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Published: April 30th 2010
Namaste!
I am sitting in an internet cafe in the gorgeous mountain town of Kasol, deep in the Parvati Valley in the shadows of the Himalayas with big, fat tears nearly spilling out of my eyes because I have just 4 days left on this most epic of journeys! I am dreading even writing this blog because it will probably be my last one on the trip and I don't want to think about my time here ending!
About a week and a half ago I traveled from Varanasi to Amritsar, which I meant to write about in my last posting but didn't because it was getting far too long! Amritsar is the holiest place in the Sikh religion and home of the Golden Temple, their place of pilgrimmage. The temple is stunning and the whole complex was an amazingly peaceful contrast to where I had just come from, Varanasi, with all of its colours and sounds and smells and insane assaults on the senses... The Sikh religion is beautifully inclusive; you can stay at the temple for free and they provide a 24-hour free kitchen so anyone who comes can eat there. As I was (as usual!) suffering from some sort of delicious-street-food stomach ailment I didn't eat OR stay there but I know people who did and they said it was lovely so I there you go! The only sad part about the food here is that when you bite it, it reeeeeeeeeally bites back....
After visiting the temple I went with some nice British people I'd met to one of the most FUN things I have seen in India yet: the border closing ceremony at the India-Pakistan border at Attari. I don't actually know how it works around the world at other borders but the governments of both countries here have actually built grandstands because so many people come to watch the closing ceremony every day! We arrived and there was massively loud Bollywood music pumping and a HUGE dance party happening on the ground below the stands (I have come to realize that most good things in life start with an epic, epic dance party) that was only for women and kids which was another plus, seeing as most of the time women have to sit out while men dance - so obviously I was thrilled about that! Tina, the friend I'd met, and I danced around for a while with all kinds of really sweet girls until we got told to sit down by the soldiers.
I can't even describe the situation; thousands of Indian people screaming pro-India slogans trying to drown out the Pakistani spectators screaming out pro-Pakistan slogans, singing patriotic songs, cheering, yelling... it was complete mayhem! One by one the soldiers would march out (looking an awful lot like the Ministry of Silly Walks) towards the gate, snarl at each other, adjust their hats, quite literally brush the dirt off their shoulders at each other... it was the most bizarre display of contained hostility I have ever seen! But so entertaining to watch. They eventually got to the point where they lowered the flags, the crowd went nuts, and then each side slammed the gate shut and that was it for the night! John, Tina and I then proceeded to be in about 35 families' photos before we were allowed to leave - one of the things I will miss dearly about this place!
After Amritsar I went north to Dharamsala, where His Holiness the Dalai Lama resides and where the Tibetan government in exile is located. It is in these gorgeous, pine-tree forests and the fresh air and cool weather was absolutely incredible to feel after the insane 45-degree-plus heat I had been used to - I don't think I have ever been so thrilled to use a blanket at night than I was then! Dharamsala itself affected me pretty deeply. It is full of Tibetan refugees who have risked their lives and their families' lives to flee from the Chinese government's awful treatment of their people to come to India and seek refugee status. Again this is something difficult to describe but there is a dignity and a strength that is so present in Tibetans that just emanates from everyone I met - I spent one evening at a documentary screening put on by the organization Learning and Ideas for Tibet which works to empower Tibetan refugees, teach them English, and work to raise awareness for their situation. I can't even write about the horrible things I saw in the documentary and afterwards I met a few Tibetan men who had made the trek over the Himalayas, taking over a month and suffering frostbite and the deaths of their companions when Chinese soldiers opened fire on a group of them crossing over the mountain passes... I also met a man who was a political prisoner, having spent 13 years in a Chinese jail for protesting China's treatment of Tibet. I could write for hours here about the things I learned but I won't because it keeps making me cry and I want to try to spend as much of my time left here smiling!
At the movie screening I met a few cool people from Calgary and California, Erin, Aaron and Blair, and we wound up hanging out for the rest of my time there which was great. We went down to a village near to Dharamsala where the sort of right-hand-man to His Holiness, the Karmapa Lama, resides and teaches and we were able to visit him and get blessed by him - another one of those moments that is over in seconds that leaves you wondering if it actually happened but which is something very, very special. He is the third-highest lama after the Dalai Lama himself and the Panchen Lama (the boy who will be the next Dalai Lama and was kidnapped by the Chinese government when he was 6 years old and has been held with his family in what is being called "protective custody" for the last 15 years and is missing out on valuable learning he needs to become the Dalai Lama when it is his time) and is the head of the black hat sect of Buddhism. After visiting the Karmapa Lama we went to the Norbulingka Institute, which works to preserve Tibetan art and culture by teaching traditional weaving, painting, woodcarving and statue-making and was an absolutely beautiful place to be, all manicured gardens and waterfalls and trees draped with Tibetan prayer flags and prayer stones.
Dharamsala really deserved much, much more of my time but I am so inspired to come back to India and volunteer teaching Tibetan refugees English so I left feeling ok because I know I will be back soon. I then embarked on a pretty crazily serendipitous journey which brought me here to Kasol... I had initially planned to take a deluxe bus to Manali for a couple days and then potentially meet up with my friends Fraser and Dan later on here in Kasol, but when I was led to an empty bus with no other travelers parked on a dark back road with only an Indian man to accompany me I did what any sane girl traveling alone would do and refused to get on, and then was brought by some other guy to a minibus where a reeeeeally nice Israeli guy named Ido was also waiting to get on. He mentioned he was going to Kasol and so I just decided on the spur of the moment to go with him, since I knew Fraser and Dan were here, and so I hopped off the bus with Ido at 5 in the morning in Kasol and was immediately awe-struck at the natural beauty here, a rushing river surrounded by forested hills and snow-capped mountains in the distance. I have never been anywhere this gorgeous. Ido helped me carry my stuff to the guesthouse where Fraser was staying and then bought me a big breakfast (have I mentioned lately how sad I am to be coming home? I am.) before disappearing into the hills and leaving me to explore Kasol and try to track down Fraser and Dan.
They were out hiking but as I walked through town I randomly found my friends Craig, Stephen, Emma and Gareth who I had SO MUCH FUN with in Agra and who I was so excited to see again! So I am with a bunch of friends now in Kasol and we are having wonderful adventures. Fraser and I went off on what was supposed to be a little nature walk but turned into a 6-hour venture up the mountains. We were ill-prepared having only about a half litre of water and no food, and fell in the river leaving us completely wet, but it ended up ok and we made it back just as it was getting dark out so no harm done and it was one of those ridiculous moments that I can look back on happily! Last night we all ended up at this techno party up in the forests which took about a half hour to hike to in the DARK and which I just made it home from at 4 this morning but again, a really good time and I am so happy I get to spend my last days with people I really, really like here!!
I am really, really grateful for the experiences I have been able to have here and the people I have been able to share it with, both here and at home. I still feel like the luckiest person in the world, and I can't wait to come home and pass along all the love and kindness I've been given here! Thank you all, so much, for being with me on this journey of mine and I wish everyone real peace, real harmony, real happiness! (The tears are really going now and a lot of people in the internet cafe are staring at me so I need to leave!!)
Much love,
Shannon
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Dad
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Can't wait
Can't wait to have you home. Love, Dad