Greetings from Laura P.
Dear Friends and Family,
To my great joy, the luggage has arrived!!! Well, at least mine did - some of the other's bags are still to be heard from. I hope for my friends’ sake that their luggage turns up soon. I'm glad I got my bag - I had bought a thangka in Dharamsala and didn't want to lose it. Also, my journal was in the bag, and I was looking forward to recording the rest of my India adventure in it.
There is a monastery in the center of town, and I was privileged today to get a look at a sand mandala that the monks were putting together. For anyone who hasn't seen this process, it involves dripping small bits of colored sand in intricate patterns, building up, grain by grain, a map of the path to enlightenment (about 5 ft in diameter). I have some great pictures.
Also of note, the scenery here is quite striking. When we came in on the plane, we flew over the Himalayas - nothing but mountainous desert for hundreds of miles, and the occasional verdant green spot where these tenacious humans have actually succeeded in getting stuff to grow. It's astounding. I made an attempt to photograph some of the mountains, and I think I've got some nice shots to bring home.
The bazaar here is thriving - 8 months out of the year, this place is inaccessible and snowed over. These people really know how to keep warm - I'd love to bring home some of the leather and wool goods that they're selling here, but simply cannot carry them.
Today we went to the Ladakh Woman's Alliance, which is involved in preserving the manufacture of handicrafts and the culture of the women here. After the film, several of our party went nuts at the handicrafts store, and bought the place out. I got a postcard or two to send to some friends.
It's late, and there is a terrific full moon, which I hope will be bright enough to get me home. The sky is relatively free of light pollution, which is a special treat for me, having lived the last several months in NYC.
Tomorrow we visit a monastery, and when we get back, Kelsang (our trusty guide) is going to arrange a massage for me and a couple of the girls.
Looking forward to seeing all when I get back to US.
Laura
The next day in Ladakh –
So I had a spot of porridge for breakfast, and we geared up and climbed into 4 jeeps (there are 15 of us with our trusty guides) and set off to visit a couple of monasteries. I cannot remember (or pronounce) the names of the monasteries, but did get some nice pictures off the roof of one of them - they're located way far back in the mountains over terrain that looks like Nevada - we joked about extraterrestrial intelligence, and UFO sightings. Probably discussions of these phenomena in Ladakh are not as flaky as they are in the US.
There are enormous statues (several stories high) of Maitreya (in the second monastery) and of Padmasambhava - (in the first monastery). We took pictures of a monk who was retouching the wall art. The pictures which had already been re-finished were bright with striking blues, greens and reds, and included 8 incarnations of Padmasambhava, who brought Buddhism to Tibet. I was following a docent around who was lecturing in French, and quite proud of myself for understanding.
Both monasteries were very high up in the mountains, and to get to the temples, one has to climb several stairs. This was considerably strenuous, with NO shade whatsoever. Several of our party pooped out, and waited for us by an enormous prayer wheel which offered some shelter from the heat. We went to a couple of places for lunch, but couldn't find a place with enough room (the first restaurant) or enough food (the second restaurant). At the third place, we had a lovely lunch - some fried rice (quite spicy) and bread, and noodle soup. Two of our number had brought pumps for filtering water, and we pumped several liters of water - Geoffrey was asking if one of our leaders (all of whom are fluent in Tibetan) could translate the sentiment that we (insensitive Westerners) did not mean to give offence by filtering their water...4 of our party left early to go back to the hotel - they were looking somewhat under the weather - the rest of us continued on to Stok, where we were to visit a school. Unfortunately, there was a miscommunication (we were supposed to be there this AM) so nobody missed out, and we're going back tomorrow morning to bring presents to the kids.
Am set up with an Aryuvedic massage later on tonight, and I have promised a game of chess to a man who runs the World Peace Café, where I like to go for Chai.
Be well everyone.
Laura