Two days ago, desperate to escape the hot mess that is Delhi, I hopped on an overnight bus headed north to McCloed Ganj in Dharamasala.
I had some time before I boarded the bus, so I went to a little shop to drink chai and people watch. A nice guy from New York pulled up a chair and we had a fun conversation. It was a nice change...it has been surprisingly hard to meet other travelers here! So far my impression of Indian tourists is: they are all from Israel, they are traveling in giant groups and are not very friendly or welcoming and are rude to Indian waiters. The New Yorker was a painter, in Delhi for 10 days to source some art supplies. I told him I had some time to kill so he invited me shopping with him to pick out some presents for his friends. We headed to the market and bought paper and stickers and scarves and spices, but he was mostly interested in going to the pharmacies...? He picked up several packages, which I later found out were filled with litres and litres of ketamine! He explained how the pharmacies would pack the ketamine in rosewater bottles so he could ship them to his friends all over europe, and how you could cook the water down into powder. Ha!
On the bus, I was seated next to a young Indian girl who I ended up having a really nice, long conversation with about India, Delhi, and traveling. She told me the area I was staying in Old Delhi was not that great a choice: not safe, over crowded and a very poor part of the city. She said New Delhi was the place to be! She thought my protest story was funny and commented it was probably the worst way possible to be introduced to the country. She said, if I survived that, I can survive anything in India!
She told me the protests were to support Anna, a 69 year old man on a hunger strike to support a bill against corruption in politics. If the bill passed, many important officials would be punished for taking "black" (corrupt) money. Anna was camped out around the corner from my hotel, which is why there were so many protestors were there. Apparently he has not eaten in 14 days! The girl said this was not his first hunger strike: the last time he went 20 days without eating! She noted the Indian people were getting more and more upset as time went on and the situation was getting quite volatile. I asked what would happen if Anna died? She said India would explode into chaos.
McLoed Ganj is a small mountain town comprised mostly of Tibetan people, cows, water buffalo, stray dogs and lots and lots of monkeys! I was warned not to leave my windows open in my room unattended because monkeys will come in and take my things! As I write this there is actually a monkey sitting outside the window of the internet cafe right now!
It has been raining on and off since I got here and it is much much cooler than Delhi....actually comfortable! I spent yesterday in bed because I have been feeling super sick. I haven't eaten anything in about 24 hours... I dont think I could keep it down. At first I thought I might be feeling off because I had only slept about 4 hours since arriving in Delhi, but now I know it is probably "Delhi Belly."
I am pretty lucky because the Dalai Lama apparently will be coming to Dharmsala when I am here to give a public lecture! Mcloed Ganj is the Dali Lama's home and it is super rare that he is here! The Buddism office opens at 9am, and I am going to go and try to register to be able to sit in on the talk. I am a little concerned that I wont be able to sit long enough to hear the lecture because of my stomach issues....
I will update in a couple of days. If all goes as planned will head back to Delhi (NEW Delhi lol) around September 5 but that is still up in the air.
Lots of love, miss everyone like crazy.
Anna
I had some time before I boarded the bus, so I went to a little shop to drink chai and people watch. A nice guy from New York pulled up a chair and we had a fun conversation. It was a nice change...it has been surprisingly hard to meet other travelers here! So far my impression of Indian tourists is: they are all from Israel, they are traveling in giant groups and are not very friendly or welcoming and are rude to Indian waiters. The New Yorker was a painter, in Delhi for 10 days to source some art supplies. I told him I had some time to kill so he invited me shopping with him to pick out some presents for his friends. We headed to the market and bought paper and stickers and scarves and spices, but he was mostly interested in going to the pharmacies...? He picked up several packages, which I later found out were filled with litres and litres of ketamine! He explained how the pharmacies would pack the ketamine in rosewater bottles so he could ship them to his friends all over europe, and how you could cook the water down into powder. Ha!
On the bus, I was seated next to a young Indian girl who I ended up having a really nice, long conversation with about India, Delhi, and traveling. She told me the area I was staying in Old Delhi was not that great a choice: not safe, over crowded and a very poor part of the city. She said New Delhi was the place to be! She thought my protest story was funny and commented it was probably the worst way possible to be introduced to the country. She said, if I survived that, I can survive anything in India!
She told me the protests were to support Anna, a 69 year old man on a hunger strike to support a bill against corruption in politics. If the bill passed, many important officials would be punished for taking "black" (corrupt) money. Anna was camped out around the corner from my hotel, which is why there were so many protestors were there. Apparently he has not eaten in 14 days! The girl said this was not his first hunger strike: the last time he went 20 days without eating! She noted the Indian people were getting more and more upset as time went on and the situation was getting quite volatile. I asked what would happen if Anna died? She said India would explode into chaos.
McLoed Ganj is a small mountain town comprised mostly of Tibetan people, cows, water buffalo, stray dogs and lots and lots of monkeys! I was warned not to leave my windows open in my room unattended because monkeys will come in and take my things! As I write this there is actually a monkey sitting outside the window of the internet cafe right now!
It has been raining on and off since I got here and it is much much cooler than Delhi....actually comfortable! I spent yesterday in bed because I have been feeling super sick. I haven't eaten anything in about 24 hours... I dont think I could keep it down. At first I thought I might be feeling off because I had only slept about 4 hours since arriving in Delhi, but now I know it is probably "Delhi Belly."
I am pretty lucky because the Dalai Lama apparently will be coming to Dharmsala when I am here to give a public lecture! Mcloed Ganj is the Dali Lama's home and it is super rare that he is here! The Buddism office opens at 9am, and I am going to go and try to register to be able to sit in on the talk. I am a little concerned that I wont be able to sit long enough to hear the lecture because of my stomach issues....
I will update in a couple of days. If all goes as planned will head back to Delhi (NEW Delhi lol) around September 5 but that is still up in the air.
Lots of love, miss everyone like crazy.
Anna
