Is This Still India?
Trip Start
Aug 09, 2007
1
62
95
Trip End
Ongoing
Dharamsala,
Himachal Pradesh,
India
Thursday, May 29, 2008
We splurged and took a taxi from Rishikesh to here. The trains are way sold out due to this being the major pilgrimage season to head North. The bus was 15 hours on the local bus and we just couldn't bear the thought of the local bus curving its way through the hills. We are very over local transportation! The taxi was 16 hours of mostly nail bitting twists and turns. The majority of the road here was no more than one lane wide with traffic moving both ways. How people drive out here is beyond me. I couldn't do it. I just keep telling myself that the drivers must value their lives as much as we do ours and that we will make it there safely. We never realized you could have so many near death experiences in one day. Car pass trucks around blind curves. Many screeching stops to skid past oncoming traffic. Part of the road actually had white stripes down the center trying to form two lanes. It gave me warm fuzzy's until I realized the lines really don't mean anything. The most fun is the nighttime game of what vehicle is approaching me? Is the one headlight a motorcycle? a truck with one light? a car with one light? anyhow, I am thankful for every penny we spent on the taxi as a bus would have been maddening for me.
We are having a great time up here! We continue to fulfill our obligation to get as many different ethnic messages as possible. Yesterday (and today) was Tibetan massage. The best I can compare it to is physical therapy. Far from relaxing but you can feel the benefits your body is reaping afterwards. They begin by having you stretch your body in different ways so they can assess where you have problems and need work on. They give tips on what yoga poses, if any, to stay away from and exercises for you to do to work on your problem areas. They use a belt that they tie around you and themselves to stretch out the back and singing bowls on your chest, heat packs. Lots of deep tissues rubbing somewhat reminds me of Reiki a bit. This is a husband and wife team who perform the massages and teach. We just signed up for the course which starts on Sunday and is a total of 10 hours.
I also may start a jewelry threading class on Saturday. So, okay it is called macrame but when I hear that it reminds me of ugly plant holders with big beads that I think my Mom use to make back in the 70's (sorry Mom). Gem stones are big business out here and they teach you how to thread necklaces around the gems. Very pretty.
So...one funny thing....Jeremy was going to hold out on a haircut/beard trim until he got home but he was getting a bit bushy and broke down and got one. He was being mistaken for one of the bikkhus (holy people) and people were giving him donations. Well, let's just say he no longer looks like a homeless person and we likened the cut to Jim Carey in Dumb and Dumber/Frankenstein. They way the man cut his bangs across the forehead and way back. Anyways, I guess it one of those you had to be there.
We had a Tibetan feast yesterday. Butter Tea, Momos (dumplings), Tibetan steamed bread and Thenthuk (noodle stew). Very yummy with the best hot sauce we've have had since home. Tibetan food seems to be a lot of stews, hardy foods. The dumplings are delicious. The butter tea was just like drinking butter. I didn't care for it so much. Kept wanting to dip a lobster tail in it. The food in general up North has been very good and much kinder to our tummy.
The town is very peaceful. The most we see are posters and t-shirts for Free Tibet. The Tibetan's People's Uprising Movement (march) is still going on with much resistance and arrests from India police. 5 foreigners, 3 of which are American, were given Quit India notices and must leave the country in 7 days. We overheard one of them at a cafe we were at yesterday and it sounds like there will be legal proceedings against them for participating, peacefully, in the march. The lady giving me my massage today left Tibet 8 years ago, it took 23 days across the Himalaya's to reach India and one of the 29 people crossing with her died. Her whole family is still in Tibet. I can't imagine not being able to go home or see your family for an indefinite amount of time. We hope the world continues to support the Tibetan cause and that the pressure on China provides the freedom Tibetan's deserve. If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them - Dalai Lama
Well, I guess that's all for now. More soon! Pics when I can.
