Thursday, November 08, 2007

McLeod Ganj; a little tiered piece of Tibet


I'm in McLeod Ganj (upper Dharamsala), the little mountain capital of the Tibetan Government in Exile. As the home of the Dalai Lama, it's as much Tibetan as it is a backpacker strip, though the Tibet part keeps it in check. I start teaching English on Monday, so on this little mountain stoop I will be awhile yet.

The stairs by the bus stand in lower Dharamsala:


The gentle struggle of properly affixing balloons to a stationary object, for the cliff below bares its own invitation.


It began a humble story, where the child ran and the donkeys stayed.


From the roof of my guest house:



The top view of the Chorten (prayer wheel pagoda):


The stairs into the valley, filled with school children, snaking water pipes, and abandoned water bottles:


Khora:

Khora is the mountain path that circles the main temple and the Dalai Lama's abode, oriented in a clockwise direction so they are always on your right.


The elderly Tibetans hobble through with their prayer beads in hand, mumbling "om mani padme hum", a ritual they seem to take a lot more seriously thank the cell-phone savvy monks who more often than not seem to be on coffee breaks.



-Tara

1 comment:

Suryadarshini said...

Snaking pipes and stationary donkeys bring Mcleod Gange to Calgary through Tara words.

- by Andrea