Pink House Hotel
Jogiwara Road - Below and Across From Yongling School
McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala, H.P., India
Prices: $$$$$
Prices: $$$$$
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| Balcony View - Room 204 |
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| Second Floor Room (Corner - Room 204) |
The hotel is nice enough, not
swank and not a dive, with many rooms having balconies and views of the
foothills and Himalayas. Javid was updating many of the rooms during my stay,
making them more comfortable, but also causing noise problems and clutter while
the repairs were being made. The rooms have differing views depending on which
direction you are facing and which floor you are on (1st floor rooms have poor
views), but all have cable TVs (old CRTs), balconies, large beds, cabinet (no
closet or wardrobe), bath with western-style toilet, sink, and a shower with no
enclosure (your bathroom is your shower in India), but no heating system in
sight (note to self #2 … “it seems awful chilly in here”). There is also Wi-Fi
throughout the hotel (note to self #3 … “I hope the Wi-Fi isn’t as slow as it
was in Delhi!”), with a router on each floor, so the signal is strong
everywhere … WOO-HOO!
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| Balcony |
The first few days I had
breakfast at the “rooftop café”, which is just barely that, a roof with a
couple plastic tables and chairs, no roof, no cover, and no heat on cold
November mornings. Still recovering from jet lag, I was up early each morning
watching the gorgeous sunrises and noticed that the servers first arrived to
take orders at varying hours, sometimes 7:30 am, other times well after 8:00 am
(note to self #4 … “I wonder what time they start serving breakfast?”). The
Tibetan bread, which became my morning staple, with locally made peanut butter
(70 rupees/$1.15) was tasty and a pot of milk coffee (warm milk with varying
degrees of instant coffee added) set me back another 80 rupees/$1.30, so $2.50
seemed fair enough (note to self #5) for a decent, not great breakfast.
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| Steps - View From Street (Top) |
I quickly became exhausted by
and very concerned (see note to self #1) about the hundreds of stairs from Pink
House up to Jogiwara Road. Being a disabled Veteran with very bad knees and
back, the stairs, which are extremely dangerous by day and treacherous by night
(very little light), vary widely in height, have loose or missing rocks and
bricks (many steps are crumbling), and many are constantly soaked with the
water escaping from the numerous pipes crisscrossing the steps (another
tripping hazard). I stumbled on several occasions due to varying heights and
uneven surfaces, twisting my knee on one occasion and nearly tumbling head over
heel down the steep incline on a few others. Having made a commitment to stay
long-term (I was visiting for 7 weeks and received a small discount on my
room), I decided to stick it out until I felt my health or life was in danger.
Pink House staff are very
friendly and helpful most of the time. Rooms can be cleaned if you make the
journey to floor number 4 to drop off your key in the morning and inexpensive
laundry services are also available ($1.00 to $2.50 for a few shirts, pants,
socks, and undies), dropping items off (again on the 4th floor) in the morning
and picking them up the same evening.
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| Steps - View From Bottom |
Being November and at an
altitude of over 5,750 feet (1,750 meters), days were very comfortable when in
the sun (plentiful this time of year) and a bit chilly in the shade, but nights
dipped into the 30s and 40s and the rooms quickly became very cold (see note to
self #2). In-fact, I had not seen a heater anywhere in India since my arrival,
including restaurants, other businesses, and hotels, which may not have been an
issue in Delhi, but made for some mildly uncomfortable experiences in the
mountains. After a nearly two weeks of freezing my bum off in the middle of the
night when I had to use the toilet (loo) and in the morning, I asked about the
possibility of getting a heater in my room, but was told “you have two blankets
don’t you?”. I decided to suffer a little rather than make an issue out of it
because the steps were making it likely I would not be there much longer
anyway.
The Wi-Fi signals were great
due to the routers on each floor, but unfortunately the internet was extremely
slow (note to self #3). Being an avid blogger, TripAdvisor “Top Contributor”,
and wanting to upload reviews and photos, as well as keep in contact with my
family and friends via Skype and Facetime, the Wi-Fi was woefully inadequate. Beside
the numerous and frequent power outages in McLeod Ganj which resulted in no
Wi-Fi (or TV), the Wi-Fi quickly became an issue due to the inordinate amount
of time it took to do anything and the frustration caused by Skype and Facetime
calls home where I could only hear every fifth word being said.
Again, after the first few
days, I decided to move indoors to the “relative” warmth of my room for
breakfast, not knowing when the servers would arrive on the roof each morning
(note to self #4). I asked when breakfast was available each morning and was
told 7:30 am, but I found that the staff in general do not seem to awake early
because when I called at 7:30 sharp each morning I either spoke to someone who
had obviously been awakened by my call (staff sleep in the reception office,
which is not on the ground floor, but on the 4th floor next to the rooftop
café) or someone else who barely spoke English. Most of the time, my breakfast
arrived within 15 minutes and the young men delivering it were friendly and helpful.
However, on a few occasions my order did not arrive after 45 minutes to an
hour, causing frustration and late arrival to my 9:00 am (not including the
nearly 30 minute walk UP THE HUNDREDS OF STEPS and down Jogiwara Road from
McLeod Ganj) Buddhist Philosophy class at the Library of Tibetan Works and
Archive. I also inquired about an early breakfast during the Dalai Lama’s
teachings (November 11-13 2014 – 8am – 12pm daily with arrival NLT 7:30am), but
was told “the kitchen opens at 7:30am” … maybe), so I ordered my breakfast the
night before and drank cold coffee and ate stale Tibetan bread for three days.
After 20 years in the Air Force, I have experienced worse conditions.
I never ate anything at Pink
House other than breakfast because I avoided navigating the dreaded steps
except for a trip up each morning and one down each night. The menu was
extensive and from what I saw the food looked pretty good, but the value is
questionable based on my breakfast costs and comparable meals in town. Having paid
$2.50 for a small pot of weak coffee, a piece of local bread that can be
purchased for 10 rupees (16 cents) in town, and a tablespoon of peanut butter,
in comparison to the wonderful $3.00 dinners I regularly ate, the food did not
seem like such a great value after all.
After 3 weeks, I had enough
of the treacherous stairs, painful knees, and risk to my existence on Earth,
the widely varying and undependable breakfast hours (they probably got tired of
me waking them up every morning at 7:30), and the very slow Wi-Fi, so I decided
to find a place closer to the road, the Tibetan Library, town, and my yoga
instructor … mostly the deadly stairs … finding a comparable room and view at
less than half of the price (333 rupees per night or $5.35), being centrally
located between destinations WITH NO STEPS!
At first glance and in terms
of western standards and prices, Pink House appears to be an exceptional value
at $10-$20 per night, but comparatively speaking in McLeod Ganj and Dharamsala,
that did not necessarily turn out to be the case. The longer I stayed in the
area and the more people I spoke to, the more I realized that Pink House was
one of the more expensive and isolated places in town. A Buddhist monk friend
paid 2,00o rupees per month ($32.00) for his centrally located room, a basic
but clean room with shared bath, and another was paying 300 rupees ($4.85) per
night for a double room at a monastery just off the main market with a private
bath, so $15 per night was quite expensive in this neck of the woods.
Like Jessica1100
(TripAdvisor), my 880 rupee ($14) deposit was not applied to my bill at
check-out even though it was meticulously itemized down to the rupee, taking
close to 20 minutes even though I told them I would be checking out that
morning. I am not saying that it was done intentionally, but considering that
they do not accept reservations without a deposit equaling one night's stay, it
should be a standard inclusion in the billing process.
If Pink House where in the
U.S., Europe, Japan, or Korea (among other more expensive destinations), they
would get 8 or 9 Bombs Out Of 10. But in terms of other local (India in
general, Dharamsala in particular) establishments, on which I base my “VALUE”
determinations, Pink House is very middle of the road. Therefore, if you have
great knees, do not mind the cold or paying a bit extra for the convenience of
eating in your room, and enjoy beautiful views, fair service, and in-house
laundry services, then Pink House is a fair choice. But be warned, there are
better values out there, particularly for those visiting for extended periods
where significant discounts of 50% to 70% can be had over nightly lodging
prices … and make sure your deposit is
applied to your bill!
CombatCritic Gives Pink House Hotel 4 Bombs Out Of 10 … Deductions for Dangerous Stairs, Slow Internet, Varying Restaurant Hours, No Heat, and Missing Deposit ... More Bombs Are Better
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