Now that I'm in Dharamsala..

I thought it would be a nice time to share a little story I have about the Dalai Lama.  When I was in Spiti Valley I visited a monastery.  There was a satellite dish on the roof and after inquiring about it, the monk told me that they bought it for the Dalai Lama when he came to visit.  It was only used once, and when he comes to visit again, they will replace the satellite with a new one.

THE DALAI LAMA WATCHES GOSSIP GIRL.  PASS IT ON.

Himachal Pradesh's Police Slogan:

Better late than never.

HOW COMFORTING.  HOW INDIA.

I climbed to Dharamsala too, I did I met the highest Lama, his accent sounded fine To me, to me

Yesterday it snowed all day in Manali.  Huge amounts of snow.  I never thought I’d see snow in India

The Hindustan-Tibet Highway

is not a highway.  Or a road.  Those terms are far too generous.  Maybe path.  that sounds about right.  Anyways, this ‘path’ would never be traveled by any vehicles if it existed in any other country.  But here, in India, not only is it traveled by vehicles, but by buses (circa Rosa Parks) with shitty shitty loud shitty loud brakes.  I must admit, all roads in India are frightening.  Especially up north in the mountains.  But after travelling on buses so much, I’ve become desensitized to the danger and fear of death.  Well, leave it to the Hindustan-Tibet Highway (path) to re-awaken that fear.  From Nako to Tabo I had no idea if I would live.  And apparently, neither did the locals.  Looking around, women were praying, people were looking out the window and turning away in fear, and a few unlucky people were vomiting out the window.  I sat next to the bus conductor, and at certain points of the journey I looked over and he was doing the sign of the cross.  There’s seriously no escape from the fear.  You cannot close your eyes or fall asleep.  You have to sit with your arm holding the seat in front of you in order to keep your head from smashing into the seat when going over bumps.  Oh yeah, and it takes about 1 hour to go 10 miles.  Fuck that shit.

When I re-visited the highway from Tabo to Kaza, it was even scarier.  We came across a landslide(1 of 3 from the entire 2 week journey).  We were the second bus to reach it.  So of course everyone got out to stand around and inspect.  There was a tractor on the other side of the landslide.  It had come to clear it, but broke down 100m in front of the landslide.  TYPICAL INDIA.  So the people I was with (2 Czechs and 1 French Canadian) found some shovels for the workers to clear it.  After clearing the road halfway, all the Indians agreed that it was enough for the bus to pass.  I shit you not, half the road is not enough for the bus.  the ENTIRE road is not even enough for the bus.  I was out of my mind when everyone agreed and got back on the bus to drive to our certain death.  In my number one India freakout (thus far) I declared, “THIS IS NOT HOW WE DO THINGS IN AMERICA,” grabbed a pick from someone’s hand and started shoveling away the remaining dirt.  I managed to waste enough time until the tractor was up and running and cleared the road.  Yay for us.  Bad for the delay.  We had to travel the rest of the road in the dark.  It’s worse at night.  Trust me.

Kinnaur and Spiti Valleys

I spent the past 2 weeks taking insane bus rides and living in tiny villages.  In short, it has been intense.  Here are some highlights:

Reckong Peo (2290m)

Kalpa (2960 m)

Finally got to experience autumn in India.  Our guesthouse was located in an apple orchard.  LOVED IT.  Encountered 3 spiders the size of my face in my room.  HATED IT.

Nako (2950m)

Stayed in a village that no longer had any running water.  Pipes froze.  This place was tiny and mostly made up of mud huts.  Of course, the room I stayed in was made of concrete.  My bedtime attire was as follows: 3 pairs of socks, long underwear, tank top, t-shirt, long-sleeved shirt, sweater, sweatshirt, windbreaker, hat, gloves, 2 scarves, 1 sheet, 2 blankets.  I was too cold to sleep.

Tabo (3050m)

Stayed in a monastery.  It has all this beautiful Buddhist art that dates back to 990 AD.  Decided that haggling down the price of a room feels wrong.  Especially when you are haggling with a monk.  Also decided that monks can be attractive.  Like when they wear hoodies over their robes that say “Punk’s not Dead” and drive motorcycles.  I also went to a 6:30am puja in the monastery.  Whoever invented the chai break halfway through prayers is a fucking genius. 

Kaza (3640m)

Ki (4116m)

Visited an amazing monastery.  A monk made me tea, but the glass that he put it in was cold.  When he handed me the glass, it broke and hot chai spilled all over me.  I was burned by a Buddhist monk.  Not many people can say that.

Kibber (4260m)

Used to be the highest village in the world.  Now they claim to be the highest village in the world with a motorable road and electricity.  Kudos. 

You know when you’re traveling on a bus in a 3rd world country and you get to a stop and you ask the driver if you can quickly get off and pee and he says no and then with every bump you feel your bladder losing control until someone convinces the driver to pull over and you get off the bus only to find you are in the middle of a highway with mountain on one side and a cliff on the other and then you double check with the driver that this is indeed the location that he would like you to urinate and he nods so you look around with no other option but to pull down your pants and squat with your ass against the back of the dirty bus and you hope that the 50 men on the bus arent looking at you and then you realize all the oncoming traffic is seeing you in a most vulnerable position and everyone on the bus is waiting for you and you pray dear god dont give me stage fright now of all times adn you wait and wait and then finally Jesus descends and you hear angels singing and see unicorns flying and you have just entered another universe??

I’ve never been more proud to be an American.

IM BACK BABY

YIP YAP back to civilization.  Thanks E and A for worrying sick and emailing me and being mommas and pansies.  Woop!  I’ve got some crazy stories.

But seriously, I almost fucking died.

Before I go...

I just want you to know that I have been living in a courtyard of an old Himalayan Hindu Temple for the past few days.  Every morning I hear music and singing and praying at dawn.  Up until the 1800s human sacrifices took place here.  The townspeople would kill a man, take his blood, and smear it on the goddess Bhimakali’s tongue.  Apparently the British did not like this and put a stop to it.  But I JUST missed the festival where they sacrifice one of every kind of animal they can possibly find: buffalo, goat, lamb, crab, spider.  CRABS AND SPIDERS.  WHY DID I MISS THIS?