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.

Cultural blinkers

I have been on an incredible learning curve since my last post, all culminating at the weekend when I went on a Silent nature meditation retreat in the mountains. Awesome experience, I discovered a balance in my physical and psychological being that felt new to me. And my teacher, a westernised ledakhi, told me very firmly about some truths relating to my status as a volunteer and the very different culture here.
Many Ledakhis whom I meet tell me that the author of the book that i recommended last time is not respected by the native people. People see her as stranger who has come into Ledakh and romanticised the culture, and demonised the influence of development which has actually made life much easier for these people who live in such a harsh environment. It is a beautiful culture here I love Ledakh, but it is very different from the west. As someone who has spent all my life in the west, it is my default setting to see through my culturally conditioned eyes. That is not at all appropriate and I see that now. So although it is hard for me to understand some things it is absalutely necessary that I respect them.
This is a valuable realisation, especially if I want to continue to support this project with foreign professional support. It is very important that people who want to participate undergo cultural training.
So I will leave on sunday and my marvelous mum will join me in leh. I will take my mum to meet the kids at the hostel, she has always wanted me to have kids, and now I have 25, she'll be delighted!!
We will have a party on sunday, with some traveller friends who will bring along their musicalities, the kids love dancing, and I will bring a cake, so fun all round I am sure!
Then I leave, happy to have these children in my heart and happy to have had such an intimate introduction to this beautiful culture, which has taught me so much and happy to know that the children are loved and safe, and supported.

Traditions of frugality and cooperation in the heights of the Himalayas

I am 3400m above sea level and still my neck is craned to gaze and love the mountains towering above.... I found the journey here very tough, and my body took some time to adjust. This was quite a shock, being a young, fit and healthy woman I had not really expected to have trouble but the high altitude is very tough, and after 20 days I still find myself fighting for breath at times, the air is so thin!
So now I am volunteering with a hostel that enables children with disabilities, who are form rural areas in Ladakh to access education. I arrived and then went on holiday with the children, to beautiful Nubra Valley. I fell in love with them all, (in particular with their noses) 25 kids from 6- 17, various disabilities from physical to dyslexia.
The kids are not like kids in the UK, they are much less spoilt and self centred, they are bright and generous and loving.
But they have NOTHING.
Still they smile through.
Wow, again I am humbled.....
So I return to the hostel tomorrow, as do the kids after their summer holidays, and a friend I met on the road will also join me there which I am very happy about as it is much easier to keep the energy levels high if I have a comrade!!
I am reading 'Ancient Futures' by Helena Norberg-Hodge, this book is about the effect of globalisation on ancient cultures like the traditional society in Ladakh too quote a passage ' {R}eweaving the local, the small scale, the intimate, the natural, the human, show that, one way or another, nature willprevail, that it is this deeper heart-power, and not money, that truely makes the world go round. The question for all of us, as natural life support systems collapse all around us, before our very eyes, is a simple one: how soon will sufficient numbers of us learn to listen to our hearts?' (2000 Rider). I can reccommend this book to anyone interested in the affects of globalisation on traditional societies (infact everyone should read it).

Filling the void....walking a blessed path in Nepal....

Living Buddha came to me, a Nepali boy who went into meditation at the age of 15, and has not drunk water or eaten food for the past 3 years, just sat in deep meditation in the deep jungle in East Nepal in Bara district. I was so blessed to be led to him, he is certainly a Bodhisattva, as he is totally united with his environment, he denies that he is Buddha, but those around him believe that he has reached enlightenment already. The Discovery channel and other media have attempted detailed documentaries, you can check them out through www.paldendorje.com I lived in the jungle with the monks and nuns who have set up camp near him in the jungle for a few nights and I was overjoyed to discover the most loving and peaceful community that I have ever encountered. Language was not shared but by praying, worshipping, eating, living together, a pure love developed between us, through a shared love of a guru who lived so close to us. Wild animals like elephants and tigers frequent this area of the jungle but they never cause any problems to the community, or to Guru.
Now my being is light and purified.
The magic continues to lead me through Nepal (Never Ending Peace And Love), enabling me to remain intouch with my heart and follow it, and back into India, and heading northwestwards to Leh. I loved Nepal, I felt a powerful connection to the simplicty, and magnificent beauty of people, mountains, animals. So I begin the 2 day windy path to Leh tonight, maybe I start work upon arrival, but with climbing to 5300 m, this is subject to altitude adjustment!