Week Two

Still going...a week of fun and frustration...but overall very good. The course is a lot of fun, though by the end of the week I'm a bit tired from all the concentration. Hmmm, maybe it IS better to be back at work. :o)

This week there's been quite a bit more snow up on the Himalayan peaks behind us. The weather was nice and clear early on, but we have had more snow (in the mountains) and rain (down here) later in the week. The mountains seem to radically affect the weather (not surprisingly) with cloud forming mid morning and rising up to cover the mountains. Then, later in the evening the clouds clear to reveal snowfall up above or sometimes also cascade down giving a little rain. You can feel the cold radiate off the peaks when more snow has fallen, and the streamflow increases quite quickly as there is a little more snowmelt. Click here for some pics.

Thosamling itself is at 1200m, Dharamsala probably about 1350m and McLeod Ganj around 1800m. You can see the general layout as viewed from my house, with Thosamling the yellow building on the left in the foreground, the main town of Dharamsala in the centre and His Holiness's residence just to the left of the big radio masts in the centre/rightof the picture. The rest of McLeod Ganj is tucked behind that ridge. Hmmm, viewing the photo on the blog, I can't SEE the (damn) radio masts...... so maybe just look for the first bump to the right of the town and you are in the right vicinity.


The valley itself extending south is itself quite mountainous with many hills and sub-valleys. Mostly the sky in this direction is a litle hazy and so the landscape is a little difficult to make out. Hopefully I'll get around to some of the monasteries that are scattered around this area sometime. Here is a pic of at sunset after the rain has swept past us and down into the valley proper.