His Holiness, the Dalai Lama

Everyone was busy preparing the day the Dalai Lama came home. The streets were painted, banners were hung and the streets were lined with Tibetan flags. We waited all day as no one knew the exact time he was coming. The moment was brief, but worth the wait, he was smiling as always and had his hands clasped. There were about 20 cars in his brigade and they took him straight to his home at the monastery.



He is speaking on November 9th and 10th and we’ve already secured our passes to see him. We’ve been meeting with Nagwon, the monk who has been teaching us Buddhist philosophy and enjoying our time in McLeod Ganj. We will be volunteering to teach English and starting a meditation course soon. Matthew is planning on volunteering time at a local animal shelter while I plan on starting a Reiki course.

We’ve found our favorite restaurants (Tibetan food is so good!!!) and met some friends in town. There is a sweet Tibetan woman that sits on the corner almost every day selling homemade momos, steamed dumplings stuffed with potatoes or spinach, with chilly sauce (5 momos for 10 rupees or 25 cents).

We caught a documentary last night “Escape from Tibet”, which gives you a good idea of what Tibetan refugees have to go through to get to this area of India to escape religious and political persecution. Most of the people here have made the long and dangerous trek for over 30 days through the Himalayas (very close to Mt. Everest) with out maps, supplies, or guides. They trek with their day-to-day clothes on in layers and all of their possessions strapped to their backs. Thousands of people do not make it. In fact we spoke with Nagwon today about his trek and he mentioned that a 26 year old woman died during his journey. Many people lose fingers and toes due to frostbite or become snow blind just to gain their freedom and even once they arrive, they could still be sent back to China. Many people have made the trek more than once.

We took a walk to Bhagsu today, a small town about 2km away with a waterfall. It was a nice walk with beautiful views over McLeod Ganj and the countryside.

Tomorrow we will be changing hotels, moving to the center of town. We are only a short walk as it is but the people from our hotel are constantly pressuring us to book a travel package to Kashmir and we’re a bit tired of dealing with it. The place we found is half the price (about $7/night) and much nicer.

First Day in McLeod Ganj

We started off today to see the monastery, where His Holiness, the Dalai Lama lives. He has lived in McLeod Ganj since going into exile from Tibet in 1959 (after Chinese occupation and subsequent torture and killing of the Tibetan people). With many followers, he made the 25 day trek through the Himalayas to Nepal, then on to India where they gave him political asylum. Since then, thousands of Tibetans have followed in his footsteps to escape torture and imprisonment by China for their beliefs.
The monastery is a beautiful place, prayer flags leading up to it and inside different areas of worship. In the courtyard, the monks were doing debate (in which they end each point with a slap of their hand and a stomp of their feet).

We wondered around the complex for some time. A monk approached us at one point and asked where we were from, etc. He invited us to his home, within the monastery, and made us some tea. He had a simple two-room apt, books in the side of one room and a mattress on the floor. He talked about his life, where he was from in Tibet and showed pictures of his family and teachings. He’s been living in McLeod Ganj for the last 10 years, also making the long 25 day trek through the mountains to Nepal at the young age of 18. He explained that it was the only way, since he had no passport (and would not receive one from China), the only option was the long trek to Nepal. He hasn’t seen his family in over 10 years but said he plans on going back in 6 years (after his teachings are finished) to see his family and homeland again. Sadly, he explained that he will be put in prison for 2 years when he returns to Tibet but it will be worth it to see his family again.

He told us that the Dalai Lama would be coming back to the monastery on Saturday and teaching on the 9th so we plan on staying in McLeod Ganj at least until then. He gave us a book to read and asked if we would like to come back tomorrow at 5:30, he would have his translator then and could teach us some basic Buddhist philosophy; even offering to make us a Tibetan meal. We agreed of course and said our goodbyes. After leaving the monastery we took a long walk around the complex, a beautiful path with prayer wheels and prayer flags, rocks with prayers inscribed and monks doing their daily kora.

Outside of the temple there are markets and restaurants, you have a general feeling of being in Tibet rather than India and the people are so warm, welcoming and always smiling. This seems an easy place to sink into, we have plans to take a meditation course, some yoga classes and do some volunteer work such as teaching English and basic computer skills. The long days journey for us get here now seems so menial compared to what most have gone through to reach this special place.

The Long Journey to McLeod Ganj

We left Pushkar at 12:30 to get to Ajmer on time for our 1:55pm train. The driver we had was apparently new (to driving) and we didn’t get out of first gear the entire ride. At some points he would stall on the hills and start rolling backward. The 20 min drive took over an hour and we were running to catch our train before it left. The train was delayed though, in the end for 5 hours altogether and we didn’t pull away until 7pm.

The train was quite comfortable and we both slept well on the 16 hour journey. In the morning we drank some chai and met a friend who was in the birth with us, Guarev, a captain in the India Army. He shared pictures and sweets with us and told us about his favorite parts of India. When it was time to get off the train he was leaning out the door and waving goodbyes and we promised to keep in touch.

Our driver, Vinot, was waiting for us at the exit and within minutes we were off to McLeod Ganj. It was planned to take about 3 hours to get to our hotel but it ended up taking about 5 hours due to a minor accident. The roads on the way up were in rough shape, some barely one lane dirt/rock roads on winding cliffs. At one point we were trying pass an area where they were doing road work but there were 2 large trucks meeting us head on. Our driver backed our car up to allow them to pass, the first going by fine and the second hitting the side of our vehicle along the way (damaging the side and bumper of our car). Before we knew it, Vinot (a short man with a small frame) had jumped out of his car yelling and screaming at the men in the truck. Then about 5 guys jumped out of the truck, yelling back at Vinot and then about 20 others surrounded our car, joining into the yelling and screaming. We were starting to get afraid Vinot was in over his head and Matt looked at me and asked if I could drive a stick… After about an hour of yelling and screaming, some phone calls to bosses and money exchanged, we were again on our way to McLeod Ganj.

During the time of the stop, we had some time to watch the roadwork being done. One cement roller with two women in sari’s gathering rocks into bowls they placed on their heads (their children playing on top of the piles), while another women gathered dirt in a bowl and the men doing the really hard labor, pouring water into the roller.
The rest of the drive was beautiful, the scenery changing from desert landscape, camels and sheep to rolling hills, mountains, prayer flags and houses built into the hills. We arrived in McLeod Ganj at about 6pm, making the total journey there 28 hours. We checked into our hotel, took long, hot showers and went upstairs to have some drinks.

Leaving Pushkar

So today at 1:55 we board a train to Jammu, stopping in Chikki Bank which is about a 2 hour drive from McLeod Ganj and the home of the Damai Lama. The train ride will be about 16 hours through some drastic changes in scenery. We are leaving the Rajasthani desert for the mountains and it will be a nice change of pace. The last few days we've been lazy, just walking about the lake and bazaar and for a sunset walked up to the Pap Monchot Temple. I'm attaching some pictures and we'll post more when we get to the mountains.

Trip to the Post Office

The most interesting part of our day today was our trip to the Post Office. There is only one in Pushkar and it's a bit hard to find, we took different narrow streets asking shopkeepers along the way. We walked all through Pushkar trying to locate it only to find out it's just down the street from our hotel, just beyond a yellow house with a blue door and a cow out front.

We enquired about the costs for mailing packages to the US and the manager said, "Oh, sure, we can send it to China" and just laughed. He invited us around to the back of the glass windows, where the post masters desks were, offered us a cigarrette and chatted with us awhile. Come to find out he is the head postmaster and he just pokes fun at the people working there. Once we found out the costs of the shipping, we left for our hotel to gather things to be shipped. Before stepping out, he started showing us how much money he stores in his desk drawers and started pulling out huge stacks of bills and laughing more.

When we returned he invited us to the back so they could package everything. They don't use boxes, they sew everything up in burlap. While one of the guys was sewing our packages, the postmaster brought us chai and biscuits and we chatted a bit more. He showed us a picture on the wall of the London Bridge, told us it was China and just laughed and laughed. We left our packages and said goodbye, he offered us a gift on the way out (a small indian jewelry box) and told us if we ever come back to Pushkar we are most welcome.

I don't think we've ever had such a fun trip to the post office as this.

Pushkar

Pushkar, a Hindu pilgrimage site, is a sleepy little town crowded around a small holy lake; which is said to have appeared where Brahma dropped a lotus flower. Pushkar gets it’s name from this incident – push meaning ‘flower’ and kar meaning ‘hand’. The story of Brahma is quite interesting; he’s considered to be the dreamer of the universe. Reality itself is Brahma’s dream. Each of his lifetimes spans 311,040,000,000 human years and corresponds to the great cycle of the universe, at the end of which it’s destroyed by Shiva. Then Brahma is reborn to dream it all again.

According to legend, Brahma wanted to perform a yagna (holy sacrifice) at the lake on a full moon night, a ceremony which required the presence of his consort, Saraswati. But Saraswati was late. Brahma quickly married a convenient milk maid named Gayatri and when Saraswati arrived she discovered Gayatri seated in her own honoured place beside Brahma. Saraswati was furious and vowed that Brahma would be forgotten by the people of the earth. The Gods pleaded with her to reconsider the curse and she finally relented; decreeing that he could be worshipped, but only in Pushkar. The only Brahma temple in the world is located in Pushkar. Saraswati and Gayatri both have temples here as well, each set high on the hill at opposite ends of the lake.

Our first days in Pushkar have been lazy, I don’t think we’ve woken before 11:00 any day that we’ve been here. We’ve shopped in the local bazaar, chatted with the locals and explored the ghats. Pushkar has 52 bathing ghats surrounding the lake, one of which is where Gandhi’s ashes were spread. It was at this ghat that we did a puja and received a blessing on Matt’s birthday (which was on the 26th). We visited the Brahma temple where there are tons of monkeys roaming around, jumping from trees to buildings. Tonight we will probably walk up to the Pap Mochani Temple for sunset and hopefully, wake up before dawn tomorrow to watch sunrise over Pushkar from the Saraswati Temple. We’ll be leaving in a couple of days, leaving the Rajasthani desert and heading up north into the mountains. It will be a nice change of pace and scenery which we are both looking forward to.

Night Bus to Pushkar

We were both a bit nervous about the evening bus to Pushkar; traveling by bus during the day is dangerous enough and we can only believe that it’s more so at night. We decided not to change the ticket though, as this was the only bus stopping in Pushkar (all daytime buses stopped in Ajmer and we would have to find another bus to Pushkar) so we left Udaipur around 9:15pm.

The bus experience is interesting in India, first we hand an address written in Hindi to the rickshaw driver and hope he takes us to the correct spot. There isn’t a central bus station, just various spots on streets where the buses stop. The rickshaw driver stopped at a storefront and we handed our tickets to a travel agent who ripped off a piece and told us to sit and wait. A man came about 30 minutes later and said to follow him. We followed him down two streets to the bus waiting and then he asked us why we were there, we had to go down a different street to catch our bus. We proceeded to find our bus the next street down after asking several people along the way.

The bus ride was fairly uneventful aside from coming close to colliding with another bus on the way out of Udaipur. It was a bit hard to fall asleep as the whole bus seemed to shake and rattle on every bump in the road. We both closed our eyes and slept for the first few hours.We made one stop that I remember for some Chai at a small town. We sat and talked to a camel driver from Pushkar who was on his way home. He was very nice, sharing his chai tea and sweets with us. The stop was longer than usual and various men from the bus were working under the chassis, altogether the stop took about an hour. We just prayed it would make it all the way.

We arrived at about 5:30am and awoke to the driver telling us to get off the bus. We thought we were in Pushkar but after looking around noticed all of the signs said Ajmer. We found the bus driver and told him we were promised the bus would take us all the way to Pushkar and this was Ajmer. He took us to a car and told us to get in; this man would take us the rest of the way to Pushkar. The man seemed nice enough and had his son with him but there is something eery about trusting strangers when you are in a strange place and unsure of where you are going. In any event, he took us the rest of the way to Pushkar (about 20 kilometers away). We were almost stopped at a road block on the way but the he veered off the road as guards were waving for us to stop. He explained that they wanted him to pay taxes for bringing tourists in and he wasn’t about to do it. He didn’t ask us to pay for the ride but said “if you feel like paying me 10, or 100 rupees…” so we gave him 20 rupees for the experience.