Dalai Lama in McLeod Ganj

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So, I know I'm a little behind in updating this blog! The last month's been a lot of fun and quite a learning experience. I wanted to get my head around everything and take time to upload lots of pictures and write a few stories. As can be expected from a trip like this, the itinerary has changed quite a bit. But let me first share a few of my experiences from this last month...

Mar 10 - 16 Dharamsala/McLeod Ganj

It was a long trip up from Pushkar to McLeod Ganj - 3 hour local bus to a train station in the middle of nowhere Rajasthan to a taxi, 3 hour wait at the station, then a 17 hour train up through Punjab. We've been traveling in the non-AC sleeper 'reserved' class of trains - a bit dirty and the people have some strange ideas about what a reservation means. I tried to get some rest on the bunk along the aisle when some man just decided he'd have a seat on my feet. It was a bit exhausting, but eventually the conductor kicked another guy out of the "ladies only compartment" and I got an upper berth. Yes, the Ahmedabad-Jammu "Express" train stopped probably 50 times. There were tons of people getting on, getting off, standing in the aisles of the 'reserved' sleeper car. It's these little details that make travel in India interesting - it's just part of it, and not really too bad considering the whole 17hr train ride only cost a few bucks! We existed for over 24 hours on cookies, potato chips and chai chai. When we finally arrived in Pattankot, a little town in the north of Punjab, I think, around 4pm the next day we needed to wait an hour for our local bus to Dharamsala. The government busses in India are certainly another interesting way to travel. We luckily had seats, but the bus stopped at least 40 times during the 4 hour journey - it's also a bit hard to communicate that you have to pee so bad you're about to explode, and not so convenient when there are people crammed into every space in the aisle. One woman was literally sitting on Jen's shoulder next to me! It's all part of the adventure I guess. The roads were winding and bumpy. We were thankful it was dark when we were getting into the mountains, otherwise I think I would've been a little frightened at how close the driver was cutting those corners!

We arrived at 8:30pm in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh and got a taxi up the mountain to
the tiny village of McLeod Ganj, home of the Tibetan government in exile and the Dalai Lama, who was in town giving teachings. We luckily got the last room at a guest house and went to a bar restaurant, McLLo's. We got a table with two young Canadian guys and enjoyed our first beers after a week of drying out in Pushkar. I even got to eat meat again.

The next day, March 10 was Tibetan uprising day. We went to the temple in the early afternoon, but the museum was closed for the holiday and the Dalai Lama wasn't giving teachings that day.

The scenery was beautiful - enormous snow capped mountains, crisp clean air. The only downside was that it was extremely cold and raining for the first 3 or 4 days we were there. I bought a sweater and even with all the layers I had was still chilled to the bone and soaking wet from the never ending downpour of cold rain and hail. After the first night there, Marc arrived late night in McLeod Ganj, so after that I spent most of the time by myself. McLeod Ganj wasn't exactly the highlight of my trip, but I was determined to make the best of it. Trying to warm up or at least get dry was a bit of a challenge - None of the buildings had heat - not even our room. We all ended up getting bad colds. At one point in the guest house, I had emptied every last item from my backpack that I wasn't wearing and put it on top of my blanket to attempt to warm up. It was so cold I could see my breath and the power frequently cut out - at one point for two days.

In the mornings, I walked down to the temple where the Dalai Lama and Tibetan government in exile was located to listen to some of teachings. Since I didn't have much background, it was honestly hard to follow (yes, even listening to the English translation), but it was still a great experience to be in such an important place. There were monks dressed in red everywhere with their shaved heads. I wondered how they stayed warm in this environment. The place was also a learning experience. Before coming here, I have to say that I was unaware of what the Tibetan people have been through - it was a huge learning experience to hear stories of how some of the refugees managed to come here. After fleeing Tibet, the Chinese having killed many of their people, many died in the trecherous journey over the Himalayas. Many suffered terrible frostbite and other injuries. Some were even sent back. Many children who managed to make it were orphans. When you hear personal stories like that, it just puts everything in perspective... It was a lot to think about, but great to see everybody who came from miles around to attend these teachings. It's amazing what the Dalai Lama has set up here....

I also met some interesting people in McLeod Ganj. One day over breakfast I met a guy from Nepal, David. I met up with him later in the afternoon and walked up the mountain a few kilometers to his friend Rocky's place above the little village of Bhagsu. This friend of his was such a sweet character and offered us some tea and a place in front of the space heater. He was disabled somehow and never left his home half way up the mountain. Our jeans were steaming as they dried in front of the heater. It was so nice to get dry after our hike through the rain. We had a great conversation - it was so interesting to meet people from such a different background and who had been through so much.

Later, I met up with Jen and Marc at Marc's friend Raffa's cafe in town. Raffa was an interesting character -he had been traveling in Nepal and northern India about 7 years ago. When he came to McLeod Ganj, he met a Tibetan woman and never left. He opened up this French cafe and has been here ever since, only returning to France once a year. He would do magic tricks, which were very impressive - I still have no idea how he did any of these tricks he showed us. Later that evening we met up with Jen's friends from London, Denis and Vanessa.

We were going to leave for Delhi on the 14th. I didn't want to spend my birthday in this freezing place. But Jen really wanted to stay so we postponed it a couple days. That day I went up with David back to Bhagsu to meet this crazy friend of his, Baba G - he was 55 years old and had been living in the mountains in this little shack underneath a house for years. He had dreads longer than he was, and had various trinkets tied around his dreadlocks wrapped around his head or stuffed in his pocket. In his little place under the house, there was a litter of 2 month old puppies with some sort of skin disease, it was really sad. The poor runt with her back half bare and scabbed over tried to get in close to the fire that Baba G was tending in the metal disk near the entrance to the tarp wall. Cute and fuzzy puppies, but I really didn't want to touch them - it kinda breaks your heart.

On my birthday, I was feeling naseous and had the infamous Delhi belly in addition to having a bad cold, so the day itself wasn't so great. But that's ok seeing as this whole year is really a great opportunity - this day itself doesn't really matter that much. I splurged a bit and moved to a room with a space heater - But luckily here, splurging meant paying $13 a night rather than the $8 I had been paying - backpacker budget, but that's what's making all this possible! I did do a little shopping on the last day - and the sun finally came out for a bit.

I was glad to leave and go to Delhi. We took a night bus - which was filled with Tibetan monks who you know weren't paying the Rs 500 we paid for the trip. I think it was the bumpiest bus I've ever been on. Every 15 mins or so we'd hit a bump and be literally lifted of our seats. The poor guy sitting next to us sat tall in his seat and kept hitting the overhead compartments. When we got to Delhi the sun was shining and it was beautiful and warm... It was wonderful!

More entries coming very soon!!!

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Photos

Prayer Wheels
Spin the prayer wheels on the sides of the main temple in town.

Main Temple
No Dalai Lama teachings today on Tibetan Uprising day.

Baba G
Baba G holds up his long dreads in front of his mountain home.

Bhagsu Ad
You can get it all here at this little shop in Bhagsu