Mussoorie, Landour, flycatcher and mantras
D13: Mussoorie
9/4/2019
It was a cool night. We are in Mussoorie at 1880m altitude in Uttarakhand. The day is going to be great and we plan to hike all day.
When we planned this trip, we wanted to go for a hike with a local guide. We wanted to discover a mountain or an inaccessible area where we hoped to meet birds including the monal pheasant. The male is rainbow-colored with a few feathers on his head. So we got in touch with several agencies found via our paper guides, forums and blogs. One of the proposals we were given was the Top Tibba (since Jhalji Village). The 4-hour walk was a view of the Himalayan range, the RishiKesh range and the Doon Valley. Not very selling for a rather high price, we finally decided to explore the area by ourselves and MapsMe.
Tip:
In fact, and in our experience alone, don’t rely on the premises to tell you anything. The answers will be consistently positive with an arm outstretched in the direction you are watching insistently. By removing the Yes/No questions, you will certainly have fewer answers, but the answers will send you closer to your goal:)
Lal Tibba
We set off for Landour on foot with Lal Tibba as a target, a view we think is the top of a mountain. We stock up on fruit near Picture palace. The ride goes up into the city on a road. The panorama of Mussoorie under the sun is nice. The road leaves the city on the left in front of a tourist spot and sinks into the forest.
Lal Tibba is characterized by 2 houses each with terraces with a beautiful view of the Himalayan massifs. The sky is clear, the view is superb.
We find the massif identified the day before, the Bandarpunch. Further east, we try to imagine if it is possible to see the Nanda Devi (7816m) highest peak located entirely in India.
2 dogs decide to accompany us on our hike. Every snowy panorama pushes to look for the names of the summits.
Sister Bazar seems a place said. A house catches our attention, it could have been in England. This is a bakery in a very English style. We let ourselves be tempted by pastries.
We continue the path east to the end of the road. We come across beautiful birds and then a group of monkeys. They run away when we come. It changes us from other places where they were quite aggressive.
Happy Valley
We’re back around 3pm to the room. We decide to extend our day of walking to the Happy Valley to see the Buddhist temple. As usual, we go with our feet and we get a little lost in this neighborhood. We discover the Lbnssa, school for public administration and a large number of sports facilities!
The temple of Shedup Choepelling is really nice. We follow an old man into the prayer mills. He sings the mantra “om mani padme hum.” We sit down and watch him do several towers of the temple.
On our way out, we take the path covered with prayer flags.
At the top of the promontory is a Buddha, incense and many prayer flags. With the sun setting, the atmosphere is superb.
After China invaded Tibet, the Tibetan government in exile settled in Mussoorie before being transferred to Dharamsala. Many Tibetans came to settle in Mussoorie.
On the way back, we stop at a restaurant. The place is well noted on social networks but it’s super dirty. The food comes out of a poor filthy fridge. We leave after a few explanations and head to Domino’s. It’s against our principles but not the choice . . . I’m just recovering. Standard pizzas are very small. People watch us swallow our 2 XL pizzas with astonishment.
Our itinerary:
