Welcome To Mcleod Ganj

Just above the well known town of Dharamsala also known as the home of the Dali Lama, lies the smaller more condensed town of Mcleod Ganj where backpackers from all parts of the world come to find enlightenment and entertainment. When I first arrived at the Dharamsala bus station at 5 in the morning after a 9 hour trip through the rocky mountains I couldn't see anything beyond the platform. After 3 hours of waiting in the cold for the local bus, the sky finally began to clear and the landscape around me became apparent. Now I'm not usually one to judge just based off looks but I will say that when I do it is a pretty good indicator of how somethings going to be, not all the time but enough to be reliable. Well to put it simple the bus station and drive to Mcleod Ganj wasn't the prettiest thing that I've seen. I tried to stay as open as possible during the ride but I had high expectations coming from a place as clean and nice as Manali. The road was covered in trash and the town of Dharamsala looked more like a slum then a holy place for someone like the Dali Lama. However I turned my attention to the moving landscape in the horizon. Given that it was still morning I could see the sun just barely peering through the orange tinted clouds next to an almost surreal looking mountain. It was a comforting sight among all of the ugliness. The bus struggled to make it up the narrow and windy road but within 15 minutes we eventually made it to the middle of Mcleod Ganj. I was anxious to get away from the blaring Balliwood music , find my hotel and pass out. When I got off the bus I was almost immediately approached by two people whom asked if I needed a place to stay, and as usual I graciously declined and started to walk in the opposite direction. However as is custom with these people they don't take no for an answer and followed me aimlessly down the street for 300 yards. I finally had to turn around and tell them that I already booked a hotel and didn't want anything from them. They wouldn't budge though. I am beginning to loose my patients with people like this. I quickly cut across an ally and walked back in the opposite direction, I wasn't sure where my hotel was nor did I want to take out my guide book and stand out even more. So I just walked around in an attempt to locate my hotel. I began to realize how different Mcleod Ganj was to Manali. The roads were very congested, packed full of cows, cars and people some much so that it felt very superficial, not like a mountain town should. I hugged the shoulder of the road to avoid the ear ringing horns of the cars passing by. Several more people stopped me and tried to sell me something like hash or give them money, but I just ignored them. You wouldn't believe how many beggars and scam artists there are here, it's fucking ridiculous. Anyways I had a feeling that I was getting closer to my hotel and kept on walking despite all the shady characters when eventually I found exactly what I was looking for, the Green Hotel. My senses hadn't led me astray this time. Once inside I saw a deli case full of delicious looking cakes of every flavor; lemon cheesecake, banana cake, chocolate walnut cake, carrot cake, fudge cake, etc. My stomach seized my brain and called for me to come to the dark side. Tempting but I still had to see the room before I settled down. There was a young looking asian women sitting behind the front desk who would say things like "yes sir" and "thank you please" which was quite funny to me. She was very kind though and I would later find out her name was Chicky, almost a perfect characterization of her cheery and chipper attitude. She showed me the room that I would be staying in which was 800 ($15) rupees a night, a little pricy for my pocketbook but I wanted to at least check it out after all the trouble. Well it was absolutely gorgeous and not just the room but the view from the balcony! Extraordinary! Set perfectly in view of the deep valley and the endless fog covered mountains that reminded me of a ukiyo-e painting. "Sold!" And just as simple as that I found the perfect room. I set everything down and thought of resting, there was so to many things to do however that I decided to sit outside instead and enjoy the phenomenal scenery. "I could sit here for days" I thought. All of Mcleod Ganj came was infront of my room. It was quite an interesting sight to see all of these ramshackle buildings sticking out of the emerald green forest, almost as if someone just dropped them here. It was definitely a backpackers ghetto but it was still quite stunning. I had never seen anything like it before. Although I was tired from the bus ride my curiosity began to fester and I decided to sacrifice rest for a little adventure through town. I grabbed what I needed from my room then headed back to the street. Fortunately I was able to blend in better without my backpack however I still got approached by beggars and such. Theres one particular situation that stands out in my mind. I was walking down the street trying to find the local post office but couldn't seem to locate it. Within moments time a women wearing a deep red shawl no older then me came up with a baby in her arms. My almost instinctual reaction was to put my hand up, shake my head and say "no no no"! But before I could even move my hand she grabbed it, looked in my eyes and said "no money, I don't want". She proceeded to say her baby needed powdered milk because he had colostrum. I noticed that there were a few other women near by wearing the same garmets and holding babies in there arms. She led me down the street for a little ways but I had to stop her and tell her that I didn't want to buy anything. "No no no just come". "Where is the post office?@ I said, "I'm looking for the post office" once again she said "come" I followed a little more then realized that something was wrong. I stopped again and looked around. She pointed to a door and said that it was the post office but that there was a shop not to far away. "Here here" she pointed to a place right next to the mail office. I walked in and was greeted by the owner. Something felt fishy about the entire situation. I was on high alert for a scam. The women pointed to a bag of powdered milk on the shelf "You buy". At this stage in the game I had learned that parting with your money doesnt always have to be an option. Saying no and meaning it is good enough because at the end of the day it's your money. Although I had sympathy for this women and her possible child, I had found out that if people off the streets are coming up to you begging you to buy something then chances are that it's a scam or a some sort of trick. Now with that said I was contemplating buying this bag of powdered milk anyways for this mother and her child, yes I have a soft spot and I thought well how expensive could powdered milk be in India after all its like the milk epicenter of the world. The owner grabbed it off the shelf and said 350 rupees. "What!?! Was my instant reaction. "That's ridiculous!" I told her that it was to expensive and offered her what little money I had on me. She declined my offer. That's when I realized something's wrong, why would someone decline an offer for money but want someone else to buy something for them? After that I said my prays for them and left the store walking back to my hotel. For awhile it tore my heart apart. "How could I deny this child the necessities he needed to stay alive, what kind of person am I to not give someone the equivalent of $7 to help keep her child alive and healthy?" I contemplated going back and finding the women to buy her the milk. However I just wanted to check online first to see if it was a possible scam. I felt weird searching the Internet for such an odd and fucked up thing thinking that I was the only person who thought it could be a trick. But then I came across hundreds of hits. "I can't fucking believe it, they were trying to scam me." I read that these mothers were not even mothers, they just "rented" these babies from there family members for the day in order to scam travelers into believing that it was there child and they were sick. They actually cut a deal with store owner and when someone buys the outrageously priced powdered milk then they will give it back to the shop for a portion of the price. This is apparently a huge scam in Nepal. Well after that I was pretty outraged, putting it nicely. So when you come to India just know that many people don't give a fuck about morality or sacredness. Just saying. Though I have met many nice people here as well so it's really about just being wise about who you trust and that goes for anywhere. Lesson well learned.