30-McLeod Ganj

Dharmasala is located in the mountains of Himachal Pradesh & known as the home of the Dali Lama & the largest exile Tibetian community outside of Tibet...McLeod Ganj is a few km. uphill where Dali Lama actually lives & most of the hostels & shops are located...I'm at the Green Hotel for 100 rupees a night..the days are sunny now & the nights are cool....I just found out on arriving that a 10 day Vippassana Course starts tomorrow so I'm going to do another course...up at 4am, 12 hours a day meditation...time to put on my spiritual warrior mindstate & massage my knees!...if I become enlightened I'll let you know(on the 12th)....buddha blessings to all....

Oct 18th- Well I'm not sure I'm enlightened but I did survive the longest 10 days of my life...I left the Centre & walked back down the hill to McLeod...stayed 2 nights at the Loling G.H. for 75/rup. then one night down the locals footpath across a sadly polluted(with plastics,ect.) stream to a small hostel a local Himachal Indian took me to...the view was nice & the hot water shower was heavenly but I froze my buns off from a lack of blankets...so I hiked back to town & have been staying at the Tibetan Ashoka G.H. for 90/rup. No hot water but the room is decent & the view is awesome....I hiked back up the hill to Dharamkot & the Centre for an evening meditation(for old students) one night but mostly I have been meditating on my own twice a day as Goenka recommends....Another day I walked to the nearby town of Bagsu & hiked up to a beautiful waterfall past the town...the waterfall has 2 'shops' on both sides selling snacks & such...above the falls local Indian women were washing & drying carpets & down river monks were washing & drying their maroon robes on rocks....my big hike was yesterday when I did a 9 km. hike above Dharamkot to the meadow of Triund at 2,900 meters(around 9,000 ft.)...there are a few teashops along the way which made for nice reststops...I passed a big hiking group from England on a 5 day trek & wished I had my camera as local women with huge firewood bundles & local men shaving sheeps wool were on the trail too...At the top I had a Chai at a tarped teahouse & meditated for World Peace & Healing & good vibes for everyone!...the clouds parted at one point & had a great view of the snow capped peaks across the valley...as I was in shorts with sandals(no socks) I soon rapidly descended which was good as a light hail shower started shortly.....
One of the great things about traveling is that you meet people from all over the world...one night I had dinner at a great Indian restaurant with folks from Brazil,Japan,& Taiwan & today I had lunch at the cozy 'hole in the wall' Sunrise Cafe & listened to conversations at the table in Hindi & Hebrew!....one thing you notice about traveling in Thailand & especially India is how many Israeli travelers there are...(it is a ritual for young folks to travel after mandatory 2 years military service)....I had some good conversations with Israeli men while traveling in Thailand but here I've been meeting more Israeli women...I had a 3 hour conversation one night with 2 young Israeli women on the whole Palestinian issue...they are very passionate about their nationality & feel sad how the 'terrorists' have created fear in everyday life(checking out who is on your Bus,ect)....
I also finally checked out the main temple here & got to see the Museum there which focus is on Tibet's recent history since the brutal Chinese invasion in 1950. During the Chinese 'Cultural Revolution' over 90% of the Temples were destroyed & tens of thousands of monks,nuns, & others imprisoned or killed....China is still putting activists in Prison or executing them & doing massive environmental damage to Tibet's pristine lakes & forests....
Not only is India the birthplace of Hinduism(80% of people), Jainism, & Buddism but has one of the largest Muslim populations in the World....although with the Tibetans Buddhism is a huge influence here every morning at 5:15am near my guesthouse someone with a beautiful voice sings a Muslim prayersong for a few minutes that is very nice (in Thailand a Mosque did the same with loudspeakers that was not so peaceful!)....thanks for reading!...