Ommmmm

This weekend, we went up to Dharamsala in northern India, which was aMAZing. Dharamsala is the home of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan government-in-exile, lots of maroon-robed Buddhist monks, and even more European hippies. It kind of reminded me of the Himalayan version of Boulder, Colorado. A lot of people come and stay in Dharamsala long-term to study yoga, meditation, and Ayurvedic/holistic medicine. Dharamsala is absolutely beautiful (and about 50 degrees cooler than Delhi!) - huge mountains with tiny houses perched on the side, colorful prayer flags strung up between homes and across streets, and some seriously awesome people watching.

The view from our hotel

Prayer flags strung over Dharamsala

Walking down one of the streets in McLeod Ganj

Rainbows over the valley

On Saturday, we hiked some steep trails between the tiny towns of McLeod Ganj, Dharamkot, and Bhagsu. The views were spectacular, and each of the towns were very cute with lots of shops selling Tibetan crafts and the latest in hippie-chic clothing. Unfortunately, the hike made us all very aware of just how out of shape we've become after 3 weeks in Delhi, where our only exercise has been staying as still as possible to avoid overheating. We ate at a couple different Tibetan restaurants, and it was a very welcome change to not see the words "curry", "Tandoori" or "dal" on the menu.

Me hiking with "Smokey", the random dog who herded us along on our hike (until he was scared off by some very vicious monkeys)

Nancy and I taking a chai break

Sunday we visited the Dalai Lama's house, Dharamsala's Buddhist temple, and a museum about the Chinese invasion of Tibet. There was a big rally of monks and Tibetan refugees at the temple because it was the birthday of the Panchan Lama (the Dalai Lama's right-hand man), who China has allegedly been holding captive for the last 20 years. There were speakers, posters hung up all over, and a group of people participating in a hunger strike.

The rally to free the Panchen Lama

The Dalai Lama's living space is small and understated. The temple is also pretty small, but very ornately decorated. You could peek in the side and listen to the monks sitting on the floor chanting. The temple is lined by prayer wheels - these gold cylinders with prayers enscribed on them that you spin clockwise to send the prayer out into the world. There were lots of people prostrating and praying outside the temple, it was a very neat sight to see.

The museum of recent Tibetan history was pretty sobering - kind of like a mini Holocaust museum. Our waiter at one of the restaurants we ate at told us about he had walked for 24 days across the mountains to flee from Tibet in 2006. He had grown up under Chinese rule, and was very happy to get to talk to Nancy in Mandarin, but also said that he would unlikely ever be able to go back to Tibet, and would probably not see his family again. Really sad.

Me, Emily, and Nancy with our Tibetan waiter

Sadly, our mountain vacation had to come to an end, and we took a very cramped overnight bus back to Delhi. We were welcomed back to Delhi by the undeniable stench of human feces, and a view out the bus window of dozens of men squatting next to the river, doing their morning business. A few seconds later we drove by the brand new Jetson's-style Delhi Metro. Call me crazy, but I think proper sewage and sanitation would come before state-of-the-art public transportation on my list of priorities. It's been a very educational experience being in Delhi for so long, but I am eagerly anticipating moving on to greener pastures at the end of this week.