Leaving Dharamsala

It is 20 to 8 and and we just finished breakfast in this very good Kongpo restaurant. After a short walk JL is now going for a massage and I am again at the internet. Since arriving in India I have pretty much remained vegetarian. It is very easy to be vegetarian here and probably the best protection against stomach sickness. I don't know that it is so much that the meat is bad. It is more likely the case that the food preparation for the meat is not as clean as it should be and that is why some people end up with problems. I am not being overly cautious nor am I taking any chances. With health concerns in third world environments it is best to keep to a middle course rather than being extreme on one side or the other.

It is a beautiful morning here with bright sunshine and a clear sky. The mountains are a shimmering white with all the snow that arrived last Wednesday. The mountains rise straight up behind Dharamsala making for a magnificent sight. Anybody that has seen the Canadian Rockies in Banff or Jasper National Park will know what I mean. The snow is not likely to melt soon since it is still March and the really warm weather is yet to come.

Today is important for me as I will be meeting the Drugpa Kagyu Lama Drugu Chogyal Rinpoche at his monastery this side of Palampur. He and I have always met breifly over the past ten years in New York but I have never been to his monastery. I have been researching Latog and Khampa Gar style paintings for the last few years and he is the most knowledgeable expert in the world on these subjects. (See an example of this painting style - Namkha Palzang). I have a series of questions that I want to ask him and several theories that I want to present to him. With luck and enough time I also hope to see some of the art treasures in his monastery as well as in the settlement of Tashi Jong a few miles away. Tashi Jong is famous for the many tokdens that live in the hills above the settlement. Tokdens are Buddhist yogis and sadhus that keep their hair long and live an ascetic lifestyle.

Dharamsala, Last Night

The meeting with Tashi Tsering went better than I had hoped. I have so much information and he pointed me in so many positive directions for more research on the subjects we discussed. I also came away with some valuable texts and rare images. He now has ownership of my first born.

The LTWA went very well also. We have opened a channel of communications and will hopefully move slowly forward towards their participation on the HAR website.

I met up with Maura M. in the main bazaar of Dharamsala. She has been here for two weeks and leaves in five more days. I don't think I could handle that. JL and I had a nice dinner at the Kailash Hotel (Chu Shi Gang Drug). We leave early in the morning heading back to Palampur so as to meet Drugu Chogyal Rinpoche for lunch at his monastery.

Dharamsala, Day Two

Had a good sleep last night, I was in bed before 10:00 and didn't get up until 7:00. I must have needed the sleep. We ate an early dinner in the Tibet Hotel. The place looks like a typical dive but the food is very good. And as one Tibetan friend says "the chances are very good that you won't be sick from eating here." It is very cool at night. You definitely have to be dressed well. You can't sit outside in the open air cafes too long. The hotel has hot water and it is nice to bathe normally as opposed to pouring cold water over your head or luke warm at best. At Deer Park we didn't always have luke warm water. From Bir to Dharamsala it is only about 50 kilometers but because the roads are so narrow and windy, often single lane with single lane bridges, it takes over two hours to travel the distance. Strange westerners and wanna-be hippies fill the hill station of Dharamsala. Many of them dress like Indians or quasi-sadhus and yogis. I have meeting this morning and then another in the afternoon, otherwise my day is pretty well open. I will go and see the main temple of Dharamsala and a smaller temple for Kalachakra next door.

The mountains behind the hill station rise up sharply and are covered with snow from the big storm that came through last wednesday. The views of the valley a thousand feet below are very nice but I don't think I could find enough to do here in Dharamsala to spend more than a couple of days. The streets are incredibly narrow and aside from clothing and some books, most if not all the shops only sell junk - junk art, junk paintings, Tibetan singing bowls, and more junk. Many of the so-called Tibetan paintings are imported from Kathmandu and painted by Nepalese tourist artists. The open fields of Bir and the Dun Valley, pine forests and meadows, are more to my liking.

Dharamsala, Dalai Lama & Travels

I'm in Dharamsala with my friend Jamyang Lekdrub after spending the day in Bir looking at Temples and meeting old friends. We have a car which makes it very easy to get around. Saw the Dalai lama yesterday at a private meeting with the rest of the conference participants - if you can call that a private meeting. We had a group photo taken but I don't have a copy of that yet. I will post it here when I have it. Arrived back in Dharamsala this afternoon to visit my friends two kids that are in school here. He also has one in school in Bir and the fourth and youngest is in Musoorie because he especially wanted to learn English. I will stay in Dharamsala for two nights. I meet with Tashi Tsering, an important Tibetan historian, tomorrow morning and I then have a meeting with the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in the afternoon. We have to leave early on Tuesday morning to go back towards Palampur to have lunch and spend time with Drugu Chogyal Rinpoche (Drugpa Kagyu, Khampa Gar) at his monastery near Tashi Jong. He is one of the last of the Tibetan Lamas that understands painting and the various traditions. We will probably spend the night in Bir and then go up to Tso Pema the next day. I no longer have Wi-fi and am at the mercy of the Indian internet cafe. The Blog may be updated but it is unlikely that I will be posting too many images.