About The Site

While I was traveling in India I met an older fellow named Grover who was just in the process of beginning to finally live his dream… to run a small Bed and Breakfast in a foreign country. It’s funny because apparently he had lived up “The American dream” in the States and supposedly made his comfy lifestyle… but at the end of the day, he rather live the simple life in India. He is not alone as I did meet many people who were the same while in Asia… quiet an inspirational group of people to be honest.

Well he was just in the beginning process of opening the doors to his very own Bed and Breakfast retreat right in the hearty-foothills of the Himalayas in the popular town Dharamsala in the state of Himachal Pradesh. Dharamsala, if you didn’t know, is where the Dalai Lama currently resides and is the new settlement for Tibetan refugees… some refer to it as “Little Lhasa”.. Lhasa being the old capital in Tibet. Well Dharamsala is quite popular with Hollywood celeb’s like Richard Gere and Goldie Hawn making cameo appearances… in other-words it’s a desination marked up in many traveler’s Lonely Planets. The combination of seeking a spiritual retreat; being around the spiritual energy of His Holiness; or, the shivers-down-my-spine Himalayan backdrop… just makes it worth every Rupee.

Well…Shanti Bed and Breakfast is just perfect for all of this because of it’s ‘off the beaten track’ location. Let me tell you… when I was traveling up there the noise on the streets can get to you.. all that Indian beeping.. man oh man. Most of the places in town are right on the road and you can expect honking sometimes all night…. (or even a mysterious Tree trunk ‘coming out of nowhere’ in the middle of the room like the one we had in the “Maharaja Suite” at some cheap hotel the first couple of nights. This was the same hotel that spliced the wires to make a home-made extension cord for the bedside heater… oh the stories)

Well.. in a mountainside village like Dharamsala or MacLeod Ganj (the name of the actual town), you kinda expect time to relax and most of the places in town are not conducive to peace and quite.. but Shanti is. Shanti is also ‘cool’ because it is independently operated and isn’t too overboard where you feel like you are staying at some institution.. it’s like a ‘real-bohemian-dig’ and definitely offers people a chance to just relax and get away from the traffic up in MacLeod Ganj.

Designing this site was fun fun fun. I designed it as if it was MY bed and breakfast and how I would like to see it. It was also ‘cool’ because i had the chance to incorporate many of the photos I had taken throughout my India trip providing a unique charm, brand, and look. I also designed the logo. I guess I’ve travelled a bit (but not enough) and seen a few hostel-like websites and really think most of them can be “really cool” because they are unique, not cookie-cut, not corporate!!! (oh do we hate corporate), and definitely have fun all over it…. So for a small budget I put together a site, which I feel has some class yet remains true to the indie-hostel genre of not being too professional but not too simple. We definitely needed to target and appeal to my own kind, ‘backpacking-thrillseeking-trekheads’… ha.. well not really.

So, for this website I primarily incorporated a simple flash animation/slideshow on the top bar and used basic html pages.. I don’t think I even properly used a CSS to be honest, and included a form where people can make a reservation. Also the gallery was my first time in using Lightbox…(Thanks Ryan!)…. which is pretty cool and is has made great strides.

If you end up going to Dharamsala and stay here tell them I sent ya…

Well well well.. so here we are.. Shanti Bed and Breakfast!