I feel so lucky to be here. This is a really special town.
The Dalai Lama has been in Delhi for hospital treatment and word got around today that he would be arriving back home today at 4ish. So at 2.30 people started lining the streets, Tibetans holding burning sticks of incense and white scarves and flying Tibetan flags, and tourists interested in what was going on, and whole schools of children brought along by their teachers. And at just after 4pm the crowd grow silent and a convoy of cars go by and in the second car is the Dalai Lama, in the passenger seat, smiling and waving to the crowd who have gathered to welcome him home. It was absolutely magical. After he had gone past people just returned to their lives.
I have signed up to a 10 day residential "Intro to Buddhism" course at a place called Tushita. This is just out of the town along a quiet path in the woods and a very peaceful place. It will be a lovely place to be for 10 days. I was lucky enough to meet someone who invited me to Tushita's annual picnic for the staff and volunteers so i went along with a friend, Lucy - who is also doing the course - and we had a lovely time. There were Tibetans, Indians and westerners there and the atmosphere was very relaxed and warm and friendly. And the food was amazing!!
We took a walk up to a Stupa (a shrine to a monk) in the woods after the picnic and as we approached the Stupa there are Buddhist prayer flags everywhere, fluttering in the wind with the sun shining through them. At the Stupa it is very peaceful and monks and Buddhists visit all the time.
It was such a lovely day - i can't believe how fortunate i am to be in this place, to have met such nice people, and to have been accepted onto this course in a few days time. I feel very happy.
Monday, 20 October 2008
Friday, 17 October 2008
McLeod Ganj
Woohoo! I have left crazy busy India and entered Tibet! Well, not really but it feels a million miles from the madness of India, and since India has made me so sick, I'm going to think of my new location as being in Tibet.
I've arrived in McLeod Ganj - home of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Gov. in exile. It is full of Tibetans! I arrived at 6am, just as it was starting to get light, and took the first room i could find - i was absolutely exhausted after travelling all night. Shiva guest house is in Dharamkot, a small town 15min walk up a step hill through woods along small paths. The house has only 5 rooms and a small outhouse with a squat toilet and a semi-hot shower.
I slept til midday then walked down to the village, which has two main streets, temple road (which leads to the Dalai Lamas residence) and the street parallel to it. It's full of Tibetan restaurants and shops selling blankets, clothes and all sorts of stuff. I love it! There aren't many cars to make loads of noise and the people don't shout at you to buy stuff! It's like they've actually seen foreigners before!!
So tomorrow I've signed up for a Tibetan cooking course and I'm gonna learn how to make momo's. And on Monday I've volunteered to help out at the Tibetan refugee association by joining the conversational English class and talking to Tibetans to help to improve their English.
And i found the place that I'm doing my "Introduction to Buddhism" course and it is lovely. I've taken some books out the library and have started reading 7years in Tibet.
Things are looking up!
I've arrived in McLeod Ganj - home of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Gov. in exile. It is full of Tibetans! I arrived at 6am, just as it was starting to get light, and took the first room i could find - i was absolutely exhausted after travelling all night. Shiva guest house is in Dharamkot, a small town 15min walk up a step hill through woods along small paths. The house has only 5 rooms and a small outhouse with a squat toilet and a semi-hot shower.
I slept til midday then walked down to the village, which has two main streets, temple road (which leads to the Dalai Lamas residence) and the street parallel to it. It's full of Tibetan restaurants and shops selling blankets, clothes and all sorts of stuff. I love it! There aren't many cars to make loads of noise and the people don't shout at you to buy stuff! It's like they've actually seen foreigners before!!
So tomorrow I've signed up for a Tibetan cooking course and I'm gonna learn how to make momo's. And on Monday I've volunteered to help out at the Tibetan refugee association by joining the conversational English class and talking to Tibetans to help to improve their English.
And i found the place that I'm doing my "Introduction to Buddhism" course and it is lovely. I've taken some books out the library and have started reading 7years in Tibet.
Things are looking up!
Friday, 10 October 2008
Trekking
I don't know where to start!
We went trekking to the valley of flowers in the north of the state. Me, Freida (Swedish girl who lives in cork and has a strong Irish accent!), Johnathan (French-Canadian) and Ofir (Israeli).
Took the 12hour local bus to Govind Ghat which is the town at the bottom of the trek. Here we meet hundreds of Sikhs who are all going to Hemkund, which is a Sikh temple high in the mountains where the Sikh Guru is supposed to have meditated. We stay in a cheap hotel for the night then we get up early and start the walk to Gangoria - 1200m up over 12km. It is a lovely walk - really beautiful. We follow the river up the valley high into the hills. The path is well used and in good condition mostly. We chatted to lots of very friendly Punjabi's who are all visiting the temple on a pilgrimage the next day. Most walk, some in flip flops, women in saris with trainers and a walking stick, some old who have to rest frequently, some young kids. Many go by mule and some get carried by the Sherpas who are the smallest but strongest people i have ever seen! They often carry children (but sometimes big chunky women too!) in a big wicker chair basket which they carry on their back with a strap over their forehead taking the weight! There are lots of dhabas (food stalls) selling coca cola and chapatti along the way. Jonathon wasn't feeling great and hadn't been well for a few days before hand so we walked slowly while Frieda and Ofir went up ahead. It was tough going in the hot sun and at 2km before the village John and i got fed up carrying our bags up the steep final section so we found a lovely man with a mule and we loaded our bags onto the mule and what a fab feeling to be without my bag - it was so much easier and my shoulders didn't ache! An finally we see the village tucked into the forest! It has taken us about 5.5hours!
It is a tiny place - made up only of hotels with attached restaurants. The hotels are cheap but definitely not cheerful! Grey concrete half finished buildings with dirty cold rooms and hot water in a bucket at half an hours notice. It does the job and the four of us stay in one room for only 150 rupees a night (about 2pounds)! The restaurants are the same and it becomes obvious very quickly that this is the end of the season and we ask for eggs and get told this is "impossible" as is toast, and potato's are "impossible" too! So we settle for fried rice, chapatti and horrible mint tea!
It gets very cold at night and there is only electricity between 6-8pm so at 8ish we go to bed layered up against the cold!
The next day we head for Hemkund - the Sikh temple which is 1300m above us at 4300m. This is the last day it will be open before shutting for winter so we set off after breakfast. It is a steep ascent, up all the way with no easier flatter sections at all. It is soon obvious that i am struggling. My heart is racing and breathing is hard work and after getting about 450m up i am having to stop at every other corner of the windey path to rest and slow my heart and get my breath back. And at half way i know i cannot make it - it is too steep and my legs and lungs simply won't take me! So John, who is still not feeling great but coping with the height better than me decide to get mules the rest of the way up!!! It was great fun! Sitting on top of the mule being taken up the mountain. It is lovely at the top - there are prayers going on in the temple and in the next building the Sikhs provide hot chai and biscuits and a full lunch if you want it.
I manage to look around the temple and take some pictures but all i want to do is fall asleep! So i lie down on some rocks and fall asleep immediately. When i wake up my head is splitting, i feel disorientated and lethargic and i know that i have to get down from the mountain! So off i go to find a mule and leave the others to climb down!
As i get lower i feel better, my head isn't so sore and i start to realise my tummy is not right!! I went straight to bed when i got back to the hotel and later on I get diarrhea!! I didn't get out of bed for 24hours except to go to the toilet!! Stuck, 5hours walk from nowhere, feeling like crap in a freezing cold hotel with no hot water and having to use a torch to find my way to the toilet. "I hate India and I'm leaving as soon as possible, I'm going to Nepal, I'm going to bring forward my flight to Thailand, anything so i can get out of this dirty place that makes me feel so ill!!!"
The others go to the valley of Flowers the next day but i don't want to be too far from a toilet so i didn't go but they had a fab time and took some amazing photos.
The next day we walk back to Govind Ghat, the walk is deserted, all the Sikhs left after going to Hemkund and all the dhabas are closed, all the hotels are empty - literally! Everything is being brought back down the mountain to Joshimath which is the nearest biggish town.
But now that i am back in Rishikesh i spoke to a Californian guy who is studying homeopathy and he has given me some medication and i feel fine again!! So I'm going to stay in India! It all seems better now that we have proper food again and hot water and electricity (most of the time)!
We went trekking to the valley of flowers in the north of the state. Me, Freida (Swedish girl who lives in cork and has a strong Irish accent!), Johnathan (French-Canadian) and Ofir (Israeli).
Took the 12hour local bus to Govind Ghat which is the town at the bottom of the trek. Here we meet hundreds of Sikhs who are all going to Hemkund, which is a Sikh temple high in the mountains where the Sikh Guru is supposed to have meditated. We stay in a cheap hotel for the night then we get up early and start the walk to Gangoria - 1200m up over 12km. It is a lovely walk - really beautiful. We follow the river up the valley high into the hills. The path is well used and in good condition mostly. We chatted to lots of very friendly Punjabi's who are all visiting the temple on a pilgrimage the next day. Most walk, some in flip flops, women in saris with trainers and a walking stick, some old who have to rest frequently, some young kids. Many go by mule and some get carried by the Sherpas who are the smallest but strongest people i have ever seen! They often carry children (but sometimes big chunky women too!) in a big wicker chair basket which they carry on their back with a strap over their forehead taking the weight! There are lots of dhabas (food stalls) selling coca cola and chapatti along the way. Jonathon wasn't feeling great and hadn't been well for a few days before hand so we walked slowly while Frieda and Ofir went up ahead. It was tough going in the hot sun and at 2km before the village John and i got fed up carrying our bags up the steep final section so we found a lovely man with a mule and we loaded our bags onto the mule and what a fab feeling to be without my bag - it was so much easier and my shoulders didn't ache! An finally we see the village tucked into the forest! It has taken us about 5.5hours!
It is a tiny place - made up only of hotels with attached restaurants. The hotels are cheap but definitely not cheerful! Grey concrete half finished buildings with dirty cold rooms and hot water in a bucket at half an hours notice. It does the job and the four of us stay in one room for only 150 rupees a night (about 2pounds)! The restaurants are the same and it becomes obvious very quickly that this is the end of the season and we ask for eggs and get told this is "impossible" as is toast, and potato's are "impossible" too! So we settle for fried rice, chapatti and horrible mint tea!
It gets very cold at night and there is only electricity between 6-8pm so at 8ish we go to bed layered up against the cold!
The next day we head for Hemkund - the Sikh temple which is 1300m above us at 4300m. This is the last day it will be open before shutting for winter so we set off after breakfast. It is a steep ascent, up all the way with no easier flatter sections at all. It is soon obvious that i am struggling. My heart is racing and breathing is hard work and after getting about 450m up i am having to stop at every other corner of the windey path to rest and slow my heart and get my breath back. And at half way i know i cannot make it - it is too steep and my legs and lungs simply won't take me! So John, who is still not feeling great but coping with the height better than me decide to get mules the rest of the way up!!! It was great fun! Sitting on top of the mule being taken up the mountain. It is lovely at the top - there are prayers going on in the temple and in the next building the Sikhs provide hot chai and biscuits and a full lunch if you want it.
I manage to look around the temple and take some pictures but all i want to do is fall asleep! So i lie down on some rocks and fall asleep immediately. When i wake up my head is splitting, i feel disorientated and lethargic and i know that i have to get down from the mountain! So off i go to find a mule and leave the others to climb down!
As i get lower i feel better, my head isn't so sore and i start to realise my tummy is not right!! I went straight to bed when i got back to the hotel and later on I get diarrhea!! I didn't get out of bed for 24hours except to go to the toilet!! Stuck, 5hours walk from nowhere, feeling like crap in a freezing cold hotel with no hot water and having to use a torch to find my way to the toilet. "I hate India and I'm leaving as soon as possible, I'm going to Nepal, I'm going to bring forward my flight to Thailand, anything so i can get out of this dirty place that makes me feel so ill!!!"
The others go to the valley of Flowers the next day but i don't want to be too far from a toilet so i didn't go but they had a fab time and took some amazing photos.
The next day we walk back to Govind Ghat, the walk is deserted, all the Sikhs left after going to Hemkund and all the dhabas are closed, all the hotels are empty - literally! Everything is being brought back down the mountain to Joshimath which is the nearest biggish town.
But now that i am back in Rishikesh i spoke to a Californian guy who is studying homeopathy and he has given me some medication and i feel fine again!! So I'm going to stay in India! It all seems better now that we have proper food again and hot water and electricity (most of the time)!
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