Tashee Delek (hello in Tibetan)
Tabbi and I are still in McLoed Gank, and having a great time. We didn’t make it to the school yesterday as we ended up waking up too late, so we went for our own little trek to the neighbouring villages of Dhamakot and Bhangsu. It took us further into the hills, and was a completely gorgeous walk. We saw lots of waterfalls, monkeys and amazing scenery. The two villages were just small hamlets really, and we had to clamber among the boulders and around peoples houses. We had to stop for a while in some hillside cafes due to the rain, and ate some yummy Tibetas Momos (dumplings). It was dark by the time we got back. Today we got up especially early to attend our 7am meditation session, only for no one to turn up! But it was a lovely morning and the first time it hasn’t been cloudy and raining, so got to see the mountains in the distance. We went to the Tibetan childrens school, but were not able to do any volunteering, so had a look around and instead got in a taxi and went to a Tibetan Institute about 6Km away, where they train Tibetan refugees traditional artwork and crafts. It was really amazing to see them at work, some of the paintings take 3 years to complete. It was really beautiful and set in Japanese style gardens. Later today we are going to get a Tibetan massage(mmmm) and go to the ‘cinema’ to watch 7 years in Tibet, as tabbi hasn’t seen it. Tomorrow we shrug off our fleeces, umbrellas and blankets, say goodbye to living in the clouds and head off to Amritsar in Punjab, Where it will be over 30 degrees, so a bit of a shock I think.