Indian Heaven
Trip Start
May 25, 2003
1
5
13
Trip End
Aug 21, 2003
Dharamsala,
India
Saturday, June 14, 2003
We went directly from our last class to the bus station and began an oddyssee that included a tuk-tuk (ubiquitous diesel-powered golf carts) to a bus that was pulling out of the station as we arrived; we hopped the bus and held on for dear life as our driver drained every bit of karma he had theretofore acquired to avoid killing us in a head-on; then lined up for some WWF reservation fun at the train station, where we were thrilled to board our second-class sleeper ON TIME and settle in for 9 hours of clickety-clack
Drinking Buddies
. Heather taught a brief English class to one of kids who traveled with the family that shared our cabin (the 7-year old student asked for his money back). We disembarked at 4:00am, hopped another tuk-tuk and careened through the incongruously empty streets of the city from which we took another 4-hour bus ride to Dharamsala. From there we dragged our yoga-then-trainride tightened bodies onto our final bus, which we found completely empty - a clearly-too-good-to-be-true blessing. Within minutes a motley band of saddhus and itinerant women and children stormed the bus. They descended with feral shrieks and threatening gestures aimed at one another, hurling their filthy ankle-biters through open windows to hold a precious seat. Mike combined his nursing training and breathing meditation to perfect a mouth-breathing technique which he employed throughout the entire ride, so as to avoid the Indian tradition of hurling on buses. Locals regularly hang their own and their childrens heads from the windows, spewing forth recent meals and permanently staining the sides of the buses, only to recoil from these precarious poses, a greener shade of brown. Anyway, we finally arrived in the ridgetop paradise of McCloud Ganj, home of the Dalai Lama, a bustling Tibetan community, and more good food than two road-weary travelers could ever eat. We flopped down at a table in a rooftop café, enjoyed some great chow, and headed up the road to find a crib
Rainbow
. That was yesterday, and we have since strolled, meandered, read lazily under (finally) clear blue skies, and generally enjoyed the hell out of every single simple thing, none more than the cold Kingfisher beer and rich chocolate cake! Word on the street is that today marks an important anniversary in the Buddhas life, so we will head to the D.L.'s pad to see what's what. In the next week or so, we plan to find another yoga class here, take some Tibetan cooking classes, walk in the hills and generally chill out - hey, go to your strength, no? Future plans include a possible trip to the Kulu valley for hot springs and hiking, and/or perhaps a trip the monnscape of Ladakh in far northern reaches of India. Updated update:
A delay between typing and posting allowed time to include last night's events. On our way out the door to eat, we met a saffron-turbaned Sikh man who promptly invited us for an aperatif. We joined him and his 10 buddies at a make-shift table in front of our hotel, and proceeded to drain a bottle of India's finest Royal Stag whiskey and soda. The firewater lubricated the conversation nicely, and we covered topics ranging from politics and religion to family structure, marriage customs and the role of women in various cultures. One insight from the group: In response to a question about raising children in the poverty of India - "In India we believe in God, and he has given each of us one stomach and two hands, so we know we can always take care of another child." So procreation, guaranteeing a mathematical expansion of this country's already teaming populace, is literally bred into the bones of each and every bouncing babe.
The guys really seemed to be enjoying H's company, and admitted that the "one snag in our culture is our women are not equal, and could never join us in this kind of meeting." And that was that. They felt sure that Bush would benefit from some psychiatric care from Mike, but assured us that in the absence of such intervention, our pow-wow would serve the interests of international goodwill. They headed down the hill for more booze, and despite a prior agreement to join them for dinner, we took the opportunity to bail and grab some food on our own. We found a nice little place in our village where we were predictably surrounded by Isralis, who populate the outlying villages in this region in numbers rivaling the Indians. Some nice supper-time chit chat and we were off to get some rest before yoga this morning, which H bagged in lieu of some beauty rest.
So, we sit now trying to get some photos posted, and again are facing technical difficulties. Keep an eye out for notification of newly-posted images in each section of the travel log.
Hope all's well at home!
Love,
Us
