Saturday, December 03, 2005
As I was eating dinner in McLoud Ganj the night before last at the same Tibetan restaurant where I sat in on that English class, a young Tibetan woman sat down across the table from me. She seemed distressed, and had a handwritten message in her hand. At first it seemed that she wanted to practice her English with me. But it turned out that she was trying to understand an email that a guy in the Netherlands had sent to her. At first she didn't want to show me the message, but finally she did. It got a bit complex, with the Dutchman sending details of how to get the money from Western Union in an Attachment, but Pema had deleted it. Also, as a Tibetan refugee, she didn't have identity papers so had to have a friend with a passport be the actual recipient of the money. Long story, but basically I was able to help her and we finally confirmed with Western Union that the money was there, as soon as her friend with passport gets back from Chandigahr.
Yesterday I walked from McLoud Ganj to Dharamsala. The path is steep enough so I feel it even now in my groin. Had trouble finding the Tibetan Library and Museum. As it turned out, I had walked right by the entrance because the big sign for it was pointed toward Dharamsala instead of toward McLoud Ganj. It was a bit of a letdown when I finally got there. The library, at least the public part, is a simple reading room with not a lot in it, and the museum was mostly a series of cases containing hundreds of small statues of buddha or buddasatvas, all neatly numbered but without labels or explanations.
I stayed in a small hotel in Dharamsala last night to be close to the bus station. There were 4 or 5 other backpackers there with me at 5:00 this morning to take the 6 hr ride to Amritsar where I am now, fighting with this computer because this cafe must only have a dialup connection, judging from how slow it is responding. Next on the agenda is to go to the golden Temple to see how best to approach it, what is going on, and to find accommodations for the next couple of days.
Onward!
Yesterday I walked from McLoud Ganj to Dharamsala. The path is steep enough so I feel it even now in my groin. Had trouble finding the Tibetan Library and Museum. As it turned out, I had walked right by the entrance because the big sign for it was pointed toward Dharamsala instead of toward McLoud Ganj. It was a bit of a letdown when I finally got there. The library, at least the public part, is a simple reading room with not a lot in it, and the museum was mostly a series of cases containing hundreds of small statues of buddha or buddasatvas, all neatly numbered but without labels or explanations.
I stayed in a small hotel in Dharamsala last night to be close to the bus station. There were 4 or 5 other backpackers there with me at 5:00 this morning to take the 6 hr ride to Amritsar where I am now, fighting with this computer because this cafe must only have a dialup connection, judging from how slow it is responding. Next on the agenda is to go to the golden Temple to see how best to approach it, what is going on, and to find accommodations for the next couple of days.
Onward!
