Sikhs & Indian Border @ Amritsar

Luckily, i did get up at 4am and caught my taxi by 4:30am. When i arrived at the bus station, i was delighted to find that i had friends for my bus ride- Australian Derek and Kiwi Scott. They made what turned out to be the 5 hour bus ridea lot shorter (it was supposed to be 7 hours but miraculously we arrived 2 hours earlier- which never happens in india- it's always late. Derek had travelled extensively and it was interesting to hear him say that when he went to Lhasa several years ago, the Tibetans didn't seem to mind the Chinese too much and they were living harmoniously, and that the Tibetan museum in Dharamsala had exaggerated the Sino-Tibetan relationship. i still thought that the Chinese had done Tibetans a lot of harm but i have never been to Lhasa and it was interesting to hear opposing view. The bus ride passed by a lot faster thanks to Scott and Derek, and when i arrived at the Golden Temple's free guest house (hospitality is a big part of Sikhism and Sikhs let everybody who wants get free housing and food), i met two 18-year-old Mexicans Alan and Dexter. Alan was staying in India for a year and Derek three months, and they were both amazing musicians with some middle eastern drums so we jammed together me playing the harmonica. Alan said he was spending his gap year learning various musical traditions in india, sort of what i wanted to set up, and they were both kind and cool to hang out with. We visited the famous Golden temple, Sikhism's holiest pilgrimage site, and it was certainly very beautiful, the golden temple surrounded by the cleanest pool of azure water i've seen in India and white architecture. There was a service and chanting going on inside the golden temple almost 24/7 it seemed like (i had visited there 10pm and 4:30am, and there were a lot of people worshipping at both times). Their chanting was quite trance-like, especially with their use of tabla and harmonium. The Lonely Planet said that some compare the Golden Temple to the Taj Mahal, and although i think the comparison is a little stretched, the Golden Temple was certainly beautiful and it was more beautiful at night tand in the morning when lights shone against it. in the afternoon, Scott, Derek, Damian, Lucy, Alice and i (all Aussies except Scott and me) got a taxi down to the Pakistani/ Indian border where they were holding a marching ceremony. it was pretty hilarious to see the soldiers from the two countries try to march better than the other country and there was a huge crowd cheering on both sides. The soldiers were incredibly tall (i don't know naturally or they were wearing something at the bottom of their feet), and walked swinging their arms and legs 90 degrees. I didn't think it was that great but the crowd went hysterical. I wondered if it was good to foster such raw nationalism like this, but it was entertaining and it was probably better to have some humor than South Korea and North Korea where everything was so serious. Once we got back to the Golden Temple in the evening, we walked a long way to the city in search of Amritsar specialty fried fish and i had a chance to talk with Damian, who had biked from Malaysia through Southeast Asia and was now in india en route to Europe. He had quit his job as an engineer and had been on the road for a year and half, and he said he will probably take another two years or so to bike all the way to Europe and across North America before going back home. He was also a vipassana alum, and he told me during one of his meditations it occurred to him that he wanted to be a teacher when he got back home. He certainly had the vipassana vibe- he was very relaxed, exuded peace and compassion, and was very gentle. As i am sick & tired of riding buses and trains, i wish i could bike to Delhi like Damian does but i also did not have several years unfortunately. But i'd definitely like to bike across something some time. Although we ultimately found the fish restaurant that the Lonely Planet recommended, it was ridiculously expensive at 180 rupees/ 300g so we could only eat a little bit. So i just filled my stomach with some cheap street food on my walk back. Once we got back to the temple, Damian and i went back into the temple and we ran into a Sikh person who was very well educated and spoke fluent English. He explained to us basic tenets and doctrines of Sikhism, and contrary to its militaristic and imposing appearance with swords, turbans and long beards, they were very pro-peace and accepting of all religions, and he said Sikhism emphasized faith not rituals, sort of like Protestant Christians. The Holy Book was written in Punjabi, and most believers lived in Punjab (which was 90% Sikh) but as the richest state in india, there were also Sikhs who emigrated to Western countries as well. (Current Indian PM Dr Singh's a Sikh btw) As i left the Golden Temple for the train station the next morning, i could not get over Sikh's sick hospitality- free housing & food even for non believers? i hoped Catholic and Protestant churches who would not lose to Sikhs in terms of financial and political clout could do the same. And it was also a shame to hear that although Damian had stayed at a lot of Sikh and Buddhist temples for free, the priests at churches and monasteries did not allow guests to camp out at their places. What happened to Jesus' love and charity? But I have to admit that on my train-ride back to Delhi I did meet a Sikh person who offered me his lunch- curry with nan which was extremely good.

Tibetans @ Dharamsala

Dharamsala was totally worth the long journey. i only had a chance to stay there for three and half days, and i'd have stayed longer had it been possible to postpone my flight. After i got in past 10pm, i was totally starving and got some Tibetan noodles that were close to stir fry. Later i'd start eating more Tibetan style noodle soups (Thentuks) and get addicted to these, eating them twice a day. Thentuks also reminded me of my homestay with the Tibetan village chief in Qinghai China, when we cooked thentuk together on our last night. After getting some good sleep, i went for a morning run around the main temple complex, and my first impression of the place was that there isn't much to see here. Although i wasn't expecting something as grand as Lhasa's Potala Palace, i was looking forward to seeing some fancy Tibetan architecture but there was nothing special about Dharamsala in terms of physical architecture. But it was nice to see so many colorful prayer flags hung everywhere (i think these are prettiest things ever and love the idea of wind invoking the prayer for me as it blows- another possible entrepreneurship opportunity), and i also liked rotating countless Tibetan prayer wheels (some of them huge) along the path as that is another easy way of saying a prayer. When i got back, i went to breakfast with some Koreans (there happened to be a LOT of Koreans at the hostel i stayed in) and it was nice to hang out with Koreans. They were all 5-12 years older than me but were still very kind to me. Then we went to the Tibetan museum, and as it was closed on Monday, we decided to go into the main temple instead. But on our way there, we ran into a Korean yoga teacher who worked in China, and after he informed us that His Holiness (H.H.) Dalai Lama was passing in front of the temple (which was facing his house) any time in the next two hours, we stood in front of his house and waited. The time flew as the yoga teacher was fascinating- he was familiar with Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity etc not just in theory but also in practice and meditation, and he sparked my desire to learn more about the various religious traditions around the world. Then the gate of HH Dalai Lama's residence opened and a black jeep passed by in front of me followed by other cars. I was preparing what to tell HH Dalai Lama when he shook my hand, but that was unnecessary, as there were only cars passing by. As i expected H.H. Dalai Lama to be somewhere in the middle for security reasons, i was surprised to learn that the monk smiling and waving his hand in the first car was H,H. Dalai Lama himself. i didn't even bother taking a photo of him because i didn't know he was HH Dalai Lama, and when i expressed my little disappointment to a Chinese lady standing next to me in Chinese, she responded that even that 0,1 seconds of encounter was very moving. I guess since Tibetan Buddhists believe that H.H. Dalai Lama is the human embodiment of the God of compassion, then it makes sense that even 0,1 seconds is worth waiting close to 1 hour for. There's a story that the HH Dalai Lama said 'this is not the place that i belong' as soon as he learned how to speak as a child, and it is rather amazing how the previous Dalai Lamas predict the details of where he will be reincarnated (all the Dalai Lamas are one soul but different bodies) . Although my first encounter with H.H. Dalai Lama was slightly disappointing, the rest of the day wasn't. We got on a bus and headed to the Norbulinka institute, where they made & sold high-end Tibetan products, as well as showing how they made the products. Unfortunately for me, prayer flags did not seem to be on their top agenda but they still did have some cool Thangkas (bright Tibetan Buddhist paintings) and clothes made Tibetan style. At the institute, we also met an interesting Tibetan monk who could speak Korean, He told us he had lived in Korea for over two years, He had fled from Tibet when he was 18 because he said studying Tibetan Buddhism was persecuted by the Chinese government (i thought China officially recognizes five religions and Buddhism was one of them but apparently Tibetans are not allowed to practice and study their religion freely), and he also added that now that H.H. Dalai Lama had moved to Dharamsala, India is a better place to study Tibetan Buddhism. In the doll museum section, there was also a claim that the King of Tibet had conquered Chang An (Now day Xian), the capital of the Tang Dynasty in the ninth century. I don't know if this is true as Tang Dynasty was one of the greatest powers of its time, but apparently Tibetans once had serious military muscle in addition to the spiritual one. Afterwards we came back and got some serious pizza. The second day, the Koreans decided to go for a hike but i didn't want to because i only had little time in Dharamsala so i was on my own. But on my way back from the morning run, i ran into a Tibetan person who started talking to me and said he saw me running yesterday as well. We were walking in the same direction and when i asked him out for breakfast, he gladly accepted and we went to a restaurant he recommended. He was a very nice man- he had dropped out of high school but could speak fluent, intelligent English just from talking to foreigners, and he even proceeded to show me his house after our breakfast. It was interesting to see him just order some Tibetan bread and tea for breakfast - as he said he was vegan because it was full moon- it was a strange custom but another Tibetan woman i talked to later explained that the Tibetans believe that all the energy, karma and everything doubles when there is a full moon. (which also explains why people turn into werewolves in full moon) It was also interesting that he referred to himself as a 'pure' Tibetan, noting that now days there is a quite a lot of intermarriage between the Tibetans and the Indians. Then after breakfast i tried to find a place to turn my idea of 'Tibetan prayer flag entrepreneurship' into action. I visited government building, NGOs, and several shops and got a few more different types (i already have quite a few from Bodh Gaya) and have secured contacts to order more flags if necessary. The government official also told me that there are already several websites selling prayer flags in the US, but i thought i could undercut their prices (they were selling 60 cent flags for $10!!!) and although their websites had a good description of the flags, thought i could do a better job marketing and focusing on helping the Tibetan community so hopefully i'll be able to do something with around 100 flags i had bought. The Tibetan government was about 2km down from my hotel in the mountains, so i had to walk quite a bit. The government buildings were the most low-security that i had ever seen. I could even walk straight into the parliament library and the meeting room, and i may have passed by the president (apparently they do have a president) of Tibet. At the ministry of finance, i also met a Tibetan person who had received his MBA in the US and had worked for Citi Bank before joining the Tibetan government, and this reveals my ignorance but it was interesting to see a Tibetan banker, and it was also nice to be served free chai by a government official. While wandering in the government buildings, a friend whom i did vipassana meditation in Bodh Gaya with spotted me and called out my name. It was amazing to see him here (and later on i'd be surprised once more when a Korean person whom i volunteered with in Kolkata found me walking on the street), and he treated me to lunch and showed me around the hospital he was working in. There was also an American intern, English and Italian doctors there so it was nice to hang out with them. My final day in Dharamsala, i made it my goal to go see the Tibet Museum and the institute of Tibetan medicine and astrology, as i had been planning on going to these places but haven't been able to because i keep running into people. The Tibetan museum was rather depressing, seeing people stripped of their homeland. I had seen Jewish-Tibetan Alliance Office while walking in McLeod Ganj and thought that it was strange, but now i realized that they both shared the pain of being banished from their own land. The most vivid info in my mind is the staggering stat that 1.2 million Tibetans had been killed since the Chinese invasion (worldwide now days there are only 6 million Tibetans total), and a shirt of a Tibetan political prisoner that was filled with blood stains everywhere. In the museum's guest book, i left a prayer that "May the compassion that the people of Tibet shown to the world also be shown to them, and may peace prevail on the Tibetan mountains and the Korean peninsula." But i also felt that bringing independence to those 'rooftops of the world' would be as difficult as climbing them. China had a strategic interest in Tibet and they would not forgo their interests just because a few Western countries complain about their treatment of the Tibetans. China can argue that their treatment of the Tibetans is humane compared to what the West has done in Africa and Asia during the past few centuries, and even if democracy wins out in Tibet, Tibetans themselves are becoming a minority in Tibet with the mass influx of the Han Chinese. Even at the individual level, i have qualms about openly supporting Tibet because i fear retaliation from the Chinese government (i know i'm a nobody to the Chinese government but i don't even want to take slight risk being banned from entering China), and i imagine the pressure is only greater for the leaders of nations. But Tibetans were at least more fortunate than the Uigyurs i met in Xinjiang, who number almost double of Tibetans at 10 million but is very scarcely known in the West. Although both groups lack hard powers (economic and military), Tibet at least wields a lot of soft power (cultural influence) thanks to H.H Dalai Lama, but Xinjiang does not have such a charismatic leader to charm the world. Then i went to the main temple for the last time, and meditated vipassana for just twenty minutes. And the temple certainly had very strong qi (vibrations), as even after only 20 minutes of meditation i came out of there with so much more peace and compassion. Dalai Lama said something along the line of 'peace is not the absence of violence but the fullness of compassion,' and i think this is certainly true. On my picturesque walk down the mountain to the Institute of Medicine and Astrology, i ran into some monkeys, and as i held out the banana i had (jy always has food), it snatched away my banana courageously and started peeling it and eating it. Then i was tantalizing another monkey by holding the banana above another monkey's head and lifting it higher just out of reach as it jumped, and soon i was surrounded by a troop of monkeys big and small all wanting the three bananas i had. As i was hungry as well, i quickly ate one but then with compassion gave out the other two i had to the cutest baby monkeys. The institute of Tibetan medicine and astrology was not as good as i expected, but it was interesting to see that in Tibetan medicine they even use minerals like quartz and amethyst and they had turned their medical textbooks into thangka paintings which was fascinating to look at. Then i met up with the hospital crew for a movie and dinner. I was expecting to watch a Bollywood movie as the movie was titled 'slumdog millionaire,' but was disappointed to find out that it was made by an Englishman. The last time i went to go watch a movie in india, i had been overruled and watched Australia, which was terrible, and this time i was again deceived. But my disappointment soon vanished as the movie was quite excellent. Although it got a little cheesy-romantic at the end (well, it certainly had elements of Bollywood with all the dancing to the music at the end), the movie had accurate and moving reflections of the begging industry and the life in the slums. And the main Indian actress was quite attractive as well. After the movie, i ate a pretty pathetic lasagna but had fun talking to my Tibetan friend. He shared my passion for jazz and told me to stay over at his place next time i visit, as he will be stationed at the Dharamsala hospital for the next 2 years. And i certainly do hope i will get a chance to visit this place again within two years. I'd like to stay longer and take a Tibetan Buddhism course, as well as doing some volunteering work. And he told me that i came during the best season- not-touristy winter season. During the summer, beggars from all nearby places flocked to Dharamsala to hassle the tourists. And he also told me typically by this time of the year Dharamsala sees snow, but as there has been no snow this year (climate change? Heck yeah), there will be water shortages in the summer months and the poor people who cannot afford bottled water are going to die on the streets. It was also interesting to read in the papers that in Europe they were getting record amount of snow, while here they were getting nothing.

Ghats & Taj

Last few days have been crazy, and it was a test of endurance making it from one side of India to the other in such a short time. After 36 hours in Varanasi, I took a 7 hour train ride to Lucknow, then another 6 hours to Agra, stayed there for 18 hours, and took a 14 hour train ride to some obscure train station, and then 4 hour bumpy bus ride up the mountain and now I’m finally in Dharmasala, the land of the Tibetans that I’ve been dreaming of coming.



Although India is an amazing place, i was starting to get a little fed up with all the begging, hassling and cheating by the Indians, and wanted to hang out with the Tibetans. I can’t generalize like this but it seems interesting to me how such a spiritual country can be so ruthless and deceiving towards the tourists. I’ve been lied to and ripped off so many times (one thing I still can’t get over is that a travel agency tried to get $100 for exchanging my $500 US traveler’s cheque and when I argued he only gave me back $50 and kept $50 for himself, which is a huge sum of money in India. As if the government charging foreigners several hundred rupees for the tourist spots that Indians get charged 10 rupees isn’t bad enough, Indians tried to rip me off with all their useless souvenirs. Even a cute four year old girl was being obnoxious as she bothered my solo time by the river in Varanasi and proceeded to be irritated when i refused to buy her little postcards. And then there are kids who wanted me to pay them hundred rupees to play a little game of cricket with them and so i tried to find haven in the Tibetan exile capital of Dharamsala. I already like the mountainous vibe here. It’s a little touristy but everyone’s fascinated by Tibet and me coming here adds to the touristy-ness so i can’t complain…



But that is not to say that i did not have a terrific time in Varanasi and Agra, and in fact i had amazing experiences in both places. I arrived in Varanasi at 3am (i was supposed arrive at midnight but as usual in India, my train was 3 hours late). The Lonely Planet said the sunrise is the best time to see the ghats (washing places along the river) so i just decided to stay up and not go to sleep. It was rather difficult finding a hotel at 3am, and it was nearly 4am when my bike-rickshaw arrived by the ghat-side. Then i found a hotel with a help of a flower-selling boy who seemed like a good guy but obviously wanted a little tip in the end. And then i headed off for the ghats at around 5:30am and hired a boat by myself. It was still dusky and I was still a little drowsy. So i was dozing off and had my guide not shouted and nudged to wake me up, i would have fallen into the filthy Ganges River and got skin cancer. (The Hinduism’s holiest river is also the deadliest as it is not even suitable for bathing (its toxic concentration is more than 1000 times higher than safe level even for bathing). Although i was barely awake, the ghats were still beautiful and there were so many Hindus washing themselves and their clothes at the river. The water seemed not only dirty, but cold but it did not stop dedicated Hindus from washing themselves as they believe that all their bad karma disappears if they wash themselves at the river. Then my boat passed by a burning fire and my guide told me there was a cremation going on there. The body usually burns for about three hours (i had thought it would be lot shorter than that but apparently our bodies are pretty durable against fire), and the body that was burning then seemed like it had burnt for at least two hours as not much was left. I don’t want to sound morbid but i had originally wanted to be cremated because i liked the idea of my molecules floating freely around the world but if i have to burn for more than 3 hours, i think i may actually just get buried.) Later, i would walk by another cremation ceremony close to my guest house, and the body had just started burning on that one. It was pretty intense to be so close to the burning bodies and thinking i was inhaling the molecules of that dead person as smoke covered me. The ghats really make you think hard about life. You may be the one burning there any moment, and i felt like i was seeing the sand clock (or what do you call that triangular thing with the sand falling) of my life tick, and although there may be a possibility of flipping the sand clock and starting again (reincarnation), the ghats really make you want to ‘carpe diem,’ as cheesy as it sounds. There were two bodies burning on the ghat, and it was also a little depressing to see that there was a little crowd around the man’s body but nobody around the woman’s body- I’d hate to be by myself when I leave.



Nevertheless, this was india, and i was soon pulled out of reflective mood by an Indian guy telling me foreigners cannot stand by the pyre and have to go up the building and can only see from the balcony. Although the building seemed like a hospice for the old people (or so the Indian person claimed), I was sick and tired of being hassled to donate that I just dropped 10 rupees and left the place, leaving behind the angry Indian guy who shouted ‘minimum 100 rupees.’



Beside ghats, I took some tabla lessons and it’s such a mesmerizing instrument. After hearing my teacher groove on the table, I discovered where Victor Wooten (one of my favorite bassists) got his funky rhythm- he had brought Tabla beat to bass- another example of successful fusion between the West and the East. I only had time for two lessons, but I think I’ll continue tabla lessons in college. I also tried a crazy 2-hour yoga session which began with ‘laughing yoga,’ which was doing a little chicken dance first and then cracking up as much as you can. Although I know it’s good to smile and laugh, I had hard time laughing consciously but I was saved by just looking at my teacher who was cracking up out of control. Just watching him was hilarious. Then we moved on to some crazy stretches and as I’m stiff as a rock, what I’m doing didn’t seem much like what my teacher was doing. But my teacher said I don’t have to push myself as ‘middle way’ and being natural (therefore not forced effort) are the best so I didn’t get too stressed about it. Then we did some breathing exercises which was also hard but ultimately two hours flew by and it was good to be doing yoga with such gorgeous ladies.



But I did have my blue moments in Varanasi as well. As I was having breakfast by myself, I was feeling pretty upset at the fact that I split up with the guys I met in Bodh Gaya but after calling my mom (this is almost always the best remedy for my blues- I guess I’m still a mama boy.. . J and remembering what I have learned in vipassana- that nothing is permanent- I was feeling a little better. Later on during breakfast I was joined by two Korean ladies and hung out a little with them so I was feeling ok by the end.



So I took the 4pm train from Varanasi to Lucknow, and after fortunately getting off my waitlist for the train heading to Agra that night, I arrived at Agra around 8am. After some serious breakfast and shower, I headed out for an exploration run and found a spot behind the Taj Mahal by the river where I could catch an awesome view of the Taj Mahal for free. It was hidden behind some forests and i was not the first one there, as a Canadian guy was lying there already. He was talking to an Indian man who was squatting and complaining about how the Canadian guy could travel wherever he wanted but he didn’t have any money to travel at all- which made me feel slightly guilty as well- then the Indian guy left and I sat with the Canadian guy for little over an hour and it was interesting to hear about his 5 years in Asia. Initially, he was taking a gap year also and what he thought to be one year had stretched to 5 years, and he told me he’s starting school in Spain this August. It was also interesting to hear that even without a college degree, he could make $20 US an hour in Shanghai ($10/hour in Kunming) teaching English, which was more than enough to live comfortably in China or India.

On my run back, while getting some street food, I also ran into a British guy who said he has lived in Vermont for a year because his whole family decided to switch their house with another family friend, which sounded crazy but I also realized is an incredibly cool thing to do. I hope I have good/ cool enough friends to switch houses with me when I get sick & tired of living in my house later on.



After running to the baby Taj and the Agra Fort, I took another shower to prepare for my date with the Taj Mahal. She was dressed in white marble so I decided to dress all black, and I even put on a nice collared t-shirt. She was totally worth dressing up for- although she was expensive (750 rupees for an hour)- Taj was the most beautiful building I had seen in my life, and she changed colors to pinkish yellow as the sun set against her. I also couldn’t help thinking ‘why didn’t you build this for your wife when she was alive?’ but maybe he built it for me. There is a theory that he was planning on building another black Taj on the other side of the river but I wonder if the Taj would be better by itself or with a twin. After getting a late night snack, I headed to the train station for my train to Dharamsala.