Never fun leaving a group behind

After a bone shaking 12 hour bus ride to Manali, I realized that as much as I disliked some of the people on my study abroad, its nice having people around to talk to. Maybe that is why I was bitter at the end of my last trip through India, I spent a lot of the last days walking around by myself. While solitude is nice, so is being around fun and interesting people. I decided instead of hanging around a loud, busy hill town again (i had enough for the last 4 weeks) I booked a seat on a jeep for what should be the most beautiful ride of my life. It is a 17 hour ride that reaches over 16,000 feet and crosses some of the highest motorable passes in the world. I will go from a place that has rained every day for the last 2 weeks to a high altitude desert with yaks, camels and buddhest monastaries set up in the high himalayas. While that gets me excited I still miss my girlfriend terribly and miss the company of law students (never thought I would say that in my life). Part of me is ready to come home (as I walked around the bus stations at the breaks I did miss the clean and swept streets of Minneapolis (also never thought I would say that). This bus ride got me thinking that as much as I love India, I still dont know if I could ever live here like I wanted to in the middle of the trip. I also wonder if this may just be the post departure depression that sets in after you leave a close knit group having spent almost 5 weeks with.
I am still really excited to get to Leh. This is the reason I cam on this trip, and I can't leave India without seeing it. I felt like I missed out last time when I could not reach Leh because the Rothang pass was still not open. So I guess when I get to Leh I will make my next move, which is either home or Zansakar an even more remote area of Ladakah that is cut off from the rest of the world 6 months a year and the only way in is by a 6 day trek over a frozen river.
The final weeks were fun. We were afforded the chance to meet the Karmapa Lama. He is a very important figure in Tibetan Buddhsim and I believe the leader of one of the many sects. He was lucky to escape on foot to India from Tibet. He blessed us and took a picture with us. I felt bad because we got treated like royalty and the rest of the people got ushered in and out very quickly, including a long line of tibetans who are devout followers.
We also had finals this week. They were not so bad. Definitly much better than law school finals. ANyways I am going to upload some pictures and try and call my girlfriend before my 17 hour ride.

Cheers,

Ben

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