometown Amritsar takes about ~5-6 hours as it does for most Punjabis and I am guessing for people from Haryana as well. Apart from local tourists, the place attracts a lot of foreigners as well. I met a GerMAN from Hamburg on my last day!(what a co-incidence)

The place has a rich history that I won’t get into too much detail about but I think its worth mentioning that a significant amount of Tibetan population resides in this area.

I split the rest of the post into the following sections. Feel free to skip through by clicking on any of the following:

• Mcleodganj: The Temple, The Tattoo, and The Momos
• Exploring Neighboring Areas: Naddi and Bhagsunath
• Journey as good as the Destination
• Until Next Time

Mcleodganj

• The Temple

The Dalai Lama temple is the main attraction of this city. The temple is a 30ish minute walk from the main square. The road to the Temple is filled with cute shops selling handmade jewelry, souvenirs, clothes, bags, et al. And then ofcourse there are…the Momo vendors.🥟🤩 Momos are present in every nook and corner of this city and they are deilcious!😋-chicken, paneer, potato, veggie, they are all so good. Although there are good momos in any/every North Indian city (including Amritsar) at this point and I have seen/heard so many things about Delhi now becoming the new momo capital, I’d say no one can match the OG Tibetan/Mcleodganj momos.

An assembly of monks were chanting inside the temple and I too sat there and did my daily gratitude journaling and reading in the company of soothing and meditative background of monks chanting.

There is this Prayer Wheel outside the temple that you can spin (clockwise) and it counts as reciting Om Mani Padme Hum which translates to “कमल में रत्न की स्तुति”. (<– this is perhaps the first time I have typed in Hindi(in my blog & also after ages haha). The transliteration of this is kamal ke ratn ki Stuti. Yes! The Hindi google translation includes my name. kamal/padme means Lotus, ratn means Jewel, Stuti means prayer/praise. So what this mantra translates to is Offering Prayer to the Lotus Jewel.)

• The Tattoo Lotus is a very revered flower in Buddhism(as well as Hinduism). It serves as a metaphor, in the sense that, just as Lotus grows and emerges beautifully from muddy waters, we too can grow out of our difficult circumstances and bloom into a beautiful flower. This concept has helped me stay patient in many a hard times and it was just so fitting to finally get a Lotus tattoo I have been wanting to get since a teen.

Naddi and Bhagsunath

Mcleodganj is surrounded by other beautiful, scenic, and quaint areas- such as Naddi, Bhagsunath, Dharamkot, and many more little towns. If you’re looking to explore the scenic beauty that Dharamshala/Himachal has to offer, you can take many mini day trips to smaller suburbs near Mcleodganj. Since it was just a 2 day trip for us(4 if you count transit days), we only explored Naddi and Bhagsunath this time around.

Our hotel was in Naddi and we took an auto to Mcleodganj everyday. There is a lot of uphill walking one needs to do, so get your best and most comfy running shoes, if you plan to explore around. There was a small but very cute square in Naddi, 15ish minutes walk from our hotel. I spend almost each morning and evening there- to get some coffee and momos to keep me company while I journal and read. I also found one very cute sunflower bag from a street vendor and discovered a very cute bakery that served delicious mango cheesecake.

Naddi also offers a very beautiful view of the sunrise/sunset. Me and my dad walked to catch the beautiful sunrise down this alley which eventually leads to a renowned Meditation and Yoga center.

The road to the sunrise/sunset point from our hotel also had some breathtaking views and there is also a small lake nearby(Dal Lake).

As for Bhagsunath, I am not a huge fan tbh, but it does have a very pretty trekking route post the Hindu temple that led me to go on an impromptu ziplining adventure!

The road from Bhagsunath to Mcleodganj is only 30ish minutes and there are some picturesque views along this way as well.

Journey as Good as the Destination

This trip was very short but I did get a lot reading, writing, reflecting, and self-dev work done on the way. I think this book that I just happen to be reading, a day before the trip was proposed, was so fitting to the theme of this trip. Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach is a book that helped me stay present during this trip and prevented me from worrying too much about my future career/life endeavours. It contains stories around themes of shame, guilt, regrets that we all carry, detailed by the Psychotherapist and meditation teacher Tara, who also gives many techniques on how to unblock ourselves and move towards healing and forgiveness. (I will include a more detailed review in my next blog post along with reviews of my other recent reads)

Another thing that kept me company and brought me in the moment was the scenic uphill road to our hotel in Naddi. There are some gorgeous picturesque mountains and small huts and houses along the way that I took a million photos of. They were the inspiration and beginning of many “should I move here?!” moments I had on this trip to the mountains.

And ofcourse, the Punjabi Dhaabas along the way made the journey as awesome as the destination. I haven’t had such good Punjabi food in ages and was glad to have these restaurants as pitstops on our journey to the hills.

Until Next Time

Although the timing of this trip was very fitting, I’d say I would have had even more fun had I been with people at the same age and stage as me, hence I am super excited to come with friends (or even solo) once again.

Since keeps it real I want to share that travelling with parents can be intimidating in your 30’s. Lets just say we had. . .our moments. But nonetheless getting to relive my childhood memories and doing this for my mom who has been couped up at home since her surgery was the upside.

There were also many things I saw along the way that my parents couldn’t have accompanied me on and since both Dad and I were pressed on time due to our respective works, I feel I missed out on many things I’d like to explore either with friends or solo(and make friends along the way). The place is known to offer many adventure sports (such as paragliding), many beautiful(but also too steep/uphill for my parents)treks, camping, bonfire opportunities, and yoga/reiki/meditation retreats. I also saw many workation typa crowd here and I could also see myself working from mountains for 20-30 days and setting up camp here while working my 9-5, and also having a solid peak self-care 5-9 routine filled with meditation, yoga, and other adventures.