Hitting the Himalayas

Climbing around Leh

Heading north

As I had managed to sprain my ankle just before getting onto the overnight bus to Manali, it was less than a comfortable night's rest for me. With an ankle that had ballooned up and was only partially weight-bearing, our big plans to trek in the north might have changed...

While Manali was a pretty enough town, we were on a mission to get up to Ladakh, so we pushed on pretty quickly. After basically laying around all day and watching HBO, we decided to keep making our way to Leh. So, exhausted as we were, we booked in for another 19 hour bus ride to Leh. We must've been nuts!!

The only local traffic jams they get in Manali... hundreds of sheep & goats heading home for the day

The Minivan Ride From Hell - Manali to Leh (Ladakh)

Ok, ok... the scenery was a definite upside

Our minivan was scheduled to depart from Manali at 2am, so we dragged ourselves out of bed and were waiting at 1:45am. And waiting, and waiting, and waiting.... We even had someone try to call the driver twice to be sure he was still coming. We were not so impressed when he finally rocked up at 3:30 with no apology. (Insert lots of expletives!!) But since we quickly remembered that this guy was going to drive us over some dangerous passes in Himalayas, we held our tongues.

Our home for 17 long hours

We took off on a very uncomfortable, and very, very long bus ride. Freezing cold, as the driver liked all the windows open, we huddled under our sleeping bags with our pressure point wristbands, trying very hard to not get carsick on the very windy roads.

The beautiful scenery helped you forget about the fact that the roads were last looked after 40 or 50 years ago.

After a little bit of sleep, we stopped for some brekkie in a tiny little town in the mountains. It had 3 things in it:

1. Beautiful views
2. Wine & beer for sale (Why wouldn't they be in the absolute middle of nowhere when no locals drink?)
3. Good chapattis for brekkie
   

Enjoying a moment with the view before creeping off to pee behind a bush (if one could be found in the barren landscape)


Contemplating whether getting a beer at 8am is such a bad thing


Locals making chapattis

While personally doing my best to sleep the entire rest of the trip (to avoid the need to vomit), I did wake up for a couple of the exciting moments of the trip. We went off-road for a couple kilometers on a dirt road track on a steep mountain slope (holy sh*t!!), but we're pretty sure that we actually saved 30 minutes. This was the tipping point for the German woman sitting next to us as she started vomiting, but we did save a little time...

About to do a little off-roading in questionable weather


We stopped in at the little tented camp we would have stayed in overnight had we chosen the 2 day trip... We would have frozen to death!! Glad we decided to just push through!

We then drove through the Taglangla Pass, the second highest pass in the world at nearly 18,000 feet. We were a bit surprised that we didn't really feel the altitude, but we definitely felt the cold. It was freezing and starting to sleet.

The words say it all - "Of the unbelievable, is not it?"

I think the Tibetans have been here..... ;)

After a couple more stops, and lots more hours, we finally arrived into Leh. We were so happy, ecstatic really, that we had decided two weeks ago to book the flight back to Delhi. After that ride, there was no way we were signing up for another dose to go back south. We might have had to move to Leh permanently!!

Leh, Ladakh

Literally translating to "land of high passes", Ladakh is part of the state of Kashmir in northern India between the Kunlun mountains & the Himalayas, bordering Tibet (that's right, NOT China - wish you could see me wearing my "Free Tibet" T-shirt....). Ladakh is often referred to as "Little Tibet" for its stunning mountainous scenery and the fact that most of the residents are actually Tibetan Buddhists. We had heard great things about it, so we were keen to see it. In fact, we had heard that Kashmir, in general, is stunning but reports of political unrest in Srinigar & Jammu kept us from exploring further (not to mention accidentally wandering over the Pakistan border!). Therefore, to Ladakh only and then right back out.

We arrived in Leh after dark, after a zillion hours in a minivan and without a booking. Hmmm...maybe a little oversight on our part, but we knew that we wanted to go to the Orient Guest House on the other side of town, so we went about trying to get a rickshaw there.

We were told by 2 different rickshaw drivers that the bridge was washed out, and while it's only a 2km drive, it would cost us 300 rupees (~$8). Yeah, don't think so!! One of our big complaints about travel is that the world over, taxi drivers are usually scum trying to scam you. It's a terrible thing, but unfortunately, we've found that to be more true than not. They like to take you for a ride the scenic way or tell you that the guest house you want to go to has closed, burned down or suffered another type of natural disaster. In that situation, they are always quick to offer another option (that likely pays them a good commission for bringing in customers).

Well, we didn't just start traveling yesterday, so there is no way we were going to buy it! A touch tired and a wee bit cranky, I basically told them that they would have to drive us there and show us the washed away bridge for us to believe it. This whole exchange went on for far too long, and when we had trouble finding other cabs to take us there, we finally succumbed and told them to take us to another guest house of our choice that was on this side of the "washed out bridge". (Side note: Those drivers must have thought I was a real bitch, especially when we walked over the footbridge next to the washed out bridge the next day... Oops.)

We found our way to Jigmet Guesthouse in town. It was pretty basic, and we had to have buckets of hot water brought up by one of the kids to "shower", but it would be ok. The place on the other side of the bridge sounded better though....

Jigmet's did have a lovely flower garden though

We scooted right out into town for a little food so that we felt like normal people again. We were pleasantly surprised by how cheap and delicious the Tibetan food was.

Kyle enjoying a big bowl of Thupka (a delicious & spicy Tibetan soup)

Again, our original plan was to do some good trekking out of Leh as it looked like we would be postponing our side trip to Nepal for now (Just not enough time to see it all...). With my gimpy ankle, trekking wasn't going to work so we'd have to come up with Plan B. For us, Plan B turned into seeing a few stupas around town then just spending the rest of the time relaxing.

The next morning, we packed up and grabbed a rickshaw to our original guesthouse of choice, The Oriental Guesthouse in Changspa, just a couple kilometers north of Leh. It turned out to be a fabulous choice. Very lovely & relaxing, not to mention cheap as well.

The view of the mountains from our room

The Oriental Guesthouse sitting just at the base of the mountain with the giant, beautiful Shanti Stupa on top!

A lovely garden to sit in and just enjoy the silence


Beautiful sunsets over the mountains


Sunny days, blue skies without a cloud and flowers in bloom everywhere


Cute guesthouses accessorized with prayer flags


Walking past one of the many, many markets we had to pass on the way into town

As Leh has so much Tibetan influence, there were some lovely old stupas & gompas (Buddhist monasteries). Lots to see, after you climb a few hundred stairs up to each one. Not normally a problem, but with my walking stick/cane, I was a definite handicap and would be slowing up our normal progress.

One of the top places to visit was the ruined Royal Palace of Leh (Leh Palace).

A view of the gompa sitting above the palace (still in use), and the restored former Royal Palace of Leh

Built in the 17th century by the kings of Ladakh, it apparently looks quite a bit like the Potala Palace in Lhasa (Tibet). So, for those of us boycotting travel to Tibet at the moment, it's about as close as we'll get for now.

The palace is set on top of a craggy mountain in the middle of town. While a mountain in the middle of town shouldn't exactly be hard to find, the windy alleys leading up to it were a bit tricky to navigate but very interesting.

The one little landmark we saw along the way which, was now, obviously, being used as a storage closet.

Passing by a gompa on the way up

The plalace is being restored currently, but it looked like it was coming along at a snail's pace. There wasn't all that much to see inside, but climbing through small passageways and up ladders to a series of roofs, the views were really amazing.

Views over town from the roof

Also, from the roof, we could see the highlights of the Ladakh Festival - an annual festival with camel rides, traditional dancing and polo. Coincidentally, we could see the polo from the roof, so we didn't need to venture any further. Also, not wanting to sound cynical, but after camel trekking through Morocco, a couple camels walking down a street in the mountains doesn't really do it for me.

Polo match, Tibetan-style

People crowding the streets waiting for the camels

Feeling thoroughly puffed after hiking up to ~4000 meters, we took in some of the sights around town on flat land.

While Leh is mostly Buddhist, there is a small contingent of Sunni Muslims and they have a lovely mosque directly below the Leh Palace.

Kyle making merit by spinning the prayer wheels at Chowkhang Gompa

A couple locals making bread rolls the traditional way

And because you can never have too much good merit, we spun every prayer wheel in town. ;)

Shanti Stupa

The Shanti Stupa sits at the top of an exhausting flight of steps just next to our guesthouse. We walked by it everyday, but it took a couple days before my ankle and our lungs were ready for the hike (trying to avoid altitude sickness..). But, when we finally went up there, it was worth it.

Built in 1985 by a group of Japanese monks to commemorate 2500 years of Buddhism and promote world peace, this gleaming white stupa was quite a sight.

Trying to be mindful and "Buddha-like"

Walking around the stupa seven times. I think it took that long to see all the amazing murals and carvings anyway!

The stages of Prince Siddhartha's life (the first Buddha in the Mahayana tradition)

Overlooking another amazing stupa, the Gomang Stupa (9th century)

Having a look at the gompa just next to it which they had decorated (for Christmas?) with multi-coloured fairy lights. These monks had vision!!

Another must-do in town was to attend a morning "puja" - the boisterous morning prayer accompanied by drums, cymbals and Tibetan horns. The monks do it daily and it can be seen at nearly every gompa at 7am.

Setting the alarm for at a pre-dawn 6:15am, we rugged up and set out for a walk through the countryside to the Sankar Gompa, a lovely gompa a couple of kilometers away. As it was a little tricky to find, we arrived just on 7am and were excited to be the first ones there (good seats!).

Inside the colourful Sankar Gompa with no monks in sight. (Guess everyone had a late one last night...)

Then 15 minutes later, we weren't feeling as lucky anymore... We could hear horns and drums in the distance, obviously from a puja, but nothing seemed to be happening at Sankar. Finally, a young monk came by to open the doors and told us that there was no puja this morning. Are you serious? Now, I was quite sure that it wasn't going to build good karma to get pissed at a monk, but who cancels morning puja?? Not happy, Jan. Apparently, Sankar doesn't hold pujas on Sundays...

The Boddhisattva Avalokiteshvara (with 11 faces, 1000 eyes and 1000 hands) is the most celebrated bodhisattva in Tibetan buddhism, who embodies compassion and refrains from entering nirvana to stay and help all sentient beings on the path to enlightenment.


Some of the various Buddha interpretations

Having missed the puja and feeling a little dejected, we made our way into town for a big brekkie to make us feel better. There were fantastic bakeries around that did a good breakfast, so we were spoiled for choice. Pumpernickel German Bakery was our favorite!

Another fun sight... a typically decorated truck (They look just like the chicken buses in Guatemala!)

One of the last things to see in town was the Friendship Gate. It was Tibetan in design, but unfortunately, we don't know the story about it.

The snow lion, with white fur and green tail and mane, is an ancient Tibetan symbol, two snow lions are featured on the Tibetan flag

The only prayer wheels in town that we hadn't spun yet

With a little over 20,000 residents, this was as thick as traffic got

After a really fantastic time in Leh, we had to head to the airport at 5am for our flight to Delhi. Kashmir has unusually tight airport security which meant that we had to check in all unused batteries with the flight staff. Isn't that weird?? What are we going to do with a couple Duracell and a Casio camera battery?? Oh well, guess you should never discount the creativity of terrorists.

Flying over the Himalayas on the way to Delhi

After 2 hours of delays, we were just glad that our flight wasn't cancelled, and we were on our way flying back to smoldering hot Delhi. 1 hour and 10 minutes sure beats 20 hours or torturous time on a bus from Manali! Just amazing how short flying time is compared to going by land in India!

Meditating in McLeod Ganj

McLeod Ganj - a very quiet place from our experience!

For a town where we stayed the longest during our travels (almost two weeks), we don't have a lot to say about McLeod Ganj!

Don't get me wrong, we loved the town, however the reason we stayed there for so many days is that we booked into a 10-day "Introduction to Buddhism" course at Tushita, which was fantastic. The reason that we don't have much to say about it is that one of the conditions of the course was complete SILENCE, for the whole 10 days! Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself...

We scheduled our arrival in McLeod Ganj a couple of days before our course started, so we could get in a few days to see the surrounding area and get to know the place a little. McLeod Ganj is famous due to the fact that the town has become the base for the Tibetan government in exile and it is also the official residence of His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama (when he's not out giving speeches around the world!).

McLeod Ganj is situated at an altitude of 1,770 metres, in the mountains of Himachal Pradesh. We arrived in the early evening to find a village surrounded by pine forests and mist, chilly and lightly raining (as it was still the end of the monsoon). It felt like we had just landed in British Columbia and it was a complete contrast to the heat and humidity we had experienced in Amritsar just that morning!

We had met a few travellers on the bus, so we had organised to check-in, then meet up with everyone at McLlo's, the local pub and restaurant where it was refreshingly easy to get a couple of Kingfisher's, have a good dinner and relax!

We got up the next morning and tucked into a hearty breakfast and sorted out what we were going to be doing around town.

One of many hearty breakfasts that we had at our hotel! Tasty!

When you start to walk around McLeod Ganj, not only are the surroundings completely different from the rest of India, however the people are all Tibetan or Asian in appearance. It really feels like you've stepped into a whole different country!

Tibetan prayer wheels and prayer flags around town give McLeod Ganj a very different feel

Our first order of business was to get to the post office. Steph had finally gotten sick of carrying around the Turkish lamp that we had bought in Istanbul a week or so earlier, so we packed a parcel to send off to our Australian mail reception service, a.k.a. Auntie Sue (she's very efficient, charges reasonable rates and is highly dependable. Very Recommended!).

The tailors doing a fantastic job, sewing up our package!

Weighing it at around 4 kilos, the whole package only cost about $40 to send - an absolute bargain when compared to sending it from Turkey (we were quoted well over $100). So, in retrospect, it was worth carrying around!

From the post office we proceeded down the hill to the main temple complex, Tsuglagkhang, where the Dalai Lama's residence, Tibetan museum and Namgyal gompa (prayer house) are located. The pathway took us through the mist and the forest, passing many Tibetan buddhist monks and nuns.

Prayer tablets on the pathway around the complex

One kindly nun advised us that we were walking the wrong way, happily nattered on to us in Tibetan for about 20 minutes and then posed for photos with Steph. She was a classic!

The kindly nun that gave us directions

The complex is the equivalent to the Jokhang temple in Lhasa, sacred to Tibetan buddhism and containing many relics rescued from the destruction of monastries during the Cultural Revolution.

The statue of Sakyamuni Buddha in the gompa

Light offerings outside the main gompas


Steph spinning the prayer wheels outside the temple

We also visited the Tibetan museum which details the history of Tibet as a country (with evidence of its recognition as such from many Western countries), Tibetans flight from their homeland after the Chinese invaded, as well as the many deaths of Tibetans and destruction of monasteries during the Cultural Revolution and subsequent periods of unrest.

The Dalai Lama's message of peace and non-violence is one that he actively takes throughout the rest of the world in his efforts to reclaim self-autonomy in Tibet and Tibetan people's rights to freedom of religious expression. The depth of the Dalai Lama's compassion and capacity to forgive is all the more amazing when you read about the history of abuse and cultural destruction that the Tibetan people have suffered.

The history of Tibet as a country and their own, unique cultural identity.

The Dalai Lama's message of peace

The next day, we took a little time to walk up to the village of Bhagsu, where there is an impressive Hindu temple and bath, as well as a waterfall. It also had a shop that seemed completely dedicated to silly hats, which is always fun!

Steph trying on a purple mohawk hat - last seen on the catwalks of Paris...never!

Steph and I made the small trek up there, in the rain. It wasn't too bad, and the falls were pretty impressive. As usual, there were a small crowd of young Indian men waiting to have their photos taken with Steph - a bit strange, however we posed for a couple of snaps before heading back down the hill.

The pool in Bhagsu Village - straight from the mountain stream (read here - bloody chilly!)

The path up to the falls


Cooling drinks, mountain stream style

Steph at the Bhagsu falls

After our "big day out" we headed to our new nightly hangout, McLlo's, where we met up with our friend Mehdi as well as a few of the locals that we were beginning to get to know on a first name basis.

Mehdi, Steph and I enjoying a couple of Kingfisher's.


Some of the locals that we seemed to always bump into!

After our couple of days in McLeod Ganj, we were ready to head up the hill to Tushita to begin our 10-day "Introduction to Buddhism" course.

The stupa at Tushita contains the remains of Lama Yeshe - the founder of the Buddhist organisation that Tushita is affiliated with - and several sacred Buddhist relics

We assembled in the dining room for orientation, where we were assigned rooms, we paid our donation for food, etc. and we also handed in anything that could be a distraction, such as books, iPods, cameras, computers and other things.

We were then assigned "karma yoga", which is a code word for chores that you have to do everyday to assist in the running of the camp. Steph and I were lucky enough to be on toilet duty, which we shared with a South African couple , Mark and Natasha. They split us up, again to prevent distraction, Steph and Mark did the "up the road" toilets and showers, whereas Natasha and I had the kitchen block toilets! Fantastic!

On the plus side (and you are encouraged to look at the plus side of all things), the toilets only had to be cleaned once a day which meant that after a half hour or so of chucking out used toilet paper and scrubbing walls and squat toilets, we were completely done for the day!

The path up to the dormitories at Tushita

The camp had a few rules as well:

• No killing - not even a mosquito
• No stealing
• No lying - not even "exaggerating" (which Steph has assured me is not lying)
  
• No "Activities of a Sensual Nature"
• No intoxicants, including alcohol or tobacco

There was also a general ban on speaking outside of class time as well. The good thing was, though, was that we were allowed to read, as long as it was Dharma (the teachings of Buddha) and we could talk in class time - some camps, such as Vispassana, don't even allow this much! I'm really getting the hang of this looking on the bright side thing?

Yep - they mean it.

We had until dinner time that night to get everything out of our systems, after which the "cone of silence" descended and the camp became a real Buddhist retreat in the mountains.

The gompa where we had most of our classes and meditation sessions

Hmmm...so to sum up 10 days of teachings about Buddhism as well as several hours of meditation a day is nigh on impossible, so I'm not going to even try. However, from a personal viewpoint, I was fascinated by this religion that I had previously known nothing about, amazed by its accepting nature and came to love the "luxury" of having 10 days to do nothing but take in information and look at oneself more deeply.

The new gompa, recently finished with a 3-story tall statue of Sakyamuni Buddha.

It was a great experience and I can only hope that I'll have a chance to do it again someday. For anyone thinking about doing it, I can do nothing but recommend it as a fantastic opportunity to learn more about yourself, others and to question the generally accepted notions of how the world works.

Even if you don't accept the concepts and notions of Buddhism, it is a great opportunity to really gain a fresh insight into your own happiness, the benefits of meditation and recognising your own behaviours and actions. By concentrating on the things that you can do differently, as well as how you act towards people around you, you can make your life, as well as the lives of people close to you, more happy and more rewarding.

Our classmates at Tushita


The monkeys that live in the trees around the camp - very entertaining!


One of the three dogs at the camp, their main job, we've gathered, is to scare the mischievious monkeys away

On the last day, after two days of intensive meditation, we were allowed to speak again. It was strange getting to speak to people that you had hardly talked to at all in the previous 10 days, and yet you knew so well!

We all left in the afternoon and agreed to meet up again at McLlo's for a last farewell as some people (ourselves included) were leaving McLeod Ganj for destinations further afield that night.

All the classmates at McLlo's

We had booked tickets on the overnight bus, leaving for Manali at 10pm. This was going to be just a short overnight stop before we took a gruelling 20 hour or so bus ride up over the mountain passes to Ladakh and Leh, in the foothills of the Himalayas and where we would be spending 4 days or so before flying back to Delhi. The good news, though, is that we had splurged and booked flights for the journey back to Delhi - only one and half hours.

Everything was going swimmingly well until Steph, looking for a bathroom, managed to take a wrong step and conveniently sprained her ankle just before we got on the bus. Fantastic! I looked at the bulging joint with some dismay as Steph commented that she had never actually done this before.

Being a veteran of 5 sprained ankles during my lifetime (I played rugby - 'nuff said) I knew that Steph was in for a few weeks of pain. Also, having no ice or compression bandages, we had to settle for simple elevation and rigged up a sling on the bus so Steph could keep her ankle raised.

Ah, well - I was wondering what karmic action Steph had done to deserve this (I'd bet she was killing those damn mosquitos!), as the bus started trundling down the road and onward to Manali!