To Dharamsala

 The Himalayas.

 I love terraced agriculture. I can't imagine the work required to make them.

 Two Himacheli women.

 Another view.

 Our Tibetan guide Chemi.

 A Tibetan stuppa.

 A female monk.

 Tibetan dolls.

 Rocks on heads, children in hand.

 Later sitting and waiting for moms.

The view from our hotel roof.

Saturday, March 17^th.

Today the drive was about six hours along a bumpy, winding road through the outer range of the Himalayas to Dharamsala. Early in journey we got a clear view of the Himalayas and made a photo stop. About two hours later, we made a pit stop where there was another good view of the mountains. While the others were having a snack Michael and I wandered around. We found a farmer carrying bundles of grain on his head down to the road and then two Himacheli women who were sitting in a bus shelter. I asked if I could take a photo and they were happy to pose for us. The whole drive was beautiful with endless mountains views.

We stopped at the Norbulingka Institute, which is a centre developed to train Tibetan refugees in skills needed to preserve the traditional arts and crafts of Tibet. We had a tour there with a young woman named Chemi. She took us to see the wood workshop, where they were making work carvings, the painting shop, where young people were painting pictures on silk, and the copper workshop where they were forging statues. Then she took us to the Tibetan Temple and as the group went in I happened to mention to Chemi that I was going to Tibet in a few weeks. She was very excited about this and we got to talking. She told me that she was Tibetan and that at ten years old her parents sent her off with a group of local people escaping from the Chinese who were occupying Tibet. They walked for over a month through the Himalayas to Nepal. She is now 26 and cannot go back to Tibet where the rest of her family live (although her parents are dead). She asked if I was coming back to the Institute tomorrow and I asked why, and she said that she would like to send some clothes to her sister there. I felt really bad having to say that I wasn’t coming back and couldn’t help, but realistically it would be a nightmare, having to carry extra stuff on three more trips and then try to find her sister. However, it certainly is a very sad story and again reminds me of how lucky I am.

I went into the Losel Doll Museum which housed a large collection of Tibetan dolls depicting various regions of the country and different groups of Tibetan people. Each of the fourteen displays came with a placard describing the scene the dolls created. I read them a couple of them, but didn’t have time to read them all, so I photographed them for later. This was an excellent introduction to Tibetan Buddhism for my upcoming trip. 

We arrived at Hotel Centre Point about 4:30 and checked in. We had a couple of hours to relax before meeting up for dinner. I had been thinking about another destination in India, Jaisalmer, that one of the members of the last group told me about. It sounds like exactly the kind of place I like to visit, and since I have a five night stay in Delhi, I’ve decided to go there. I’ve been to Delhi before and the crowds are maddening and I’ve seen the major sites, so I am quite happy to have something better to do. I booked a return flight and Prerna helped me by booking the hotel there that Intrepid uses and got me an airport pickup as well. 

We went out for dinner at 7:00, in the van, to a Tibetan restaurant that was about 16 kilometres from our hotel. We had a good meal of noodle soup with lamb. I sat and had a good chat with Michael, Mark and Vijay. After that we drove back and headed off to bed.