Are we enlightened yet.....

We have now been in McLeod Ganj for the last few days. Dharamsala is actually a dusty empty little town down the hill, whereas MLG is a travellers enclave of cafes, shops, guesthouses and Tibetan monks. We took the pilgrim circuit around the Dalai lama's residence & the Tsaglangka complex (please excuse the spelling misakes as I don't have my lonely planet with me). Tevo walked hand in hand with a young monk and I took my first deep breath in a while (there's no poop and garbage round the back of DLs place). Beautiful Tibetan artefacts in the museum and temples - the children are becoming quite well educated about Tibetan Buddhism. We watched the monks debating, which involved much hand slapping and foot stamping.

We took the bus to the Norbulingka Institute where we saw newly arrived refugees learning traditional and new skills, from Thangka painting and metal work (so that's what's inside those Buddhist statues) to learning english and computer skills. This is part of their peaceful resistance I think. The Chinese have tried to eradicate Tibetans and their culture, yet here in this peaceful little enclave, they fight back by continuing to thrive, maintaining their old traditions and skills, and learning new skills to adapt to a new world. Buddhism is thriving here as it was in Ladakh. There is much the world could learn from Tibetans.

We are staying at the Yellow Guesthouse, which is as basic as they come but clean enough. The view and our kindly hosts make up for any lack of mod cons. Dukka arrived from Tibet five years ago (he walked for 30 days in the winter from Lhasa) and he learned his guesthouse skills at Norbulingka. We've taken two rooms this time, for 2 quid per room, we all decided it would be nice to have our own beds and this means we get a bit of space from each other and have the luxury of a sit down toilet in one of the rooms (although it continually leaks on the floor).

Getting used to things not working or being slightly broken is the norm here. Indians don't really have any sense of maintenance and things fall into decay quickly. The Lonely Planet is useless with regard to accommodation as things change too quickly for it to be up-to-date. It's good for getting around using public transport though, and its much more fun to wander around for a bit trying to find somewhere to stay that isn't too squalid and with the friendliest smiles. This approach has worked well for us so far.

DL is due to visit the Tibetan Children's Village on saturday so we plan to stay until then at least to get a glimpse of him. There are no audiences just now as he is busy teaching newly arrived monks from Tibet. Then on Monday we leave for Amritsar by train. We have been told about a guesthouse with a swimming pool so the children are very excited.

Although perhaps I will have to buy some appropriate clothes for swimming in. It is hard adjusting to the view of women here. Women are not allowed to expose their bodies much. This means I have missed out on the cold spring baths at Bhagsu (although given my current fragile health I thought it may be for the best as it wasn't that clean). I even had to miss out on jumping in the plunge pool at the waterfall (it was soooo lovely and CLEAN and blue and cool, I nearly cried). We paddled and I even bared my knees for a moment. Meanwhile, the boys (including monks) get to strip off to their grungy baggy underpants and enjoy the cool water.
Ho hum - women get seats on buses to make up for this!