Well, I didn't get 2 hours of sleep, I got 20 minutes. And it wasn't cool as I'd hoped. But I'll get to that later.
After breakfast with the kids from the school of life, Papa and I walked through the small center of Dharamkot then still further up the hill to the Tuschita Meditation Center. Definitely at the top of my list for places to come back to for a longer stay. Up in the woods, a quiet, peaceful haven of mindfulness, Buddhist practice, inspirational reading, fascinating documentaries, and when I walked out of the library/bookstore, it was with a bag of, you guessed it, more books. I'll give you the final tally when I unpack at home. On the way back down, stopped at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts, where we could hear singing practice, then had a delicious snack at a lovely organic cafe nearby overlooking the mountains. We continued all the way down to McLloyd Ganj, where we went to the Tibet Museum, a great exhibit outlining the history and struggle of the Tibetan people. I knew very little about the situation, just the basics, but after the museum and the documentary on the 10th Panchem Lama we watched upstairs (followed by a 7 minute amateur video of recent self-immolations in Tibet), as well as all the other Tibetan centers we visited since arriving, I have a much greater understanding and appreciation of the slogans, "Free Tibet" and "Tibet will be Free!" Just outside the museum, there was the Buddhist bookstore. Yup, I did it again. (Papa isn't doing a very good job of helping me control my compulsive book buying! Probably because he likes my choices and is counting on borrowing them all one day!)
(Thought I'd have time to finish this post from Rishikesh, where I started it yesterday, but internet wasn't working well last night, and we're already in Delhi! Good quick flight here this morning. Here's the continuation.)
After buying my Buddhist books, we walked along the main road and I bought a few souvenirs. Walked down to Lung Ta, a non-profit Japanese resto, whose profits go to helping an organization for Tibetan ex-political prisoners. Delicious food, amazing terrace with beautiful view of snow-capped mountains. Not wanting to leave when we finished our meal, we ordered some Japanese green tea and read some Pema Chodron and Tich Nhat Hanh. Lovely evening. Nice walk back up the winding road to Bhagsu, where it was not quite so lovely. Return to the noisy young partiers who we had to block out with iPods and earplugs. Won't be sleeping there next time I'm in this neck of the woods.
Up at 7 the next morning, packed bags (bus that night), tea on on the balcony, then up to the sunny rooftop to lead papa in a one hour Trika yoga session. Grabbed a couple brioches at a nearby bakery to eat on the way down to south McLloyd Ganj to attend a second dharma lecture next to the Tibetan Library. That day's monk wasn't quite as enjoyable to listen to as the first one we saw, and the flow of his teaching wasn't very smooth since he had to be translated, but he did have some interesting points to make. Among others, there was this: "Do not be fooled by temporary, 'fake' joys and happiness. Suffering is most delightful." Hmmm. Ok. Really? It's little out of context here, but it actually kinda, sorta made sense when he explained it. I'll save the explanation for the book or for verbal chats when I get home. Apple cider and lunch at neighboring canteen again, then back up to the center of MG for a little more shopping (no books! But I'd like to say, here, that monk #1 told us that all the powerful and and necessary teachings can now be found in books. So there.) In a little shop off the main road, papa bought me an amazing early birthday present. I had been eyeing singing bowls on the side of the road and wanting to buy one, and the very kind shopkeeper here knew a lot about them, giving us a demonstration and mini-lesson on their use and healing properties. Papa bought me a set of three. Can't wait to use them! Then it was back up to our guesthouse, where I had time to write Dharamsala Part 1 before heading to the bus.
The bus. The first half hour was decent. It was relatively cool and papa and I chatted about the two monk lectures. But we descended so fast that the coolness didn't last long at all. In no time, the lowered altitude brought intense heat. And speeding down a bumpy road is much more uncomfortable than slowly climbing it. Our bus driver, like most in India, was a lunatic. The road could be described as a series of u-turns, with very minimal straight driving in between. Most sane drivers tend to naturally slow when approaching sharp curves, but I'm pretty sure our driver actually sped up. No need to pay a hefty price for amusement park thrills here. Not only was the speed-junky at wheel flooring it down the mountain, but the road was so bumpy that our bodies shook quite violently, and the lights in the bus kept flickering on and off. Sometimes, when we were going particularly fast over a particularly large bump, those lucky ones of us at the back of the bus would be ejected a few inches off our seats, letting out a collective moan upon landing. This went on for several hours. Bus left at 7:30pm and stopped for dinner at 10:30. After dinner, it continued. Papa and I shared earphones to listen to music for a while, and had to put the volume nearly at the max to hear anything over the loud rattling of the bus speeding down the bumpy road. Next time we stopped was for the 3:30am tea break. Hadn't slept a wink yet. I didn't get off the bus, but ate the Twix bar I had in my purse. Maybe chocolate wasn't the best food for bringing on sleep. But it worked! Last time I checked the clock was shortly after 4:30, and then, somehow, I slept. Ahhh, what bliss. When I groggily opened my eyes and checked my phone for the time, it was... 5:03. Got a satisfying 20 minutes of sleep. Listened to some music, ate some crackers. The road was still bumpy, but the smooth stretches became increasingly long, and each time we were on them, I wondered if I had gone deaf and numb. No rattling in my ears, no rattling of my bones. For the last hour or so, we were on a decent road, and finally, around 8am, we reached Rishikesh.
Voila. That's it for Dharamsala. So what's left? Just Rishikesh and Delhi! I have about 6 days of Rishikesh to cover... don't know if I'll get to it before coming home. Heading to the Taj Mahal tomorrow, so I'll definitely be writing about that next. Stay tuned!
After breakfast with the kids from the school of life, Papa and I walked through the small center of Dharamkot then still further up the hill to the Tuschita Meditation Center. Definitely at the top of my list for places to come back to for a longer stay. Up in the woods, a quiet, peaceful haven of mindfulness, Buddhist practice, inspirational reading, fascinating documentaries, and when I walked out of the library/bookstore, it was with a bag of, you guessed it, more books. I'll give you the final tally when I unpack at home. On the way back down, stopped at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts, where we could hear singing practice, then had a delicious snack at a lovely organic cafe nearby overlooking the mountains. We continued all the way down to McLloyd Ganj, where we went to the Tibet Museum, a great exhibit outlining the history and struggle of the Tibetan people. I knew very little about the situation, just the basics, but after the museum and the documentary on the 10th Panchem Lama we watched upstairs (followed by a 7 minute amateur video of recent self-immolations in Tibet), as well as all the other Tibetan centers we visited since arriving, I have a much greater understanding and appreciation of the slogans, "Free Tibet" and "Tibet will be Free!" Just outside the museum, there was the Buddhist bookstore. Yup, I did it again. (Papa isn't doing a very good job of helping me control my compulsive book buying! Probably because he likes my choices and is counting on borrowing them all one day!)
(Thought I'd have time to finish this post from Rishikesh, where I started it yesterday, but internet wasn't working well last night, and we're already in Delhi! Good quick flight here this morning. Here's the continuation.)
After buying my Buddhist books, we walked along the main road and I bought a few souvenirs. Walked down to Lung Ta, a non-profit Japanese resto, whose profits go to helping an organization for Tibetan ex-political prisoners. Delicious food, amazing terrace with beautiful view of snow-capped mountains. Not wanting to leave when we finished our meal, we ordered some Japanese green tea and read some Pema Chodron and Tich Nhat Hanh. Lovely evening. Nice walk back up the winding road to Bhagsu, where it was not quite so lovely. Return to the noisy young partiers who we had to block out with iPods and earplugs. Won't be sleeping there next time I'm in this neck of the woods.
Up at 7 the next morning, packed bags (bus that night), tea on on the balcony, then up to the sunny rooftop to lead papa in a one hour Trika yoga session. Grabbed a couple brioches at a nearby bakery to eat on the way down to south McLloyd Ganj to attend a second dharma lecture next to the Tibetan Library. That day's monk wasn't quite as enjoyable to listen to as the first one we saw, and the flow of his teaching wasn't very smooth since he had to be translated, but he did have some interesting points to make. Among others, there was this: "Do not be fooled by temporary, 'fake' joys and happiness. Suffering is most delightful." Hmmm. Ok. Really? It's little out of context here, but it actually kinda, sorta made sense when he explained it. I'll save the explanation for the book or for verbal chats when I get home. Apple cider and lunch at neighboring canteen again, then back up to the center of MG for a little more shopping (no books! But I'd like to say, here, that monk #1 told us that all the powerful and and necessary teachings can now be found in books. So there.) In a little shop off the main road, papa bought me an amazing early birthday present. I had been eyeing singing bowls on the side of the road and wanting to buy one, and the very kind shopkeeper here knew a lot about them, giving us a demonstration and mini-lesson on their use and healing properties. Papa bought me a set of three. Can't wait to use them! Then it was back up to our guesthouse, where I had time to write Dharamsala Part 1 before heading to the bus.
The bus. The first half hour was decent. It was relatively cool and papa and I chatted about the two monk lectures. But we descended so fast that the coolness didn't last long at all. In no time, the lowered altitude brought intense heat. And speeding down a bumpy road is much more uncomfortable than slowly climbing it. Our bus driver, like most in India, was a lunatic. The road could be described as a series of u-turns, with very minimal straight driving in between. Most sane drivers tend to naturally slow when approaching sharp curves, but I'm pretty sure our driver actually sped up. No need to pay a hefty price for amusement park thrills here. Not only was the speed-junky at wheel flooring it down the mountain, but the road was so bumpy that our bodies shook quite violently, and the lights in the bus kept flickering on and off. Sometimes, when we were going particularly fast over a particularly large bump, those lucky ones of us at the back of the bus would be ejected a few inches off our seats, letting out a collective moan upon landing. This went on for several hours. Bus left at 7:30pm and stopped for dinner at 10:30. After dinner, it continued. Papa and I shared earphones to listen to music for a while, and had to put the volume nearly at the max to hear anything over the loud rattling of the bus speeding down the bumpy road. Next time we stopped was for the 3:30am tea break. Hadn't slept a wink yet. I didn't get off the bus, but ate the Twix bar I had in my purse. Maybe chocolate wasn't the best food for bringing on sleep. But it worked! Last time I checked the clock was shortly after 4:30, and then, somehow, I slept. Ahhh, what bliss. When I groggily opened my eyes and checked my phone for the time, it was... 5:03. Got a satisfying 20 minutes of sleep. Listened to some music, ate some crackers. The road was still bumpy, but the smooth stretches became increasingly long, and each time we were on them, I wondered if I had gone deaf and numb. No rattling in my ears, no rattling of my bones. For the last hour or so, we were on a decent road, and finally, around 8am, we reached Rishikesh.
Voila. That's it for Dharamsala. So what's left? Just Rishikesh and Delhi! I have about 6 days of Rishikesh to cover... don't know if I'll get to it before coming home. Heading to the Taj Mahal tomorrow, so I'll definitely be writing about that next. Stay tuned!
Très chère Erika
ReplyDeleteTes récits de voyage et de chaleur me rappellent la Thailande et le Cambodge. Il est toujours agréable de te lire, tu le fais si bien (ton épisode de frustration avec internet m'a fait rire). Je voulais te féliciter pour ta descente de la montagne en 10 minutes, quel exploit! C'est fameux aussi que tu puisses vivre des moments si privilégiés avec ton papa, merveilleux. A bientôt! Réjeanne xoxoxo
Merci pour tes beaux commentaires, Rejeanne :)
DeleteOn se revoit tres bientot! (Je pensais venir chercher mon auto la fin de semaine prochaine (1-3), soit etre a Ottawa du vendredi pm a samedi pm, ou toute la journee dimanche. J'allais aussi ecrire un courriel a Claude. Bisoux xxx
Dharamsala became the new home to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in Exile in 1960 when the prime minister of India granted the land to exiled Tibetans Best Places to Visit in Dharamshala
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