Dharamsala

Because my bag didn't arrive until Thursday night, the train tickets were sold out. I ended up having to take a rickety overnight bus. There wasn't much leg room, but it did have AC. Of course that was the day that my "Delhi belly" hit. I was sick the entire day, and couldn't eat anything. It was a long trip to say the least and I didn't sleep much, but it wasn't all bad. I ended up sitting next to a 29 year old woman named Preetha. We had an instant connection. She is a very unconventional, open minded, beautiful, and independent Indian woman. She was travelling by herself for a long weekend vacation. Travelling alone is unheard of for Indian women. We had so much in common. We're both single, live alone, read the same books, and have very similar beliefs. We had great deep conversations all night long. It was a great distraction from my stomach problem!

Our bus left over two hours after the scheduled time. As we were leaving Delhi a horrible smell hit. I looked out the window and saw a mountain of garbage like I could have never imagined. It was very disturbing. It took forever to get out of the city. Delhi is huge! It was a long bumpy trip with a lot of windy roads going up to the mountains. The bus only stopped twice on 13 hour journey. On one of our stops, I broke out in a sweat and felt like I was going to pass out. Preetha was an angel. She totally looked after me, bought me soda, and made sure that I was OK. At one point Preetha had to go to the bathroom so bad that we had to have the driver stop by the side of the road, and yes we went in the bushes. What are you going to do? When we started up the mountains and the road started getting really windy, I didn't know if I was going to make it, but then the sun started to come up. I saw the sunrise in the Himalayas. It was beautiful! The mountains are as majestic as I imagined them. We even saw dozens of monkeys by the side of the road. There were even tiny little babies in their mothers arms. They were so cute!

I made it in one piece, without any pooping accidents. :) My friend Glenn had introduced my to his good friend Jhon via email. (Thanks Glenn!) Jhon and his dad live in Dharamsala and own a cute little jewelry shop with beautiful gems and minerals. Really great stuff! When I arrived at the bus station Jhon was there to meet me. He had reserved a room for me at a cute little guest house and took me straight there to drop off my stuff, shower, and take a nap. I was exhausted and still not feeling well so I was so relieved to be off of that bus! Jhon and his dad are SO sweet and have totally taken me under their wing.

After I rested for awhile I went and walked around a little bit. I was finally able to eat a little bit of Tibetan food which is much milder than Indian and really good! Dharamsala is a beautiful, peaceful, and magical place. It's very cool here and it rains often. It's a nice change after the intensity and heat of Delhi. The narrow streets are lined with people selling beautiful jewelry, tapestries, statues, rugs, clothes, and much more! It's full of great restaurants with all different types of food. I haven't paid more than $3 for a meal. It is a Tibetan community so there is a nice mix of Tibetan people, Indian people, and tourists from all over. There are monks literally everywhere in their maroon robes. There's a monk at the computer next to me right now! The monks are all ages from as young as probably 5 to wrinkled and hunched over. The mountains are massive and the town is surrounded by snow capped peaks. Colorful prayer flags are hung everywhere. Huge eagles or hawks (I'm not sure which) soar circling over the town all day long. The town is so high the birds are very low and very close. It's amazing! The Tibetan people are beautiful and always have a huge smile.

I've already had so many amazing experiences I don't even know where to start. There's the little moments like watching the sunset over the Himalayas with Preetha while petting the stray dogs. Sitting at a rooftop restaurant with the sound of monks chanting, while the eagles are circling over my head, beautiful view of the mountains jutting up in every direction. Sharing a cup of Kashmir tea with Jhon or his dad in their little shop. Discovering a nest of baby birds in a whole in a rock wall. Walking and talking with 2 adorable monks with huge smiles who want to practice their English. They even gave me their cell phone number! Every day I meet nice interesting and helpful people. Every moment has been magical.

Today I started the day with an Ashtanga yoga class. It was taught by an amazing grey haired yogi named Vijay. He is definitely the "real deal", a real yoga master. I couldn't believe how strong and flexible he was! He did stuff that I have never seen anyone do before and he did it effortlessly. The class was only $5 and he had 2 assistants who were going around and giving adjustments for the entire class.

After yoga I walked up to the temple. The temple is a beautiful building with huge statues of the Buddha, Green Tara, and other deities. The walls are covered in intricate and colorful Buddhist paintings. Platforms filled with candles burn all day long. There are huge prayer wheels that people are constantly spinning. Of course it is surrounded by spectacular views. Much of temple is open air. Today I just "happened" to show up during sacred Buddhist ceremony.

It seemed like every monk in town was there. There were hundreds of them. They were all seated on the floor facing an alter in the center of the temple. Tibetan people from the community sat surrounding them, all facing the center. I not only got to observe this sacred ceremony, but I also participated in it! I took my seat surrounded by very old Tibetan men and women, with deeply creased faces and smiling eyes. We sat there and prayed and meditated. The monks would sing mantras over the speakers, then silence. I could hear the old men next to me praying and chanting softly. Everyone was using their mandala beads, or spinning prayer wheels. At some point the monks came around and poured tea for everyone (hundreds of people) out of huge silver pots. The tea seemed more like hot milk than tea.

It was one of the most beautiful experiences I have ever had in my life. I sat there for over 2 hours, breeze blowing, the old Tibetan men offering me their cushions and smiling warmly at me. I don't know how all of those elderly people were able to sit so long. As I prayed and meditated with these beautiful, peaceful people I cried several times. I'm tearing up as I write this. I can't even imagine how much hardship these people have seen in their lives, yet they maintain a peaceful and open heart. It was more than inspirational. Being in that beautiful energy, and being able to participate was an honor. As I prayed today and I will continue to pray. I pray for peace, to Free Tibet, and to give these peaceful people their country back!!

After the ceremony all of the monks and people went and walked around this long sacred path, completely lined with prayer wheels of all sizes. It was covered with more prayer flags than I have ever seen and in the center is a sacred shrine. The trail is probably about 1 km and people of all ages walked together spinning the wheels and laboring up the steep hill back to the top. Words cannot even begin to describe how beautiful, colorful, magical, and especially spiritual the whole experience was.

It been a great experience so far, to say the least, and I've only been gone a week! Now I'm going to Jhon's house. He's cooking dinner for me tonight. I can't express how grateful and blessed I feel. This is a dream come true!