Dharmsala

Hey guys;

So i got back from Dharmsala this morning at 10am. The trip started off with a 12 hr bus ride up the mountains. That was least to say interesting.... We were pinning it the whole time and going over all these unpaved roads. Our heads smashing around, mine actually smashed the glass, that was fun. Mom you would have gotten off the bus straight up. More than once my ass actually lifted off the seat and my body caught some air. Carol Ann took a Ambien to try and help her sleep but because the bus ride was sooo turbulant she didnt fall asleep and ended up halucinating that there were forest people and mermaids in her purse. At one point after noding off for awhile i woke up to all of our bags in the over head compartment flying out into the asiles. One the way back i swear we were falling off a cliff edge. Looking back, next time i will take a train or fly. The cheaper way isnt worth it. When we arrived in Dharm we went to our hotel quickly to drop off our bag and then rushed to the monestary to mediate. But when i say rushed i really mean 5 of us slammed into a 4 person honda civic hatch back winding on 1 way mountain roads where you have to beep before going around a corner in prep for another car comming the other way. One side of the road is a mountain and the other side in the cliff. Once we got the the monestary, we sat in a free mediatation class led by a man from europe named Richard. We focused on the breathing the black out of our souls and bringing in the white light. It felt SO GOOD to breath in fresh mountain air! We were in a cozy room the smell of insence filled the room and the sun was streaming in through the trees into the room. Once we were done that we had some tea, headed back to the hotel ate lunch and crashed for 2hrs. Later on that night we went out for dinner, and tibetan refuges. they ran away from Tibet and walked to dharm in a 28day hike. It was really sad listening to thier story. But they loved me becasue they thought i was one of them! Which later on worked out to my advantage when buying goods from the vendors. In Dharm the Tibet influence is huge, tons of monks, and all the stuff they sell in Tibet goods. We were the only people in the hotel that we stayed in. It had a amazing view. I sat out on my porch with a amazing veiw of the mountains, writing in my journal breathing in the fresh mountain air! I love it! Auntie J you would have been there with my drinking Masal tea and enjoying the sun streaming through the mountains peaks. In the middle of the night a CREEPY tune was playing in the halls at 3am. It turned out being a doorbell polytone of Fur elise. But Carol Ann got soo creeped up becasue she thought it was a creepy man trying to play mind games with us before killing us. LOL. Oh yes and the hotel manager came to say goodnight to us. So sweet. The next day we went for a hike. It started off as us just walking around trying to find a path. We ended up bumping into ladies singing thier way up the mountain, as they do every sunday to sacrifse a goat at a mountain top temple. It was a amazing hike!!! I was huffing pretty good due to the steep incline and altitude. When we parted ways with the  group i ended up going up to the top of a diffrent mountain. I was litterally crawling on all fours at a couple points, because iam husky, and i got lost and went the harder way. When i finally made it to the top i just sat there and let the white light flood my body. Just such a feeling of peace and at the same time feeling so insignfiicant to these mountains that could easily swallow me up and spit me out if they wanted to. The girls later one showed up and we sat there taking some pics and just breathing in the moment, and trying to live it as much as we could. On the way back down Brandie and I swam in a glacier run off. Froze my ass off, but at the same time felt cleansing. I hiked back ahead of the crowd to sit with my thoughts. I just love the feeling of hearing nothing but your own foot steps and you trek through the mountains. I also was to preoccupied and ended up getting lost and having to climb through peoples back yards up a couple steeps, it was embarassing people were staring. After the hike we went shopping! I went to a music shop and almost bought a sami-sen type intsterment from tibet. When i was playing the G-tar the asian vendor had rancid gas. I swear everytime i started playing a new song he was blowing of another gross rotting mountain goat asian fart. It was horrible. The bus ride back home was the same thing, wehre i felt like i was dying the whole time. Now picture time.

Resting

Quater of the way

Tibet Refuge

Village home

Children that followed us

The biggest hail ive ever seen

Yoga

Chillin in glacier run off

Husky life, this ones for Geog Master GB

HJ