McLeod Ganj, or as it is more commonly known in the west, Upper Dharamsala, is the home of His Holiness the Dali Lama and the seat of the Tibetan exile government. The town is located in northeastern India at the blessedly cool altitude of 5800 feet. It is to be found in the mountains north of the Kangra Valley. To get there took us five hours. The three of us and all of our gear were jammed into a taxi that hurtled thru the night from the nearest large airport in Amritsar. The first thing I noticed when we got there and the sun came up (other than the "assertive verticality" of the the place) was the profusion of prayer flags . Everywhere I looked, the brilliantly colored flags were flying in the breeze sending prayers into the clearing morning sky. edit

McLeod Ganj, or as it is more commonly known in the west, Upper Dharamsala, is the home of His Holiness the Dali Lama and the seat of the Tibetan exile government. The town is located in northeastern India at the blessedly cool altitude of 5800 feet. It is to be found in the mountains north of the Kangra Valley. To get there took us five hours. The three of us and all of our gear were jammed into a taxi that hurtled thru the night from the nearest large airport in Amritsar. The first thing I noticed when we got there and the sun came up (other than the "assertive verticality" of the the place) was the profusion of prayer flags . Everywhere I looked, the brilliantly colored flags were flying in the breeze sending prayers into the clearing morning sky. edit