Hello Dalai

Political Sign about the Stolen Panchen Lama

Statue to those that  self-emollition 

British Church from Raj

Beware of Bears in India

Lord Elgin Grave

The Jewelry Counter

The Muslim Husband

Tibetan Monk

Our guide met us and took us to the Dalai Lama’s Temple that is across the street from our hotel. By coincidence today is the 42^nd anniversary of what the Tibet in Exile call Democracy Day. It is a major holiday. We first went to a Tibet Museum. It is extremely political. Tibet has a very tortured past with many wars. The point of the museum to us was to establish the fact that Tibet was always an independent country, not part of China. The museum mission is centered around the brutality that the Chinese have brought to Tibet, destroying their culture and religion. The Chinese government has also moved lots of non-Tibetans to Tibet making Tibetans a minority in their own country. They prohibit the teaching of the Tibet language in the schools. Scott reminded us that during the Cultural Revolution the Chinese also destroyed their cultural heritage. However the destruction in Tibet continues un-abated till today.

The museum also features a very vivid and shocking video of the self-emollition (setting oneself on fire to kill one self as a form of political protest) that have happened in Tibet. I had assumed the deaths were monks protesting; but in addition to the deaths of monks, ordinary people are performing this form of sacrifice. The Dalai Lama and the Tibet Government in Exile does not promote this act but they definitely use it to make the point about the hopelessness that Tibetans feel. There are signs around Dharamsala about the missing Panchan Lama who is another spiritual leader who the Chinese took away. No one knows where he is being held. I felt much more political awareness in Dharamsala then I do spirituality. I am sure there is a spiritual side, but the signs you see are all political. There is nothing bad about that, this is a Government in Exile, I was just surprised.

We then went to the actual Temple adjacent to the Dalai Lama’s residence. No cameras are allowed. Thousands were gathered there for political speeches. We listened for a while then left. Interestingly most of the speeches were in English, so I assume they are for foreign consumption.

We drove to an old deserted Christian Cemetery to observe the grave of Lord Elgin, who was governor of India and died in Dharamsala and was the grandson of Lord Elgin who took the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon.

We drove back to the city through the very busy traffic and went shopping. It was very interesting. We went to a jewelry store that also sold rugs. A most unusual couple owned it. The wife was Israeli who came to Dharamsala after serving in the Israeli Army. Many Israelis after service apparently come to India, to chill out, get high and get over the pressure of their military service. Her husband was from Kashmir and was a Muslim. So here in the Hindu / Buddhist town of Dharamsala a Jew and Muslim met and fell in love and got married. It is quite a story. We spent a lot of time in the store; they displayed all kinds of jewelry and rugs. In the end we didn’t buy anything but felt uplifted by their story.

A few days ago while visiting a Hindu Temple, I bent over to take my shoes off (required for entry in a Hindu Temple) and my iPhone fell out of my breast pocket and its screen shattered. It still works fine, but the screen is a mess and I have been worried it would either cut me, or fall off leaving the iPhone inoperable. I use the phone for both calls and taking all of the pictures on our blog. I used to carry a camera but the iPhone camera is so good there is no need for a camera. I went to a local phone store today near the hotel and a man said he could replace the screen for me. I debated and decided to leave the phone with him. I said I would pay him an additional 100 rupees ($ 2.00) if he would deliver the repaired phone to our hotel. He said he would bring it about 8pm. Cathy, Tom and Scott were aware of this and as we were eating our dinner, and the clocked past 8pm, then 8:30 they started to tease me. I had given an iPhone 5S, the latest model, to someone I didn’t know, how crazy was that. The man appeared about 8:45 with my perfectly repaired iPhone. Between the Jewish wife and her Muslim husband, and my iPhone being repaired and returned by someone I didn’t know, maybe the Dalai Lama’s aura has touched Dharamsala.

From Taragarh Palace to Dharamsala

Tea Plantaion

Student at  Norbulingka Institute 

Our guide with metal sculptures

Tibetan Parliament in Exile Building

Representative of the Government in Exile explaining about Tibet in Parliamentary Hall

Memo to self: File this guys name in case I need him

Our living room at Chonor House

View of Dharamsala from our deck

Typical Tibetan women's dress

View of Dalai Lama's house and Temple from our deck

Toasting the Dalai Lama

Dinner at Chonor House

We left our Palace in the jungle and headed for Dharamsala. On the way we saw many tea plantations. we drove  another twisting narrow road to get to Dharamsala where the His Holiness the Dalai Lama lives and the headquarters of the Tibet Government in exile. The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 in advance of the Chinese invasion. There are approximately 20,000 Tibetans living in this area attempting to preserve their Tibetan Culture and Religion.

We first visited the Norbulingka Institute in Daramsala. This is an institute that teaches Tibetan artists the classic Tibetan arts, which  range from painting, to metal working to woodworking. The object of the institute is to preserve traditional Tibetan arts. Masters teach students under very strict requirements over a minimum of 6 years. The intricate work is then sold to support the institute.

The Dalai Lama is in Dharamsala now, he is elderly (79 years old), not in the best of health and often travels the world to spread the word about the plight of the Tibetans. We last saw him in January of the this year at the Jaipur Literary Festival. He is amazingly jovial and wise. He twinkles! The Tibetan culture says there will only be 14 Dali Lamas and he will be the last. But that might not be so. He has stated that there might be another. He also said that the next Dalai Lama might be a woman from New York. Who knows?

India has given land to the Tibet refugees to set up an entire government in exile. We went to their parliament building and a very nice woman took us into the new parliamentary hall and talked about Tibet and the Government in exile until we ran out of questions. It was very enlightening. One amazing thing is that when I asked if she ever expected to be able to return to Tibet (she was born here in Dharamsala) she said yes. She is obviously an optimist!

I for some reason assumed the Tibetan Buddhist were vegetarian (don’t kill animals and all), but they aren’t. Apparently Tibet is located at such a high altitude they can’t grow vegetables so they must eat meat.

We are staying at Chanor House. It has maybe 10 rooms max. The guest rooms have all painted by Tibetan artists, each room is different. Richard Gere always stays here. It is located in McCloud Ganj. McCleod Ganj is at 6500 feet above sea level and is reached by a very narrow decrepit one lane road. The streets are so narrow it is impossible to park a car. We will be hoofing it up and down the narrow streets. Apparently McCleod was part of the British Raj and got a part of upper (very upper) Dharamsala named after himself. Chanor house overlooks the Dalai Lama's house. Nice location, indeed.

We walked around McCleod checking out the stores. It is a very poor area. On the street you see lots of monks dressed in their traditional robes. Everyone seems to be smiling. It is quite nice to see all these happy faces.

Chanor house is also situated next to the main Buddhist temple. We sat on our balcony drinking wine, listening to the Buddhist monks chant at sunset. It was quiet an experience. Two bottles of wine later we decided to have dinner. Chanor house serves traditional Tibetan food, which is more like Chinese food than Indian: momo (dim sum), eggplant, rice, noodles dishes, chicken, etc are all part of their diet. They allowed us to bring our own wine to dinner. This isn’t your mothers Buddhism.

Our rooms have balconies that have spectacular views of down into the valley below. We are repeatedly warned to lock all windows closed because of pesky monkeys that could enter our room and reek havoic. 

Buddhist Around Taragarh

Buddhist Prayer Wheels 

Inside the Monastery

Hindu Temple

The New Monastery

Prayer Hall under Construction

Working on the Buddha

Prayer Flags

Rubber Tree with scoring to get sap

More Prayer Flags 

Mini-Monks

Bobby's wife in Kitchen

Lunch 

Bobby on left, Vijay our driver 

Veranda at the Palace

Peanut Masala

Scott enjoying the life of a Maharaja

The Maharaja that had trouble having an heir

Dinner

After dinner at the Palace

Today was devoted to exploring the area around Taragarh Palace. It started with the four of us being the only people dining in the large dining room. That made sense because we were the only 4 people staying at the Palace. I basically have given up on Internet here. I will have to post several blogs when we reach the next destination.

Breakfast was highlighted by Poha which I love. It is a hot Indian breakfast dish made from flaked rice and spices. Tom and Scott had never had it before and they also liked it. Our drivers picked us up and we backtracked a few kilometers and drove up to a Tibetan monastery. We had hoped to hear some monks chanting but it being Sunday it was their day off. They were gracious and took us around to show us the temple. The monks have renounced everything except cell phones. They are all plugged in, including Facebook.

There was a long line of prayer wheels that could be spun.

Click below to view Cathy spinning a prayer.

We then drove to a very old Hindu Temple. There the Hindu Priest allowed us into the inner sanctum to pour water on the Shiva Linga. It was kind of surprising to me, we had never before been allowed into the inner sanctum. From there we drove to an absolutely huge Tibetan monastery complex. It covers many acres. The old part of it is still being used while a whole new monastery complex is being built. It reminded us of a Los Angeles Rick Caruso project – like The Grove in vibrant colors. We were amazed at how many rooms it had. Vijay said it can house over 1000 monks. The main temple has not been completed but we wandered in on our own and watched the craftsmen paint intricate designs and sculpt a giant Buddha statue. It is amazing to see it in progress. I know when it will be finished in a few months it will instantly look like it has always been there. There were rubber trees on the hills, with the scores on the trunks allowing them to harvest the rubber.

This is a Hindu state, and most of the residents are Hindu, but these Buddhist monasteries are quite prevalent in the hills. I know we will soon be learning more about them.

Vijay dearest friend is named “Bobby”. That isn’t his real Indian name but that is what he calls himself. We went to Bobby’s small house for lunch. It was a real treat to be invited into someone’s house and experience the real India, not the tourist India. Bobby is 40 and his wife died about 2 years ago. He then married his wife’s sister. She speaks no English, but welcomed us warmly. They served a simple lunch of rice, Dal, Curried Potatoes and Paratahs that Vijay made. We followed it with Masala Chi. They have no dining room, their place has just two small rooms dominated by beds. They placed the food in pots on the bed, and we dished out the food onto aluminum plates. The food was delicious. During the dinner the Monsoon rains started. The heavy rain was accompanied by thunder. When it came time to leave, luckily, we were all wearing rubber sandals. We rolled up our pants and waded out to the cars.

We returned to the hotel and lounged on the veranda watching the rain and the monkeys playing in the trees and scampering across the lawn. The Monkey-Walla with his stick banged on the ground scaring them away. We patiently waited till 6pm for cocktail hour.

The hotel actually began to fill up with guests. We returned to our favorite veranda overlooking the garden and fountain for drinks. We had a different waiter tonight and with his bell captain hat and uniform he actually looked like a character from the movie The Grand Budapest Hotel. It transported us back to an older era as we were served complimentary snacks and drank our wine. The snacks were quite good: Peanut Masala (reminding us of peanuts mixed with Mexican Salsa), a Chinese style pepper chicken and tandoori roasted paneer cheese. We barely had room after the wine and snacks to go to dinner, but we did.

Before dinner the manager took us on tour through the hotel explaining the history of the Royal Family that still owned the palace. We have a favorite Maharaja that we continually laughed at his picture and his difficulty siring an issue. He had 3 wives and was still childless. Eventually he took a 4^th wife and she had a son. Looking at the picture we wondered who the father was!

Dinner was a buffet and the restaurant was quite full. The Internet eventually returned in the office and I was able to post a blog.

Staying at Taragarh actually grew on us. The staff were all helpful, the jungle setting with monkeys run amuck, the slightly run-down dowdy structure, the monsoon rains and the cocktail outside on the veranda, all created a spell for us of days long gone, between the wars in the waning days of the British Raj  when gentlemen and ladies sat back on the veranda and toasted the queen over drinks – while the Indian staff dreamed of independence.

From Mandi to Taragarh

From the Castle at Naggar 

Ancient Hindu Temple Naggar

New Hindu Temple at Naggar

Hour Long Traffic Jam on Bridge

Avoiding Cows while Driving

Rice Patties

Cocktails at last!

A quiet dinner in a large dining room

Our Suite in the Palace

We went to have breakfast and check out of our hotel in Manali. The day was mostly a travel day. When we arrived at the reception there was all kinds of security - armed police and solders with machine guns. It turns out the Chief Justices of Hamachal Pradesh were coming to our hotel for a meeting. Guards were everywhere, the drive leading up to the hotel was blocked and there were musicians playing music to honor the Chief Justices. Drums banged, and Tibetan horns (sounding like elephants) announced their arrival (and our departure). It was a very exciting start to a full day.

You can see a short video of the arrival here.

We had a long drive ahead of us approximately 6 hours to Taragarh the palace where we would spend the next two nights.

We first stopped to see the very old Naggar Castle. It is in the village of Naggar, Naggar in Hindi means city, so I guess the city’s name is City. It is a very small charming hillside village. The castle, an intricately carved wooden structure, was built in the 1500s.   We had Chai on the deck, from where we had a commanding and beautiful view of the valley below. We drove up in the hills a little farther to the Nicholas Roerich institute. None of had ever heard of the Russian émigré to India before. He was an artist, a philosopher, an explorer, a Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and a lover of India. He lived here in Naggar the last 20 years of his life. We walked around his house and museum.

We got involved in a monumental traffic jam it took us 1 hour to get over a one way bridge. We actually got out of the car and walked thru the village and across the bridge, awaiting our drivers. The ride to Taragarh was through the mountain on a very twisty mostly 1-lane road, it had beautiful views into the valley below. Once again we were grateful to have Vijay as our driver. We finally arrived at our Palace: Taragarh in the Kangra Valley. Surprisingly to me it has many rice patties surrounding it – I didn’t expect rice patties in Northern India. The Nawab of Bahawalpur built it in the jungle in the 1930’s.

It is very large wooden and brick palace and is slightly decrepit. I am confident we are the only people staying here – we saw no other guests. It reminds us of the movie Grey Gardens or perhaps The Grand Budapest Hotel. There are pictures on the walls of the people who have stayed here: Winston Churchill, Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, Camille Parker Boles, Harrison Ford, etc. It definitely had its day in the sun.

We had drinks outside on the veranda, watching the monkey-walla beat his stick to ward off the monkeys. They said all the food is market fresh and that we had to order 45 minutes before we ate. I have the vague feeling we ordered and then they ran into the nearest village to buy the food. We ate in this formally grand dining room with pictures of the Maharajas predecessors that have ruled this area of India on the wall; just the four of us enjoying the rather large run dowdy room.

Our experience can only be viewed as surreal. The food was fine, the wine was good, unfortunately we drank the last two bottles of the wine we liked. I am bemused by being here. It will definitely be an experience. I am so used to the creature comforts of luxury hotels, I really think I am experiencing what a luxury Palace would have been like 80 years ago. There is no wifi in the room, which will make blogging difficult. Tomorrow we get to explore the surrounding area. They have wifi supposedly at the office, but when I went there, all of the exterior lights at the palace are off, so I had to use my iPhone light to find my way. The office is closed and locked. Everyone has gone home or to their room. I get the feeling it is just the four of us in the large palace and the monkey-walla here tonight. I know I won’t be ringing for room service!