my stay in dharamsala is coming to a close with only 4 days left --since we leave early in the morning of the 12th. i finally got some photos onto my flickr which took a little too long. i was too lazy to blog earlier today but since i had some time open up i thought why not. so i went to the nearest internet place after a massive coffee and sat down next to a monk watching youtube.
we have been hanging out with our monk friend which has been very enjoyable. we discuss the 16-20 types of emptiness, zombies, tibetan culture, pretty much everything.
he has us over for breakfast almost everyday! we are very grateful and it is the best way to start a day! one day we had tsampa, a popular traditional food. it is simply butter tea and roasted barley flower with dried yak cheese. the taste is a cross between play-dough and cheerios. it is served like the image below. first you blow on the tea to push back the layer of oil then you sip the tea.
next you mix it together to get that play-dough look, mine was a bit dry because i drank too much of the tea:
our monk friend said tibetans never feel full after breakfast unless they have tsampa. also from another source i heard that monks often have a ball of tsampa up the sleeve of their robe, no magic here!
my poor crashed mac! it is a big question mark. i hope i can get it fixed. no matter the combination of keys i press when i start it up i always get the image below. it is so silly to bring a mac to india! most of the indians have never seen a mac before and they are hard to fix. i should have some luck at the apple store in hong kong or new delhi, till then i will have fairly staggered post.
so where is ms. zoe high? she is taking a 2 day, 10 recipe, north indian cooking class. i cannot wait till she tries some of the recipes on here own, our monk friend cannot wait either as he lets us borrow his kitchen. we did try a little bit of indian cooking last night, we tried out making kitcheri which turned out well. our monk friend had his cousin over and we all enjoyed the food!
we have been hanging out with our monk friend which has been very enjoyable. we discuss the 16-20 types of emptiness, zombies, tibetan culture, pretty much everything.
he has us over for breakfast almost everyday! we are very grateful and it is the best way to start a day! one day we had tsampa, a popular traditional food. it is simply butter tea and roasted barley flower with dried yak cheese. the taste is a cross between play-dough and cheerios. it is served like the image below. first you blow on the tea to push back the layer of oil then you sip the tea.
next you mix it together to get that play-dough look, mine was a bit dry because i drank too much of the tea:
our monk friend said tibetans never feel full after breakfast unless they have tsampa. also from another source i heard that monks often have a ball of tsampa up the sleeve of their robe, no magic here!
my poor crashed mac! it is a big question mark. i hope i can get it fixed. no matter the combination of keys i press when i start it up i always get the image below. it is so silly to bring a mac to india! most of the indians have never seen a mac before and they are hard to fix. i should have some luck at the apple store in hong kong or new delhi, till then i will have fairly staggered post.
so where is ms. zoe high? she is taking a 2 day, 10 recipe, north indian cooking class. i cannot wait till she tries some of the recipes on here own, our monk friend cannot wait either as he lets us borrow his kitchen. we did try a little bit of indian cooking last night, we tried out making kitcheri which turned out well. our monk friend had his cousin over and we all enjoyed the food!
also every night when we walk back we pass this insect (about two or three inches long) with two green glowing eyes.... sometimes i get caught in cobwebs and once i felt a spider run across my head, i swear it is only scary when you can't see anything. also the spiders are big here, tea saucer size, sometimes larger.
we are also trying to take chinese but it is proving to be difficult. we tried to take a class at the lha center but it was in tibetan (of coarse!). we had a friend who taught us for a day, but then he left. we are also waiting to hear back from one person. for now we are on our own. believe it or not chinese, minus the tones, is easier to learn than english. so, it is chapter one, making friends, watch out china!
one day we went with mel and jay to norbalinka, a monestary about 30 minutes from us. what a beautiful place! they had a giant temple and water running through the many gutters and streams. they make beautiful tibetan crafts, such as buddha figures and clothes. one small buddha figure can take a 3 months to make. some buddha figures easily go for $3500 or more. i wanted to get an incense box but they started at $25 so i got a nice one in dharmasala for $3!
about a week or two ago we finally did the path that encircles the dalai lamas temple/house. it is a really great walk with endless prayer wheels, prayer flags, shrines, and meditation areas. in lhasa in tibet there is a simalar path around the potala palace although it is several miles, while this path is less than 1.
and last the amazing zoe.
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