I decided to make a stop enroute to Dharamsala. Since there was not a train that went from Rishikesh to Dharamsala I went by car hire, which is very common in India. It took 10 hours to get to my destination, Pragpur. It is India’s first designated official Heritage Village. Set in the hymalian hills, it is truely a medieval heritage village with cobbled streets and slate-roofed houses.

I unpacked my bags at the hotel I was staying, a mansion called “Judges Court”. It really is the only hotel in the area to stay. It was built back in 1918 by a local judge. I had 2 nights at this peaceful location. I had hoped the weather would be a little cooler than where I came from, but it was not..The temperature was probably in the low 40c. The food was either Indian or English.. They served bread pudding, creme caramel the 2 evenings. The food was good but I did not feel like eating heavy food.The last night I got them to make me a fruit salad for dinner! They had planned on serving me another 10 course dinner with fresh fish caught in the famous river near by. It took they alittle time to realize I just was not into eating a 10 course hot dinner again.

The first day I went to the village, a few minutes away and hired a tailor to make me a shirt from some material I bought at another store in the same village. I also bought a man’s summer casual suite for 200 RPS.. which works out to be about 5 dollars. My shirt cost in total 350 RPS…
I really enjoyed meeting the local people and experiencing the small village life.