This is a Close up of the outside of the Gyuto Ramoche Monastery. We had gone a bit early, and you can see that there are a number of monks cleaning the monastery including the steps (and all that water being thrown on the steps was one of the reasons we could not go inside)
This is a view when seen from the front of the monastery. One thing that struck me was the great cleanliness all around; it is quite clear that the monks and others living here set great store by internal discipline.
This is an imposing structure called the Gyuto Ramoche Monastery (near Dharamshala). It is the base for the Karmapa Llama who is the second most respected religious authority after the Dalai Lama. He is also controversial ever since he escaped from Chinese control and arrived in India after an arduous 8 day trip across the Himalayas.
This is a statue of Buddha inside the Norbulingka Institute in Dharamshala. If you are interested in Buddhist culture, then going to Dharamashala would be a must.
This is another photo from inside the Norbulingka Institute. The photo gives you an idea of the color inside the location, and it seemed real serene and beautiful.
This is the photo of a Guest House inside the Norbulingka Institute. It always remains closed, but looks real beautiful. It is structured in the way that the buildings depicting Tibetean culture look like.
This is the entrance to the Norbulingka Institute in Dharamshala, and you can see how the insides look so beautiful, especially when the entrance has the Prayer Wheels for you to turn and move inside. It really is a very beautiful place, very green and cool. The silence is everywhere.
In Dharamshala, lower down in the valley, there is the Norbulingka Institute to try and preserve Tibetean culture, given that Tibet is under the control of the Chinese and the worry is that the Chinese will slowly try to wipe out Tibetean culture. It is an extremely beautiful place, and gives an overall god feel once you go there.
This is a small section of a road through a valley. On either side of the road are sprawling tea gardens, along with a few trees. Often, there are no vehicles passing by for quite some time, and there is a lot of peace and quiet just standing there and hearing nature's music.
This is an image of a beautiful sunset. The light is slowly fading away and through the trees, the dying images of the sun for the day can be seen. There is still enough light that the photograph can be taken easily, but only just.
I really like such sort of settings. This is a photograph taken in a valley, near sunset and away from large tracts of civilization. The light has not yet gone away, and you can already see the moon has come out and will soon be the only source of light for the region.
This is actually a continuation of the previous photo and shows the same type of flower, but now fully open. It is getting to be near sunset, and there is a much more darkness and because of that, the flash is used to light up the flower more.
This is a beautiful red flower. We had stopped at a small devi temple in the lower parts of the Kangra valley, and it was nearing sunset, when I saw this bush full of green leaves and these small red flowers. This bush was on a slope, but somehow the zom of the Sony DSC R1 was able to cover the distance and get this flower.
When we were in Mcleodganj, we saw a whole group of monks in meditation. It seems so peaceful, and I was thinking that maybe it would be good to meditate like them so as to have a much better peace of mind, but we had a busy schedule and could not spend too much time (like most tourists)
I was absolutely and totally impressed when I saw this structure. When I mean this structure, I mean this solar water heater. The Dalai Lama temple in Mcleodganj is a very serene place and impressive, but the fact that they bothered enough to have a solar water heater for water heating was a very nice touch.
This is a photo of the Buddha in a sitting pose from the Dalai Lama temple in Mcleodganj. There is complete silence inside the temple where the statue is placed, and a very serene atmosphere.
This is not a photo of a cloud; instead it's a photo taken while standing on the edge of the Dalai Temple in Mcleodganj. An example of the mist that is there when you are going in the rainy season. It was a nice view, because sometimes the mist would part and you could get a glimpse of the distant view.
This is a photo of the prayer wheels (in a row) inside the Dalai Lama temple in Mcleodganj. The prayer wheels are in a row, for people to come and turn the wheels. This is supposed to bring peace and calm to a person, and it does work sometimes.
This is the Bhagsunath temple in Mcleodganj, it is at the end of the Mcleodganj market. Mcleodganj is famous for hosting the Dalai Lama and also the famous Dalai Lama temple, but it also has this famous temple. The temple is the kul devta of the First Gorkha Rifles from the time that the regiment was based in Dharamshala. The statue is that of Hanuman inside the temple.
This is the photograph of the cross-section of a tree in Mcleodganj. You never get to see such a green tree in the city due to the pollution and dust; it is only when you are in the countryside in the lap of nature that you get to see such kind of green covered trees. It looked good to watch.
This is the inside view of the church. It's not a very big church, I guess when the church was built in 1852, there would not have been that many people in the neighborhood who would have been going to church. However, it looks very peaceful and calm when you view it like this.
These are photos by night (of the front) and in the daytime (of the backside) of the Club Mahindra Resort by night in Kangra Valley, Dharamshala. This is the place where we stayed for our 2 nights - 3 days vacation, and one must say, the place was pretty good. In addition, it is located on a stretch of road that has civilization all along the road, but not very crowded. In fact, a walk on the road outside the resort in the morning or evening works our fairly nicely (except for the odd speeding bus or taxi)
This is a view from the front of the St. John's Church in the Wilderness in Mcleodganj. The Church is a historic church, built in 1852, and is need of funds for repair. If anybody is interested in donating, please do so to the Diocese of Amritsar, India.
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