Lamas....Dali Lama that is.

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Honorata, Anya, and I left the university around 3:30pm Thursday to begin our first adventure out of Delhi with an overnight bus to Dharamsala. This originally seemed like a great idea as we could sleep on the bus and be ready to go Friday morning. Well, a combination of a full bus, no AC, bad suspension, sitting in the last row, and a driver who clearly watched too much Nascar made sleeping impossible. The roads here weren't that great and often barely large enough for two way traffic. It ended up being about 15hrs to get here and none of us slept for much of it. We felt every bump in the road, many large enough to physically lift you off the seat and hit your head as you descended back into your seat. A train back definitely sounded like a good idea at this point.

However, as the sun came up and I could see mountains, trees, and monkeys playing in a mountain stream, it was all worth it. We arrived in McLeod Ganj (the actually town everyone stays in, not Dharamsala itself) around 7am. There were many people advertising hotels at the bus stop so we went to the first one that could offer us breakfast. We had a simple breakfast with an incredible mountain view then took a nap till about noon.

Dharamsala is the seat of the Tibetan government in exile and the Dali Lama, who is in town right now. So, there are many Tibetan shops, cultural centers, bookstores, and museums here. Our first stop in town was the complex that contains the Tibetan museum, the Dali Lama's home, and the main temple in town. We watched for quite some time with other fascinated westerners as monks in red and yellow robes energetically debated the logical processes or their Buddhist practices. These daily debates are part of the exercises for them to understand the teachings of Buddhism for themselves. From what I could see today, one monk usually sits while the other makes his argument. Each time the standing one makes a point he raises his voice and claps his hands toward the sitting partner. It's quite a sight to watch.

The museum on the plight of the Tibetan people and their current situation was heart breaking. I knew some of the story, but the biggest surprise to me was how big Tibet is! It is 2/3 the size of India! No wonder the Chinese are so reluctant to even talk about giving it up. There were pictures taken in the past few years of children who lost their toes from severe frostbite after escaping China by foot and crossing the border to India.

Dharamsala is one of the centers for Tibetan refugees in India. Besides the physical assault on their country, the Chinese have made a concerted effort to wipe the Tibetan culture from the land. So, towns like this make an equal effort with schools and foundations to preserve their language, arts, religion, and foods. Coming here is like going to another country for the weekend. The people are much more Chinese looking and much more peaceful and relaxed.

I was surprised to see monks in their every day activities. This morning we went to a coffee shop and there was a monk sitting on the bench next to us having tea and talking on his cell phone. It also surprised me to see the female nuns who look exactly like the men. They wear the same stunning red outfit and shave their heads, so they can be quite hard to pick out from the men.

Many of the roads here are on steep cliffs so that you see little shops on one side of the road and stunning mountains on the other. It rained all day and actually caused it to be so foggy at times that you couldn't see anything else. It was like walking around in a dream world in the clouds. It's much cooler here than in Delhi. I wore a light sweater all day and was quite comfortable. The air is so clean and fresh. It does not make me miss the smog and smoke of Delhi at all.

We spent the rest of the day shopping and exploring the town. There is an amazing and astonishingly cheap variety of jewelry, books, clothing, textiles, metal work, and everything else. So, yes, I have many goodies for the good girls and boys back home. I am also on the look out for items to decorate my hostel room. It's a bit spartan right now. Besides the normal shops there are massage, yoga, and meditation centers everywhere! Lot's of people come here for a few weeks to learn to do massage, reiki, or yoga retreats or intensive courses. There are also many courses on Buddhist philosophy offered at the temples and private ashrams. There are Tibetan and Indian cooking classes too, but I am afraid I won't have time for everything.

The second day of the trip was the perfect vacation day for me. I got up early to go to a yoga class from 9-11am. The studio was on the side of the mountain not far from my hotel. I got a good work out just walking there though, because it was uphill from my hotel. The studio was just a small room, but the wall behind the instructor was all windows and looked out over the valley. At the end of the lesson he was just talking some about eating healthy, etc, and a cloud started to roll in. I watched it slowly engulf our valley view behind him, and by the time the class was over, it felt like the whole studio was floating in a cloud.

The other girls slept in, so after the yoga lesson I met them at our favorite coffee house, the Exile Brothers Café, for coffee then lunch. The café is run by a Tibetan family with three grown sons. They are musicians, waiters, owners, and chefs for this ambiance rich spot. Momos are found all over India and are steamed, stuffed, dumplings. I had been wanting to learn how to make them, so I asked them if I could take a look around their kitchen. They welcomed me in and I got a Momo cooking lesson.

After lunch we did a little more shopping then I was off for my Tibetan "Ocean" body massage. The masseur. spoke English really well and said that the "ocean" part doesn’t make much sense in English, but in Tibetan implies the qualities of strength and gentleness combined. His brother, who didn’t speak much English did my massage. It was perfect. I got in out of the rain for awhile and had a massage listening to the rain with a little heater by the table.

After the horrible bus ride there, we knew to arrange a reservation for a train back to Delhi. So, we did that from a travel office in town then went for dinner. We mostly spent the weekend relaxing and enjoying the change of pace.

Getting back to Delhi was an adventure in itself. We had to get up at 6am to catch a taxi to Dharamsala, about a 10min ride. Then we caught the 7am bus down the mountain to Patankot. When we arrived there several hours later we had to get an auto rickshaw to a smaller train station called Chaki Bank. We had to wait there for several hours before catching our 1:30pm train to Delhi arriving at 9:30pm.

At the train station we were walking around the small platforms when I saw something on the ground moving through the crowd. It turned out to be a very small puppy. Far too small to be walking on it’s own with no mother in sight. People were barely avoiding stepping on it and many simply shooed it away with their feet if they did notice it. I went over and picked it up and it fell asleep in my arms moments later. I carried it back to the platform and saw another puppy of similar size and put them down together. Later I saw it again. This time it had found a piece of a corn cob and was whimpering as it tried to chew something off of it that could pass for food. I couldn't’t stand it so I went to the canteen and bought a sweetened milk drink that had cardamom flavoring. The puppy didn’t seem to mind the cardamom. I picked him up and let him drink the milk out of a plastic cup. He seemed very very hungry and happily fell asleep after his meal.

I know he’ll probably die;he’s too small to survive on his own, but he did at least have a little comfort that day. People were staring at me like I was nuts. But, they stare at me anyway, so I might as well do what I want while being stared at. And maybe it will effect the way they view all of the dogs around them. In Dharamsala the dogs were treated much better than in Delhi because of the Buddhist view of respect for all living beings and reincarnation. It was nice to see and really added to my respect for their way of life.

The train was actually really enjoyable. We were in Second Class Sleeper which means we each reserved a bunk bed, stacked three high, with no air conditioning. It worked out well since we folded down two of the beds so one person could lay down on top if they wanted and the other two could sit on the bottom bunk enjoying the breeze and view from the window.

The train ride back afforded a smooth ride for me to work on practicing the Devanagri alphabet that Hindi is based on. A lot of the Indian passengers really got a kick out of seeing me practicing writing the alphabet, and I think appreciated it. The window gave us a beautiful window to scenes of temples in the countryside surrounded by terraced rice patties and small homes. The train also has a variety of food and clothing vendors, chai vendors, performers, beggars, and even singers that will circle through the trains yelling the availability of their various services. It was a really entertaining and enjoyable ride over all.