I can hear you all now - what a waste of time!
Why are you starting a blog NOW instead of on day one?!
Why wait until you had a month's worth of happenings to share until you decided to begin?!
There are many answers - all of which I will not go into, considering, as stated, I do have ONE MONTH worth of tales to tell - from Beijing to Lhasa, from Varanasi to Dharamsala.
Look, to be honest, I'm not going to get very far today. It's late, it's even later in Australia, where I assume most of my avid followers reside, and I can barely remember what happened last week, let alone on January 10 when I boarded plane number one.
But I'll give you a quick catch up later. For now, let's concentrate on the present!
I am currently in Upper Dharamsala, or McLeod Ganj, as it is also known. High up in the mountains, overlooking snowy peaks and rubbish-filled valleys, where monkeys steal from everywhere. It is the home of the Dalai Lama, and of Tibetan refugees who have fled their own country -walking over the Himalayas (WALKING over the HIMALAYAS!!!) - to find a kind of peace in India. The peace that comes from knowing you're kind-of free. You can be as political as you want, without fear of death, but you do so without your family, or your language, or much of your heritage. The Tibetan community here is tight-knit and thriving, with all Tibetan people I have met possessing a belief that they will one day be able to live in their own country without fear of Chinese oppression.
I have arrived here during a politically tense time, coming into March which is the anniversary of the 2008 Tibetan demonstrations & uprising, and also at the sad anniversary recognising that 20 Tibetans living in thier motherland have killed themselves by self-immolation in the last year, in a bid to draw more global attention towards their suffering. I was blessed enough to attend a candlelight vigil in the matyr's honour at the Dalai Lama's temple; it was beautiful, heartbreaking and inspiring.
I was also lucky enough to attend a celebration hosted by the Dalai Lama yesterday, honouring their special guest, South African arch-bishop Desmond Tutu - a fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner. The majority was in Tibetan so all I gained was joy from watching his Holiness wobble his head around like a dashboard toy, rather than Buddhist enlightenment, but I feel that this was enough.
McLeod caters to it's foreign guests with a zest yet unseen during my travels, with restaurants and cafe's offering Western choices and wi-fi, and English spoken by most. There are a few travelers here, many of whom are doing some form of volunteer work, as I am myself. There are hills everywhere - I am only ever walking up or down! I am staying in a dear little hotel called the Ladies Hotel Venture - strangely run only by men. My room is pink, everything is pink, but cosy, and it is so nice to have somewhere to call home for a short while. The weather is COLD - just two days ago it snowed in town, and thermals are a must, 24/7. As well as ponchos, scarves, gloves - the lot!
I have been sick, which seems to be my favourite thing to do in a new place, so haven't been helping out much, but come Monday I hope to be a daily fixture in the English conversation classes at Lha (the volunteer organisation I arranged my trip through), as well as available for one-on-one tutoring. I will be staying here another two weeks, leaving just after Losar, the Tibetan New Year celebrations.
There are a delightful number of stray dogs for me to take under my wing, but only in the daytime - during the night, they have territory wars to rival the cultural revolution itself. (No, don't repeat that, it's in poor taste!) The trucks are loud and beep at everything, think people, animals, rubbish, bends in the road, a slight wind, EVERYTHING. Luckily they have melodic horns that go for a few seconds, so you can really get their point. I seem to spend most of my days (that I am well, at least - fingers crossed for here on out!) wandering the streets, reading, buying presents and repacking my belongings. I am afraid to say that my journal updates are slack, and that I have not done any hiking or anything adventurous - yet!
Okay - that's enough for now. Maybe tomorrow I can tell some stories from the other places I have been?!
Or bore you with how self-aware and self-dependent I am now, spending all this time with myself?!
Look, I'll probably just list what I eat, that's my favourite thing to talk about.
Hope everyone is well and I send all my love - especially to Rafi, of course!
xx
Why are you starting a blog NOW instead of on day one?!
Why wait until you had a month's worth of happenings to share until you decided to begin?!
There are many answers - all of which I will not go into, considering, as stated, I do have ONE MONTH worth of tales to tell - from Beijing to Lhasa, from Varanasi to Dharamsala.
Look, to be honest, I'm not going to get very far today. It's late, it's even later in Australia, where I assume most of my avid followers reside, and I can barely remember what happened last week, let alone on January 10 when I boarded plane number one.
But I'll give you a quick catch up later. For now, let's concentrate on the present!
I am currently in Upper Dharamsala, or McLeod Ganj, as it is also known. High up in the mountains, overlooking snowy peaks and rubbish-filled valleys, where monkeys steal from everywhere. It is the home of the Dalai Lama, and of Tibetan refugees who have fled their own country -walking over the Himalayas (WALKING over the HIMALAYAS!!!) - to find a kind of peace in India. The peace that comes from knowing you're kind-of free. You can be as political as you want, without fear of death, but you do so without your family, or your language, or much of your heritage. The Tibetan community here is tight-knit and thriving, with all Tibetan people I have met possessing a belief that they will one day be able to live in their own country without fear of Chinese oppression.
I have arrived here during a politically tense time, coming into March which is the anniversary of the 2008 Tibetan demonstrations & uprising, and also at the sad anniversary recognising that 20 Tibetans living in thier motherland have killed themselves by self-immolation in the last year, in a bid to draw more global attention towards their suffering. I was blessed enough to attend a candlelight vigil in the matyr's honour at the Dalai Lama's temple; it was beautiful, heartbreaking and inspiring.
I was also lucky enough to attend a celebration hosted by the Dalai Lama yesterday, honouring their special guest, South African arch-bishop Desmond Tutu - a fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner. The majority was in Tibetan so all I gained was joy from watching his Holiness wobble his head around like a dashboard toy, rather than Buddhist enlightenment, but I feel that this was enough.
McLeod caters to it's foreign guests with a zest yet unseen during my travels, with restaurants and cafe's offering Western choices and wi-fi, and English spoken by most. There are a few travelers here, many of whom are doing some form of volunteer work, as I am myself. There are hills everywhere - I am only ever walking up or down! I am staying in a dear little hotel called the Ladies Hotel Venture - strangely run only by men. My room is pink, everything is pink, but cosy, and it is so nice to have somewhere to call home for a short while. The weather is COLD - just two days ago it snowed in town, and thermals are a must, 24/7. As well as ponchos, scarves, gloves - the lot!
I have been sick, which seems to be my favourite thing to do in a new place, so haven't been helping out much, but come Monday I hope to be a daily fixture in the English conversation classes at Lha (the volunteer organisation I arranged my trip through), as well as available for one-on-one tutoring. I will be staying here another two weeks, leaving just after Losar, the Tibetan New Year celebrations.
There are a delightful number of stray dogs for me to take under my wing, but only in the daytime - during the night, they have territory wars to rival the cultural revolution itself. (No, don't repeat that, it's in poor taste!) The trucks are loud and beep at everything, think people, animals, rubbish, bends in the road, a slight wind, EVERYTHING. Luckily they have melodic horns that go for a few seconds, so you can really get their point. I seem to spend most of my days (that I am well, at least - fingers crossed for here on out!) wandering the streets, reading, buying presents and repacking my belongings. I am afraid to say that my journal updates are slack, and that I have not done any hiking or anything adventurous - yet!
Okay - that's enough for now. Maybe tomorrow I can tell some stories from the other places I have been?!
Or bore you with how self-aware and self-dependent I am now, spending all this time with myself?!
Look, I'll probably just list what I eat, that's my favourite thing to talk about.
Hope everyone is well and I send all my love - especially to Rafi, of course!
xx
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