Farewell Dharamsala. My last few days in Dharamsala were like a miasma. I’m not sure that I did a great deal, just wallowed in being spoilt. A bit like a queen bee with the drones humming around me, feeding me, massaging me and all the time I had a vague feeling that I should be doing something but couldn’t quite grasp what. Was I being drugged by the kindness of others? Lobsang and I had a lovely walk up to a waterfall. It was a good climb and quite slippy at times - it was drizzling too which didn’t help, but eventually we made it. I needed a bit of exercise anyway. I bought a couple of “Chubas” with blouses, the traditional Tibetan dress and even travelled in one when I left Dharamsala. I will ... read more

So Sarah has left and I am now on my own being spoilt by Lobsang and Tenzing. I am tutoring a lovely young mother as well as Lobsang so that is keeping me busy, although I am missing children. I believe there is an orphanage nearby so am going to try and find that and see what I can do there, although i will not be here much longer. I am also going to get rid of all my teaching resources to a local school as from now on I will be a total tourist! That will be a novelty. I hope you like the photos, most of them have their own explanation, so just enjoy. Must just say that I am loving all the home cooked food, these guys are amazing cooks, especially the momos. ... read more

The bus journeys were not to horrendous, well not compared to the Nepal to India trip anyway. It was a bit galling though having to get a bus to Pathenkot (3hrs) when only yesterday I had lobbed past in the train! Then at the bus station I managed to find a bus to Kanga (4hrs), change there and get and get a bus to Dharamsala. Then I caught a taxi to McLeod Ganj. I already knew where I wanted to stay. I had sourced a little guesthouse ran by Tibetan monks called the Loseling. The taxi driver had to ask a few people along the way but eventually after me paying him more to carry my case up the long flight of wet stairs, there I was. Although I must have got the name wrong ... read more

Indian Embassy, a lesson in inefficiency. So Pete and I set off early on Friday morning for the embassy. We queued outside for a while then rushed in to get our numbers, A33 and 34. After about an hour and a half our numbers were called but when they checked, the telex had not come back from the Australian embassy in Sydney so our visas could not be processed. Funny thing is that we put our request in on the 13th but our documents were in the 15th pile. They had obviously not sent our telex to Sydney for 2 days which meant that we would now get our visas the following Monday at the earliest and would not be leaving for Varanasi until the Tuesday. Bother, more money to shell out at the hotel but ... read more

It was time for me to leave the ashram and head for Pokhara to meet Peter and Debu. I intended to fly as there are sometimes all sorts of problems with roads being closed all over Nepal (bandhas), but when Guruji said that he would travel with me if I went by bus, I jumped at it. How many people travel around Nepal with their own personal guru!!! All went well for the first 4 hours then - dreaded bandha!!! Two teenagers had been killed on their motorbike a few days ago and the villagers closed all roads in and out of Pokhara until the police agreed to pay a huge amount to the family. At this stage no one really knew who was to blame and the bus had already been torched, but that didn’t ... read more