Hit the streets down to the Moonpeak espresso cafe for machiattos, three cheese omelette and porridge with honey and banana. What can I say, I love Indian but it is nice having a throwback and man it was a good omelette. You pay for the change, I think breakfast was 250rup in comparison to 60-100rup as our standard, but it was good value. One of the other draw cards is free wifi. Still a couple of other places have similar but you get measly serves at least these guys are generous from that aspect. Bummer though as the wifi was struggling this morning, we therefore relocated to Nicks back on the Bhagsu road for two cups of tea and free wifi, which thankfully worked as you can only hold so much liquid and one needs a viable excuse to access the wifi.
Following our indulgence, up we headed back through McLeodganj towards Bhagsu walking in the morning sunshine and following the spur back up towards Dharmkot, which gives a higher view again over the valley and an alternate view toward the range behind.
This place, ie the upper suburbs of Dharamasala, is guest house and hotel heaven with many already existing and more being built or expanded. It felt as through the further in you walked the more Indian the tourist versus the euro, but still the odd stray. At Bhagsu also more Dhabas and tea stores versus coffee and italian. Hindi temple and Gurka memorial, also the first pool since arriving in India but I thing we decided that this was in some way connected with the temple rather then a public swimming pool. Past the pool and the various stores a stone path snakes along the side of the spur, following a ravine and a stream back to the waterfall at it's source. Further Hindi temples are higher on the hill at the bottom and to the side of the fall. Signage painted on a rock down below, encourages the keep India clean message, but few unfortunately appeared to have referred to it.
Back in Bhagsu, past an Israeli restaurant we climb further to Dharmkot, passing a large skip bin with something largish moving around in it's shadow. A little closer and recognise a ferret on the ground rummaging around and then a monkey in the bin itself. The ferret is a healthy size.
The stream we are following is boulder strewn but has various metal pipes crisscrossing as we move up. The road changes from tar to concrete as the trees change to tall straight Firs. Unfortunately the valley is hazy but the view back up towards the range is appreciated. Plenty of yoga and crystal healing places up this way, surely you need something to attract a crowd to fill all these multiple storey accommodation places.
Back in MacLeodganj we go back down toward the Complex to have a look at the Tibetan Refugee museum. The museum is an interesting collection of stories and recollections telling the past, present and with hopes for the future of what is now known as the Tibetan Autonomous Region.
Beggars have setup shop on the road just inside the complex. One blind man, a young boy, an infirm older lady and a man on crutches. The only other place that there has been as many was Lake Rewalsar. We were also approached by a young boy further up the street (and yesterday) a mother for not money but milk, which is sold here in sealed plastic packets. The boy was pretty smooth with good introductory English and started a conversation prior to moving onto milk request. There are also a couple of beggars more similar to those seen in Bangkok who are on carts and pull them selves along the street with their hands, though again not with horrible disfigurement.
It is a difficult decision as one does not want to encourage begging where able to be avoided, but in a country where the only support structure is your own family (if you have one) or NGOs (bar Tibetan refugee visually absent here in any presence), can you take the chance that you could have made a valid impact for so little. So it turns into a give and decline scenario. Decline the kids generally and give to the seemingly infirm, hoping that it is used to good effect. So many people here work so manually for so little, that the disrespect of giving to one who would otherwise be able to work is also concerning. So it is a decision that is faced due to an ability and is at the givers discretion and ethics.
The Indian individual tax system, as explained to us, works on a threshold apparently which many Indians fall below. The income should be accumulated annually if below and therefore effectively averaged when finally the threshold is exceeded, but have not confirmed. Given the size and population of India we have seen very few noticeably unsupported people (not that we have gone specifically looking) so it is not something that is overwhelming, but is something that is there. It would be great to start a waste business offering unskilled employment on a broad scale whilst attempting to deal with accumulating non biodegradable waste.
Again from what we can gather the non biodegradable aspect is relatively new and so in the past people have just thrown their waste wherever and bar the look it did not have a major effect, now with all the plastic chip, bottle, gum etc etc packaging it is still being thrown but will take ages to degrade and therefore is collecting in the waterways and along the roads and outside businesses / houses etc. Besides a massive education program a cleanup india day is definitely required. Then consistent supported infrastructure to relocate the waste effectively. We have heard amazing waste recovery stories of India (again extremely hands on) and seen some examples but the problem like the population is big and needs addressing soon for India.
We continue down the hill to Dharamasala which is easier to appreciate the steepness on foot. Challenging ride without weight let alone with. We head to the four way junction at the base of the nastiest inclines, but still on the side of the spur. (visualise Five Ways in Sydney, with no glam and all Indian) Busy and the semi single lane roads increase the congestion at this time of the afternoon.
We wander down in search of beer, sweets and pre dinner nibbles to take to a meal with Frances who was in Soph's sisters year at school in Sydney. She now runs a fashion business with her husband Rory in Dharamasala employing 80 local employees of whom roughly a third are Tibetan refugees.
Post finding sweets and peanut/sultana marsala, we purchased our first Indian beers at an English beer and wine store. Two alternates Kingfisher and Fosters, both in cans. Go for the unknown and buy some Kingfisher which comes in a four pack. 280rupees later.. Wandering along the streets in search of France's house which we find, I notice that one of the cans is quite crunchy... Bugger I didn't check the cans pre purchase, one of them has exploded at some time in it's unfortunate past.
The house in which Frances lives is a large two story colonial styled house with white rendered walls and green iron roof. It feels semi tropical, like Brisbane. We meet the family including Oscar (4ish) and Imogen (6ish). The fantastic thing for the kids is they experience and grow in an amazing blend of cultures as they are semi home schooled, learn English, French and Hindi. We play Chinese whispers on Imogen's insistence which is fine until she throws some French in and I quickly let the side down. It is great hearing an expat understanding of the local environment, pronunciation and life in general. Post a fantastic dinner we taxi back to McLeodganj which at this time of night is definitely the safest option with cars still careering up and down, whilst darkened shadow scamper off the edge of the car lit road.
The guys next door are having a night off, it is very quiet and more importantly smoke free.