Monkeying in the Mountains with His Holiness

I attended the first day of teaching by HH Dalai Lama today, it was really moving, he is truely an awesome being. I have found a great charity HOPE in McCleoud where I have just spent a happy time chatting with young Tibetans, I love the Tibetans, they are so interesting and compassionate, seeing them with HH is so touching, the Tibetan and Ladakhi cultures both resonated with me in a special way, they are simple and gentle, perhaps it is the strong element of Buddhism in both that really makes them appear so genuine and grounded in humanity. I think Indian culture is harsher, but it has a place in my heart. I love how everyone is considered to be family, and everyone calls each other brother/ mother etc, society is run according to the heart and it seems to work in a very chaotic way!! I mean people often make payment in ways other than money and people trust one another by default. In the west societies function according to laws and etticut much more, less heart involved! Negative aspects of this FULL ON society are the ever widening gap between the rich and the poor, the lack of awareness of the environment, and the status of women, men do not see women as equal, as inferiors and objects of sex, apart from mothers that is, older women are treated very differently!!! However I often find younger men who are quite able to have an educated discussion with me, but they do say that they think of western women as different to Indian women, and I suppose in the main they are!
Another thing I love about Asian culture is the aspect of gift giving, if someone is given a gift they accept it without question graciously, whereas I find that westerners often decline gifts which baffles (and offends Asians). I love giving gifts and it is a delightful thing when my gifts are recieved unquestioningly.
I love walking around the mountains here and I got into adventures (quelle surprise!) a few days ago when I tried to find a waterfall, I lost the path and found myself in the middle of a jungle, and suddenly realised that I was in the middle of a community of human sized black faced monkeys, who were clearly distressed by my presence, I was a bit alarmed I admit as I realised how vulnerable I was, so I decided that it would be a good idea to sit down and meditate, so I did and the monkeys chilled out. I mused that maybe they could understand the energy that I gave off when I was meditating as it was simpler than the complex human nature of today that is so far removed from our ancestors!
I have met some folk who I was in Leh with, and they are great companions, I plan to trek to the snow line with a lovely French Canadian after the first set of teachings and sleep in a cave!!
More adventures await me....

Choosing happiness

So here I am in Dharamsala, what a gorgeous place, I have such a good feeling from it already. The bus ride from Manali was fantatic entertainment, 10 hours of divine Indian scenes, and bouncing children, and aching seat bones....
Manali was a breif stop, but contained delights of course, a full moon party in the middle of a forest, with some lovely traveller folk.
I ached a bit to leave Ledakh, it gave me so much, but in the usual travelling fashion I soon discovered some new beams of light in the form of 2 Californians who led me to a lovely home in Vashist. But I felt sad to leave behind the sun capped mountain peaks, always smiling, always changing. I met some really class people before I left too. I gained so much from my time in Ledakh, it gave me so many new perspectives. Inspired by a beautiful meditation I wrote this poem
Veins
External and internal
Keep the flow
Dynamic and refreshing
Continuous change repeating
Streams rushing purposefully with their precious load
Nourishing and sustaining life
Delivering hope and loy to all in their paths
These blessed energy systems of all life
Galantly serve their duty
With humility, resolution and grace.

Six months after arriving into India I can safely say that I have fallen in love with the mother, the culture here is so very different from the one I have always known, and indeed from state to state within India, but now it feels like I have absorbed her into my skin, and am excited and delighted to be here, and a little concerned about how I will adapt back to life in the west eventually- any advice from folk who've made the transition is warmly welcomed.

Essentials for travel

Heres a potentially helpful list- it'll probably grow as I think of more stuff but right now this is my feelings of what has been really useful for me. I think it is really important to travel light, so essential stuff should take precedent over comforts!
* Sewing kit
* Silk sheet bag
* Head torch
* Photo album of home (I have really had some wonderful connections with folk when they can see my home and family/ friends and people really seem to like it too)
* 2x sarong (very versatile can be towels, dresses, light covering, table cloth, parachute etc...)

Transitions

Leh festival is in swing, its a fabulous celebration of Ladakhi culture, a procession just hooted its way down the main bazaar and we went to a polo match this afternoon, a mad dusty affair, with dogs and children wandering onto the pitch at random and a deathly ball hurtling past the heads of the crowd, good fun though. Its cold here now, and very much end of the season, very few tourists here still. Time has come to leave Spiritual Leh, 2 months after I arrived, many experiences have blessed my journey here in Ladakh, including all my children, and friends, and seeing such an inspirational culture in such intimate circumstances. Ama-Le (Mum) came for a wonderful holiday and loved Leh and sharing all of the delights that I have found here. After she left I suddenly was met by some more inspiration and signed up for a 5 day trek from Lamayuru to Chilling, lucky with my companions and guide and cook who were all absolutely top class lads, we were unlucky with the weather, and on the 3rd day we slept at 4100m and woke up to find that our tents were covered in snow, motivated by a breakfast of porridge we began the ascent to Kanzhin La 4900m in blizzard, and about 20 minutes from the top some pony men who had passed us turned back and told us that the pass was too dangerous to cross and 1 donkey had slipped off the path, so we turned back as our guides decided that it we could not take a risk, and even if we managed to pass our ponies may not and then we would be left without all of our stuff at the top of a freezing cold, snowy mountain. Disappointed but glad we were safe we descended again. We returned to Leh a day early. I really liked trekking though and it has given me a taster, I will go again, but the snow has come early in Ladakh this year, so the passes are dangerous. I met another traveller Gee-Gee from Italy who came to the hostel for my leaving party, he was so inspired by the children that he decided to make a film about the project and show it in Milan, and let more people know about it. I gave an interview saying that I thought it was beneficial to the children to be exposed to different cultures, and I emphasised that if people have skills in special education, then it is really useful, but that if anyone comes they should be sensitive to Ladakhi culture and try not to glorify western culture.