Where the Dalai Lama stays

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  McLeod Ganj, Himachal Pradesh, India
Saturday, April 25, 2009

We are parked in McLeod Ganj, near Dharamsala, which is the home of the Dalai Lama and many fellow Tibetans.  Clean, fresh mountain air, a vibrant Tibetan community and peaceful surroundings all made it conducive for an extended stay here - 3.5 weeks.  McLeod Ganj is quite unlike the rest of India that we have seen to date and has a different energy about it.  The majority of the population here is Tibetan, with a small Indian community who call this place home.  Add to that mix the many foreigners who stay- some to study Buddhism or yoga- and others just to hang out and/or volunteer, plus the local Indian tourists that descend here on week-ends - all in all it makes for an interesting and colourful crowd.  It is a little touristy but hassle free.

Our first week was spent trying out the Iyengar Yoga classes in Dharamkot, a neighbouring town. It was about a half hour walk up into the hills.  A great way to start our morning and get our exercise at the same time.  It took a couple of days for me (Bobbie) to warm up to the yoga classes, or maybe to the teacher.  The teaching method was somewhat different -very technical -and the teacher a little intimidating.  But at the end of the classes, I have to admit he was very good.  A lot of emphasis on bringing your awareness within, which paralleled our Vipassana meditation teachings.

Food and water is not a problem here. There are filtered water stations throughout the village which highly support re-filling water bottles and the use of less plastic.  There is also no shortage of international cuisine, all very authentic and good. We have tried Japanese, Korean, Thai, Italian plus the usual Indian, Tibetan, Chinese and Western.  Food is very inexpensive here.  Most meals are under $6 Cdn for both of us, not including the occasional beer for Rajiv on a Saturday!  That adds an extra $2.50 to the bill. Also lots of cafes for afternoon coffees and cake.

We spent the last two weeks of our afternoons volunteering at ROGPA, an organization that works with newly arrived Tibetan refugees. We volunteered at the Baby Care Centre (BCC), like a day care. The service is provided free to the parents, so that they can work and get on their feet.  The BCC has about 40 kids under 3 years of age. Don't know what we were thinking of when we signed up.  But 40 kids in different stages of biting, spitting, fighting, pulling hair and all that fun stuff that kids do.

The work we did was nothing glamorous - changed nappies, emptied potties, fed the kids their afternoon snack, played with them, sang nursery rhymes and made sure they didn't kill one another. When the kids fought, sometimes, its like in the NHL, (okay, maybe that's stretching it, but that came to mind one afternoon) we let them have it  out until it got a little rough before separating them.  Even then, the feisty ones were usually clawing and waiting to give that final hit.  As Rajiv said, these kids sure teach you equanimity and patience.

This is our last stop, before we head off to Delhi on May 20th   to catch our flight to Singapore and then onward to Canada on July 2nd.  And it looks like we will be driving the van back to Ontario (a big yipee from Rajiv).  I have conceded that it may be fun doing that.  I might regret my decision but hey......this will be the last leg of our journey, might as well make it memorable!

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ROGPA picnic	Prayer wheels at the temple	Story of prayer wheel	usual indian traffic jam
Monks chanting in temple	Jewellery street vendor	packaging service for parcels - indian style	the meat shop??
buying shawls	Tibetan prayer flags	McLeod Ganj market square traffic	verbena in the wild
Tibetan women whiling their time away	street life outside our hotel	door hangings for sale	Nepalese flute teacher/vendor-sold Rajiv 3 flutes
monk contemplating life!

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