Had a great time in Delhi.
The weather was nice and I spent the days there mostly catching up with lots of old friends. One of these was Angu, a Sikkimese girl who is the daughter of one of my close friends in Perth. I had met her previously in Perth when she visited and so it was lovely to see her again. She was fantastic to us and helped us with everything as well as being bright, fun and non-stop energy to boot. She also supplied me with many things that I would need in my flat in Dharamsala (blankets, sheets, mugs, cooker, kettle, etc... etc... !!) The perfect person to distract us from the pollution and hassle that Delhi can offer.
Angu took care of all the bargaining with auto rickshaw drivers and working out how to get to all the places I needed to go. Out of the way places, like a home in West Delhi to deliver a wedding present. The delivery went well and I had a really nice time chatting with their family. Despite my best intentions, the threat of a tummy bug that evening prevented me actually getting to have a look at the wedding, but luckily for LM and I it never got really serious and to my relief I was not struck down with any serious ailment on my first day in Delhi - how embarrasing would THAT have been.
LM and I also caught up with a group from our Buddhist Centre who had just returned from a 3 week pilgrimage. Was great to see them all. Finally, caught up with a friend who is an Australian nun and LM and I caught the bus up with her to Dharamsala.
Arrived in Dharamsala at about 6am. It was dark and pretty cold, but not nearly as bad as I had expected. After promising to try the "luxury" Volvo bus, we ended up deciding we couldn't be bothered to go down to the bus station to catch it so just got the "Potala bus" from Majnukatilla. It worked out fine, though the Potala bus gets pretty cold and is impossible to sleep on. Hmmm, maybe not COMPLETELY fine, though actually after catching an hour's sleep this morning I feel great this evening.
Thosamling nunnery is really nice. More details to follow, but basically the place has been set up by a Dutch nun with help from her friends and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She has done a great job. The place is set in the middle of some fields and the grounds are not yet complete, but the buildings are beautifully done and there is a really nice group of nuns and others there.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Perth to Delhi
Still not quite sure how this page is going to work. Being a little embarrassed about the whole thing, I think at this stage, whilst I'll try to keep it interesting and use it mainly for posting photos - I'll also use it as a place to put down some trip notes for future reference.
First thing, the internet check in thing is pretty cool if you need to meet someone part of the way along the journey. LM, a friend from Perth who is also doing the course was visiting family in Singapore and we wanted to arrange to sit near each other on the Singapore=Delhi leg. So, log into the net, select your seat and email your travel companion to let them know what to choose. Of course, it didn't work out perfectly, but we were a few seats away from each other - so not too bad.
OK, after my previous visit to Changi Airport left me somewhat underwhelmed after all the testimony I have heard about how great it is, I had a better explore this time. Free internet, not bad. But the rest of the 'glamour shopping experience' didn't really grab me. Sat around near the orchid garden and chatted to a great English family of Greek extraction. One of the lads was an Arsenal fan - but otherwise they were great. Also met a nice Indian guy who was studying agribusiness near Brisbane. He'd been working down in Griffith, so had just driven the 1300km to Brisbane, jumped on the midnight horror to Singapore and had a 11 hour stop over at Changi. But he was still smiling.
Another who was smiling after a long journey was a lama from the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism: Lama Tsewang Sedar Rinpoche. He had been to the USA to teach for three months and was returning to Bhutan. Lama Tsewang had been flying San Francisco-Hong Kong-Singapore-Delhi and then had a 15 hour stopover until he was due to fly to Kathmandu. Instead, we arranged for him to come with us to Majnukatila (the Tibetan Settlement in Delhi) and stay over in a guesthouse. Negotiated passport control, after explaining to a few officials that a Bhutanese citizen doesn't need a visa and then went through customs. They didn't even look at our slips but made Lama Tsewang scan his bags and threatened to charge him duty on a pile of things that had been offered by his students for his monastery in Bhutan. Slight discrimination there, although the fact that Lama Tsewang was packing 70kg of check in luggage and 30kg of hand luggage probably didn't help him. :o)
The taxi was quite a sight, as was our mountain of luggage that we dragged into Majnukatila and piled on the street whilst the search for a guesthouse began. LM went looking for some "recommended" places, but it soon became clear that the place was packed and that, at 10pm at night, we were in the "beggars can't be choosers" category. I found a room at Sera Jey Guesthouse whilst minding the bags, but LM came back empty handed. It was either my 'magic touch' or the fact that I was standing about 3 metres from their door! It looked like there were no other rooms available, but a Lama without a room in Majnukatila soon attracted help from two very kind Tibetan girls who scoured around and found another at the Yak Guesthouse. The benefits of being a "Lama" hey? The rooms we got weren't their best, but at 250Rs (a little over $8) per twin room - there are no great regrets.
First thing, the internet check in thing is pretty cool if you need to meet someone part of the way along the journey. LM, a friend from Perth who is also doing the course was visiting family in Singapore and we wanted to arrange to sit near each other on the Singapore=Delhi leg. So, log into the net, select your seat and email your travel companion to let them know what to choose. Of course, it didn't work out perfectly, but we were a few seats away from each other - so not too bad.
OK, after my previous visit to Changi Airport left me somewhat underwhelmed after all the testimony I have heard about how great it is, I had a better explore this time. Free internet, not bad. But the rest of the 'glamour shopping experience' didn't really grab me. Sat around near the orchid garden and chatted to a great English family of Greek extraction. One of the lads was an Arsenal fan - but otherwise they were great. Also met a nice Indian guy who was studying agribusiness near Brisbane. He'd been working down in Griffith, so had just driven the 1300km to Brisbane, jumped on the midnight horror to Singapore and had a 11 hour stop over at Changi. But he was still smiling.
Another who was smiling after a long journey was a lama from the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism: Lama Tsewang Sedar Rinpoche. He had been to the USA to teach for three months and was returning to Bhutan. Lama Tsewang had been flying San Francisco-Hong Kong-Singapore-Delhi and then had a 15 hour stopover until he was due to fly to Kathmandu. Instead, we arranged for him to come with us to Majnukatila (the Tibetan Settlement in Delhi) and stay over in a guesthouse. Negotiated passport control, after explaining to a few officials that a Bhutanese citizen doesn't need a visa and then went through customs. They didn't even look at our slips but made Lama Tsewang scan his bags and threatened to charge him duty on a pile of things that had been offered by his students for his monastery in Bhutan. Slight discrimination there, although the fact that Lama Tsewang was packing 70kg of check in luggage and 30kg of hand luggage probably didn't help him. :o)
The taxi was quite a sight, as was our mountain of luggage that we dragged into Majnukatila and piled on the street whilst the search for a guesthouse began. LM went looking for some "recommended" places, but it soon became clear that the place was packed and that, at 10pm at night, we were in the "beggars can't be choosers" category. I found a room at Sera Jey Guesthouse whilst minding the bags, but LM came back empty handed. It was either my 'magic touch' or the fact that I was standing about 3 metres from their door! It looked like there were no other rooms available, but a Lama without a room in Majnukatila soon attracted help from two very kind Tibetan girls who scoured around and found another at the Yak Guesthouse. The benefits of being a "Lama" hey? The rooms we got weren't their best, but at 250Rs (a little over $8) per twin room - there are no great regrets.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
The Plan
This year is dedicated to the study of Tibetan language at Thosamling nunnery in Sidhpur, a little village just 30 min by taxi down the mountain from Mcleod Ganj (Upper Dharamsala), the home of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
The course begins on 29 January 2007 and runs through to mid December. There are breaks for His Holiness' teachings (in March and later in the year) as well as a break sometime in June or July. All in all, this course runs for 10 months of the year and the general schedule is 4 hours of classes and conversation each Monday to Friday.
Dharamsala is tucked up in the foothills against the Himalayan range and is about a 12 hour bus ride north of New Delhi. Mcleod Ganj was an old British summer hill station and sits on a little 'saddle' or ridge amongst pine tree forests at around 1800m and there lives a large Tibetan community as well as tourists and some locals. Lower Dharamsala is a larger town that is placed closer to the base of northern foothills on the edge of the Kangra Valley which abuts the Himalayas at this point.
Sidhpur is just below Lower Dharamsala and slightly further to the east along the Himalayan range. It is a semi rural string of villages and houses which is home to the Norbulingka, a Tibetan cultural centre which has been built as a replica of the Dalai Lama's summer residence in Lhasa, Tibet.
But more about all this when I actually get there!
The course begins on 29 January 2007 and runs through to mid December. There are breaks for His Holiness' teachings (in March and later in the year) as well as a break sometime in June or July. All in all, this course runs for 10 months of the year and the general schedule is 4 hours of classes and conversation each Monday to Friday.
Dharamsala is tucked up in the foothills against the Himalayan range and is about a 12 hour bus ride north of New Delhi. Mcleod Ganj was an old British summer hill station and sits on a little 'saddle' or ridge amongst pine tree forests at around 1800m and there lives a large Tibetan community as well as tourists and some locals. Lower Dharamsala is a larger town that is placed closer to the base of northern foothills on the edge of the Kangra Valley which abuts the Himalayas at this point.
Sidhpur is just below Lower Dharamsala and slightly further to the east along the Himalayan range. It is a semi rural string of villages and houses which is home to the Norbulingka, a Tibetan cultural centre which has been built as a replica of the Dalai Lama's summer residence in Lhasa, Tibet.
But more about all this when I actually get there!
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