The Long Journey to McLeod Ganj

We left Pushkar at 12:30 to get to Ajmer on time for our 1:55pm train. The driver we had was apparently new (to driving) and we didn’t get out of first gear the entire ride. At some points he would stall on the hills and start rolling backward. The 20 min drive took over an hour and we were running to catch our train before it left. The train was delayed though, in the end for 5 hours altogether and we didn’t pull away until 7pm.

The train was quite comfortable and we both slept well on the 16 hour journey. In the morning we drank some chai and met a friend who was in the birth with us, Guarev, a captain in the India Army. He shared pictures and sweets with us and told us about his favorite parts of India. When it was time to get off the train he was leaning out the door and waving goodbyes and we promised to keep in touch.

Our driver, Vinot, was waiting for us at the exit and within minutes we were off to McLeod Ganj. It was planned to take about 3 hours to get to our hotel but it ended up taking about 5 hours due to a minor accident. The roads on the way up were in rough shape, some barely one lane dirt/rock roads on winding cliffs. At one point we were trying pass an area where they were doing road work but there were 2 large trucks meeting us head on. Our driver backed our car up to allow them to pass, the first going by fine and the second hitting the side of our vehicle along the way (damaging the side and bumper of our car). Before we knew it, Vinot (a short man with a small frame) had jumped out of his car yelling and screaming at the men in the truck. Then about 5 guys jumped out of the truck, yelling back at Vinot and then about 20 others surrounded our car, joining into the yelling and screaming. We were starting to get afraid Vinot was in over his head and Matt looked at me and asked if I could drive a stick… After about an hour of yelling and screaming, some phone calls to bosses and money exchanged, we were again on our way to McLeod Ganj.

During the time of the stop, we had some time to watch the roadwork being done. One cement roller with two women in sari’s gathering rocks into bowls they placed on their heads (their children playing on top of the piles), while another women gathered dirt in a bowl and the men doing the really hard labor, pouring water into the roller.
The rest of the drive was beautiful, the scenery changing from desert landscape, camels and sheep to rolling hills, mountains, prayer flags and houses built into the hills. We arrived in McLeod Ganj at about 6pm, making the total journey there 28 hours. We checked into our hotel, took long, hot showers and went upstairs to have some drinks.