Dharamsala, home of the Dalai Lama

and about 10.000 exile Tibetans.

I have lost track of time.
How long have i been here in this wonderful Tibetan colony.
I taught German and English to some really motivated Tibetans.
They have organised a whole volunteer system to teach interested people, not only from Tibet, but also from Bhutan, Vietnam, Nepal etc. for free.
When you talk to the Tibetans on thing i really dominating the topic, Chinese Occupation and the suppression of Tibetans. You get to know how they crossed the Himalayans, how the Chinese raid the natural ressources of Tibet (which are really rich by the way) and destroy most of the wild life.
The Tibetan flag is omnipresent and you can see “Free Tibet”-signs and stickers in all variations.
All is overshadowed by huge posters of the People who burned themselves for peaceful protest. So far it have been 59 people immolating themselves, and the number is growing.
The tibetans don’t even want a free Tibet anymore, because they know China will never give it up, but the want an end to the suppression, and the killing and torturing of innocent people.
To give an example, in Tibet you are not allowed to have a Picture of the Dalai Lama in your Home, otherwise you will go to prison. And i think everybody agrees, that the Dalai Lama is nobody to be scared of.

These people are refugees, political refugees, who don’t have freedom in their home country, and because everybody is eager to make business with china, nobody dares to touch this sensible topic on a political level.

BUT
Even though the situation seems hopeless, the people are happy. They enjoy their lives and smile.
Because:
“If you have a problem and there is a solution to it, you don’t need to worry.
And if you have a problem and there is no solution, there is simply no point in worrying.”

So please inform yourself about this issue, and also inform others if you already know, because some people don’t even know what Tibet is…

but enough of Tibet.

I had a Reiki session, which was impressive.
I make progress in Meditiation, even though i still don’t have a teacher.
I got sick again, but i got over the worse. Just a little cough and clogged nose left.

My plan is to go back to Bir for a day, and after that take a train to Karnataka.
I heard Hampi and Gokarna are 2 of the most beautiful places in India, the Ole is going to investigate 🙂

Now:
Pictures:

One central temple with prayer mills in Dharamsala

The audience for the play due to the 52nd Aniverary of the Tibetan Childrens Village

The sitting kids symbolize the Tibetan border, the ones inside the different aspects of tibetan culture…it was really a really neat play about Tibetan history….and yes at some point China came, occupied it, cut down the Trees and killed the Animals.

Khampa, a Tibetan guy i know from English conversation class. we hiked to the bakhsu waterfall.

Just the Ole, chillaxing at the river 🙂

On our way back, this guy wanted to sell drugs to me. When i realized that i was seeing a real Arian i had to refuse the drugs and take a pic instead. (Look at those eyes!!!)

Speaking of Arians, Indians have no problem with svastikas whatsoever…

Second trip to the waterfall with Patch, a crazy yet cool Irish guy, i somehow forgot to take a pic…it will follow
We got onto the river pretty far down and rock climbed our way up as far as possible. when we saw this nice place with the amazing stone faces we stopped. (it might be that we stopped because Patch had a little accident…but the place was amazing!!)

so after a while of reading, relaxing and accupressure, i decided to take a shower 😉

After taking a shower, you need to enjoy the other attractions, too!
So JUMP!! *brrr

First shocked

Then happy!!

This guy is Rajan, my german student..or a chance to earn some pocket money…

I hope you all are well, i am feeling better and think i’ll be completely healthy in a few days 🙂

So long Ole

p.s.: I am really interested in who reads this Blog, can anybody who reads this write a little comment? either here or on facebook?….i am a little curious 😀

unsorted picture outbreak!!!

snaake
my family in bir

family field trip

pure beauty on the way!
and an amazing sight
a german i met when i was harvesting traditional tibetan medicine, with some people i met on coincidence!

spidey in my guesthouse…about 10cm big!my own little tea factory…these are flowers of the green tea bush…
my guesthouse room for 2 euro a night

the spraydog..hrrmm the stray dog
the local water pipes…system? India!

His holiness
and my little friend who always makes fun with me when i come to german class!!!

so long Ole

teachers and destiny

As some of you might already have noticed, I did not join a monastery (yet).
I tried my best, but it never worked out.
So i decided to stay two more days in my guesthouse, because it got expensive…
When i went to the postoffice i saw a flyer which requested volunteers for english conversation classes.
So i went there and also signed up for teaching german 🙂
later that day i found a monk, Lekshey, who invited me to stay at his room. (a lot of monks come here to learn englisch)
So i will stay here for 15 more days.
After this i will probably go with him to his monastery to teach English to one of the leading monks of his monastery 😀
Destiny strikes again!
Thats all for now 🙂
so long Ole

Familie, Religion und Cetera

I am sitting in the Bus to Dharamsala, where i am hopefully allowed to study at Sara School Tibetan College. I will study Meditation and Tibetan language for one month.
I probably won’t write during this time so don’t worry 🙂

I stayed at Jyoti’s wonderful family for 5 days.
And i think if you cut aside the circumstances like a native kitchen, different food, arranged marriage etc. Then a family is the same all over the world.
A mother loves her children.
Siblings fight, but are making it up a few minutes later
Mothers berate their kids if they are dressed to cold and everybody loves to laugh.
Yesterday Meena (jyoti’s wife) taught me how to make chapati (the traditional indian bread) and i will definitely try this at home.
I taught them german card games…poor exchange i know 😉

I cannot find a proper transition to the next topic therefore:
Hinduism is a very complex religion. There are so many gods and godesses that even indians don’t know all of them.
Some people are following only one of the many gods, others just accept the situation as a whole.
There are so many temples, some very small, some gigantic.
Some have a employee who gives you a sign of luck (a red thumb print on the forehead) after you donate some money.
Not to be confused with the red Bindi of married woman.
Some temples even have a baba (wise man and/or mendicant who is dressed in orange) or maybe some baba’s have a temple.
Yesterday Vicky, Meena and I went to see a very old Baba (supposedly 135 but at least 120 years old) he gave away some sweet rice with fruits.
(the baba i met in manaly also gave away free candy)
Then if you want you can ask him a question, which he doesn’t always answer, but i apparently have a “lucky face” as everybody told me here.
It is in fact so lucky i got to try guava for the first time in my life…

In general i can say India is, just like Ukraine, very hopitable. People invite for food, so i almost feel bad accepting it. But in a difference to Ukraine, the people are in general way poorer. And where there is decay in Ukraine, there are building sites in India. Everywhere are busy people.
The buildings partially look horrible, but they are used frequently. And new ones are growing everywhere, even in the most remote villages.

So long Ole

Clouds, Lakes and Temples (Pics)

From left to right:
Me, my host Riaz, Steph(NL), Steward(GB) and another NL-Guy (i forgot the name)

a acrobatic dog in Manali

And now some ancient Indian architecture…well actually its not that ancient, and still in use…

Thats the way to Prashar Lake

And this is Prashar Lake…so beautyful!

This Temple is 2000-4000 years old

and they have never restaurated the woodwork!
by the way, there are earthquakes up to Richter-Skala 5 here…
A very ecological community with soloar power…

it is very steep next to the roads!

In bir, before flying:

while flying:

tibetan pilot:

and after flying:

Because of the hight, the clouds have a totally different effect on the environment, the sun was long gone, but the clouds reflected the red light all over the place…it was really impressive!

Just like this thunderstorm, about 1km away, while the sun was shining.

With this bike i am driving around:

To see the monasteries

Temple in the neighbors backyard

and one that almost looks like a bus stop (well the gods have to come there somehow)

My friend Vicky who showed me around today 🙂

so long Ole 🙂

p.s. i hope the system is alright, that i write my thoughts and stuff in one entry, and upload the pictures later…

Hitchhiking, Bir, Paragliding and Charas

Hello my dear readers,
I don’t know where to start.
For Manali there is nothing interesting to tell..exept that i made mousse au chocolat for my arabian couchsurfing host and his coworkers (thanks to Fabi for the Recipe…it even “works” without kitchen eqipment)
When i left Manali i changed some money for the way and met an Israeli guy (this is nothing special…it seems that every 2nd tourist is an Israeli)
He said he could take me a part of the way…
In fact he and his wife took me to prashal lake…but i won’t write about it until i can upload pics. 🙂

After i walked in direction Mandi. I tried to take the bus (hanging on the back ladder of the bus it must have looked like Indiana Jones) but it stopped after a few villages. But it was at least a part of the way.
Then 2 teenagers tried to sell me a taxi to Mandi…very clever…but i refused the offer
after 5 more minutes i got a car that even dropped me at the bus station.
In the bus to Bir (thats where Jyoti lives..a friend from India i got to know in Ladakh) i met a friend of Jyoty…everything went well.
The house is very old. The kitchen looks like india: stone floor, loam oven with open wood fire and wooden ceiling. But the food is amazing. In Manali i started eating with Hands…its easy, way more fun and integrating, because all the locals also eat with hands.
Bir is famous for 2 things:

1.)  Tibetan people. Bir has 4 monastries (i don’ know where i will go…) and one of the biggest Tibetan colonies in India.

2.) Paragliding in the Himalayas is amazing!!!!!
Today i went with Chotu (Jyoti’s brother) tandem flying for 1,5 h.
It was very cold but i was in awe the whole flight.

After the flight (and ca. 3h relaxing at the landing site 😉 he gave me his bike (a honda hero) and a driving lesson and tomorrow i go explore the monastries… Wow.

In the evening we went back to the landing site where we found several groups of men smoking joints. In Himachal Pradesh, especially the Parvati villages near Manali, the most Hash (indian = charas) is produced…
And right now is harvest time.
Everybody invites you for smoking charas…but everybody mixes it with tobacco…
So i can say i dont smoke tobacco and everybody understands.
(das is wie mit dem Brüssower Apfelsaft! im Herbst wird man überall zum Saft eingeladen)

I hope this was not to long, but the last 2 days were very impressive.
Pictures are coming when i have other internet than my phone.

So long Ole 🙂

manali? amazing!

Manali is a beautiful place!

The Mountains are amazing! and the food is tasty.
The park in manali looks like k\cut out of Lord of the rings

There are Marijuana plants on every corner, and a lot of Hippies and Baba’s (Indian Holy who is allowed to smoke Changa)…i wonder why.

I guess that this is why there are so many tourists…

My further plan is to leave manali next week. I asked a friend for work and he tries to organize something.
Working in india…i am exited.

What else can i tell?
MONKEY-BABY!

It i strange how fast time goes by…i started travelling almost 2 month ago…it does not feel like it!
Some impressions from manali:

Indian Barbwirethe best chocolat-cookies in Manali and probably the whole wide world…i will investigate @dylans cafe
Wool shop…so comfortablemore monkeys..i really love the monkeys
but they are pretty scary if you walk home at night 🙂the amazing tree in the amazing parkprayer mills in Tibetan exile monasterythe rainbow cave
(i went there today)at the cave there was an even more amazing tree!sheep at the waterfalldouble rainbow
I promised you pictures, and i hope these are what you expected

I am looking forward to work and i will definitely share my experiences on the Indian job market

So long Ole 🙂

Goodbye Delhi, Hello Manali!

So after almost 3 weeks of staying in the moist heat of Delhi, i finally got to leave the city.

15h of bus ride with an overpowered Airconditioner…i felt like i am back in Ukraine again.

When stopping for a tea break in the next morning i somehow realized, that we are not the only bus travelling to Manali.

Bela (my host from Delhi) and Andy (the fashion editor)

When we entered the mountains the winding roads were extreme. Very steep and narrow roads, beautiful view and a bus travelling with 80 km/h…EXTREME!

We arrived in the morning and went to a guesthouse of a friend of a friend 🙂
(from here i cannot put anymore pictures…slow internet…but i’ll put them later 🙂 )

Manali is great, beautiful view on the mountains and a very relaxed atmosphere.
But you can really feel how it becomes more and more touristic.
However i found some nice people. I stay at another couchsurfers home. His name is Riaz.
And i found some company, a English guy and an Israeli girl, i met in a cafe.
I might go to an internetcafe tomorrow to upload some nice pics…

so long
OLE