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Published: November 21st 2004
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Taking in the sun at Bhagsu
(having worked out the timer on my camera....) Well I have nearly been in Mcleodganj for a whole week and I am still
not ready to leave, it is a beautiful place and very relaxing, you
certainly get pulled into the laid back way of life people tend to
have here. Saying that, I fly out of Delhi on Friday night so I am
thinking about jumping on a bus tomorrow morning and heading to
Amritsar in Punjab, the Golden Temple there is meant to be well worth
seeing, although after the Taj Mahal I can't believe anything will
come anywhere near as close.... So this may well be my last evening in Mcleodganj, depending on how I feel when I wake up and if my underwear has managed to dry in the cold damp air!
empty mind or just empty headed....
The past few days I have done some exploring in the surrounding area and been on a few walks, I headed up to Bhagsu on Thursday morning by myself, it's only a couple of kilometres away, and had a very peaceful time taking in the scenery. I met a very nice lady with her little heard of goats and got some sun on my face.
That morning I had joined in with a group meditation session (the group being a total of 3 people...) from 8am until 9am sat up on the roof as the sun was still rising. I can't say that I managed to reach a higher plane as yet....but it was very relaxing all the same and I desperately tried to empty my mind and stop it from flitting here and there and getting caught up with such important thoughts as what I might eat for lunch and what
was the name of the girl in the hit American sitcom 'My two Dads'????
In the afternoon I headed back to Om Hotel where I had promised to help out with some teaching. Fear not though, I was not about to let loose my terrible spelling and atrocious grammar on a group of unsuspecting children, I was simply helping out Kalsang, a Tibetan who works at the Hotel and had asked me to help him with his pronunciation and reading. So I spent an hour or so going through words with him and generally chatting and reading. I've been back a few times and he is so keen to learn that
as soon as I arrive he jumps up and runs to his room to grab his exercise books and we begin straight away - no small talk. It is in no way hard work for me of course, as we are sitting up on the roof in the late afternoon sun, drinking tea and chatting away, it has been a really nice experience. I have also met a monk called Pema in the cafe of my hostel that I have moved to and I have been helping him put together a letter to send to his friend. His tale is a sad one though, he arrived here in 1999 and has not been able to get home to visit his Father, Brother and Sister since, and his Mother died whilst he has been away. I met him just after I had been on the phone to my Ma and Pa and was feeling sorry for myself as I miss them so much and wish they could be with me to share all of my experiences, I was tucking into a piece of perhaps the finest chocolate cheese cake I have tasted when he came over to ask for my help
with his English. Every day there seem to be more and more things to remind me of just how lucky I am, any time I feel a little bit sad or strange to be here on my own I can just think of all my family and my friends and I feel happy and safe again and I know I can come home whenever I want to and be with you all after seeing all these places and having the chance to do all these things. I met a Mother and daughter from Englan who are out here teaching and helping with environmental work, they do a few days up here with the Tibetans and then spend a few days down in the slums near Dharamsala teaching Indian children, I do begin to feel very guitly about being on my travels only on a sort of 'holiday', it makes me determined to get involved with as many things along the way as I can.
I've posted quite a few more pictures, although it's impossible to capture the enormity of the mountains and how imposing they are. On Friday Lydia and I set off on a short stroll and ended
up walking for about 14 kilometres up to Dharamkot and then somehow managed to find ourselves at a place called Naddi for lunch and then Dhara, out of sight of any of the maps in the Lonely Planet guide. They were tiny villages and very quiet, with stunning views, although there is a mist that hangs over everything, so you can't really see very far into the distance down into the valleys, but the mountains stand out clearly against the blue sky towering over everything. It will be very difficult to get on the bus and leave this place.
Pema had told me he was off to somewhere called Biri the next day (Saturday) as the Dalia Lama was running some teachings in the morning, followed by Tibetan dancing and singing all afternoon and it is the opening of a school (I think), there is quite a lot of activity at the moment as a lot of the monks are doing exams. I didn't manage to get to Biri, but I headed down to the Norbilingka Institute with Lydia and a lovely Swedish couple, it is a very peaceful place, set up to help Tibetans learn crafts, such as
Thamka painting and wood carvings and various crafts, there is also a temple there, outside of which a woman was devoutly praying and posturing endlessly, bending down to lie flat with her forehead on the floor and then back up again and again, she must have been exhausted but showed no signs of looking tired, there is such a strong sense of belief and devotion, it's hard for me to understand or appreciate I suppose.
Last night Lydia and I went along to the Namgyal Monastry, opposite the Dalia Lama's residence, as the little cafe inside the Monastery is reported to have the best Pizza's in Mcleodganj.....As we arrived at the Monastery this amazing sound started to build, it was a group of Monks sat outside one of the temples chanting and all gently rocking, the sound was incredible, although as we ate our pizza we had the misfortune of Mick Hucknalls dulcet tones drowning out the far pleasanter sound of the chanting. As we were leaving we noticed the voices had changed and so headed up to take a look and all of the monks had paired off and were engaged in 'debate', one sits down whilst
the other stands and after he has made his point claps his hand very elaborately. They are so passionate about it, or so it seems from the way they talk and the gestures they make, a recurring gesture was a hand thrown out to circle the others head, we just stood in awe unable to understand a single word any of them were saying. My friend Kalsang, from the Om hotel said that debate is very difficult and he had to give up being a monk after he arrived here as he had been very ill as a teenager and so had dropped far behind in his studies and couldn't keep up with everyone else when it came to debating. I still don't fully understand what it's all about, I asked him what they talk about during debate and he pointed to my cup of tea and up at the sky and said 'everything'.......
I promise to try and make for a more amusing read next time, things have just been so nice and relaxed around here, I've just been taking it all in, but I am sure more (mis)adventures are just around the corner...........
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anonymous
non-member comment
Very cool
literally...himachal is one of my fav places too. Like the train of thoughts that you presented very well. You can chk my himachal exps under "D"..nickname deepfunda. Have a safe and good trip in India. cheers