One of the people I met on the road once said that the real art of backpacking is knowing when to stay somewhere and when to move on. In every country, in every place, there are going to be more amazing places than you can possibly hope to visit, and often than you can possibly know of beforehand. If we had an entire lifetime to explore, we might be able to make a run at seeing them all, but even then it is still unlikely. Instead, we have to figure out how to allocate our limited travel time to different places, knowing full well that there will be another cool place down the road. Backpacking then is always this balancing act, where we try to figure out how long to stay in a place we like, and when to cut and run from a place we don’t like – all the while not regretting any of our choices.
In some ways, getting on one of those all-inclusive tours is often easier. Everything is set for you, and you don’t have to consider where to go next and what you might be missing out on. In fact, tours are often so jam-packed that you wouldn’t even have the time to discover places that you are missing out on. It makes things a lot easier. Yet, despite this, I am a staunch do-it-yourself guy because I think part of the beauty in traveling is that sense of discovery (even if a million people have been there before you) and the window into self that these forced decisions provides one.
I know that I’ve already spent too much time in Dharamsala. While it is a nice enough place (and cooler than Delhi, especially after it rained for most of last night and this morning) there is not much to see or do here. In fact, it would be really non-descript and uninteresting (although surrounded by pretty mountains and valleys) were it not for the fact that the Dalai Lama and the exiled Tibetan government is here. Their presence, over the past five decades, has transformed the area into a sort of Buddhist mecca. Along with monks and refugees, a steady stream of modern-day hippies and tourists from around the world also pour into the area. It makes for a strange but easy-going mix of backpacker grotto-type restaurants and cafes with much less of the disturbing party and sex-tourism commonly found in places like Khao San Road or Pham Ngu Lau.
Which means, for me, Dharamsala would have been a nice one day diversion, enough time to visit the Dalai Lama’s temple and the saddening Tibet Museum. Instead, I’ve spent almost three full days here, and still, I’ve only seen the Dalai Lama’s temple and the Tibet Museum. In my defense, I was sick yesterday and felt a little feverish, and today I am stuck here until the evening because of bus schedules. Still though, in the realm of efficient backpacking, I’ve probably messed this particular leg up. Part of the reason was because I really didn’t know where to go next. Young and I split in Simla, planning to meet up in Manali to try to do the famous Manali-Leh highway on the way to Srinagar. It is however, still closed, and Young, stuck in Manali, decided to cut short his trip and re-arrange his flights to get home. That left me with a multitude of choices – proceed into Jammu and Kashmir from Dharamsala? Go to Manali as planned and go slowly back through the Kullu Valley? Or make a mad dash towards Uttarakhand and this crazy sounding 35km roundtrip trek into the Valley of Flowers?
No matter what choice I decide to make, I am sure I will see amazing things. I am equally sure that I will miss amazing things. I probably should have made a decision sooner, but that the extra time in Dharamsala – although not an optimal place for me to stay – has given me a little time to recover and recharge. (The half hour ayurvedic massage I got last night was a big help.) So, from a backpacking standpoint, perhaps I didn’t stop in the right place, but I did stop when I needed to – which is probably just as important. I am feeling ready to move on to the next stop and push through the last ten or so days in India. Wish me luck!
By the way… of course I’m going to aim for the Valley of Flowers. With a name like that, how can I not at least try to get there?
1 comments:
I think that's so true and important in life, in general: to know when to stay and when to move on, to know when to take a break and when to push on.
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