I spent a full day in local buses and reached Dharamsala in the night. Getting off the bus I met Sandeep who, like me, had to look for a hotel. We succeeded and roamed around together the next day. We rented a scooter and went to various sights around the area. I especially liked the famous cricket stadium. It does not have a home team, but still a few IPL games are hosted here every season. It is considered to be one of the most beautiful stadiums of India. Of course we visited the Tibet museum and the Dalai Lama temple as well. After all, Dharamsala is the capital of Tibet in exile.
We spent have the time on the scooter enjoying the pretty views around. The other half we admired the landscape from cafes.
After a few days we went back to Mandi, which I had already passed through on the way to Dharamsala. Sandeep had invited me to come to his friends wedding and I just couldn't refuse. The wedding was very fun. On the first evening the girls and especially the bride got some henna tattoos done to look pretty the next day. At this event loud music was played and there was lots of dancing. Everyone was dressed up fancily. Coffee was offered all the time and later food was served, of course.
The next day was the main wedding day. It took place in a delicately decorated hall. The groom arrived with loud music and people dancing in front of him. Later the bride royally entered with her proud papa by her side. Both had to throw a necklace of flowers over their partner. Apparently, a little game is made out of this and both try to make it as difficult as possible. Then followed the big photo session. Some photos were taken of the bridal pair only, some with various constellations of their families or friends. Obviously loads of food was served at this event, too.
Later, everybody shifted back to the bride's home. Here, some religious rituals were performed to complete the wedding. I was expecting only a short ceremony, but it actually lasted for 3 hours. It finished at 3 am with the bride's sister tying a string around the groom's toe. When he tried to remove it she quickly grabbed his foot and told him he could only take it off if he payed her. After some negotiating he paid the bribe and she let go.
The next day all the guests left, but the family let me stay for one more day. I had mentioned to Sandeep a few days earlier that I was thinking of doing paragliding. He told me Bir is the best place to do that and even the paragliding world cup takes place there. So I went there. I took a taxi to the starting point and immediately found someone offering it. For take off we ran for a very short distance, and suddenly my feet were no longer touching the ground. It was fantastic sitting there and seeing the mountains far away and the Himalayan hills directly below. My tandem partner really made me feel the wind and used it to rise even higher. Closer to the landing area, he made us perform a stunt of spiralling with us almost being horizontal. It was fantastic fun and cost only around 25 Euros. It turned out, that I was actually lucky I could do it that day. Only one hour after landing it started raining rather heavily and then paragliding wouldn't have been possible.
I came back to the bride’s family for the night. The next day I would be heading to my next big destination.
