Are We Still in India?

(Sat. 6.10.06) Or should I say - Are we in Western Tibet? After the craziness of Delhi + Haridwar things have gotten more + more chill/shanti + Tibetan as we've continued Northeast. We're now in the hilltop monastic village of Dangkar where we've decided to attempt spending the night fairly spur-of-the-moment. Now we find ourselves staying in a traditional family home, have been given our first cup of butter tea and just NOW find out that tomorrow is both the Birthday of Buddha and one of the twice-yearly festivals of the full moon to celebrate the planting. All day, the elder women will not speak or eat and the rest of the village gathers together for a communal feast and reciting of prayers. Later in the day, many men will don traditional costumes for themselves and their horses and make a pilgrimage to a lake above town. How can we not stay?!

You just never know how things will pan out - That's just one of the wonders of independent backpacking and having the luxury of more time + flexibility. Darin was just joking that from a distance, you can plan for two months in the Himachal Pradesh region, but that in actuality you may end up in just the small areas of the Kinnaur Valley or Spiti for that length. As we continue through these borderlands and then to the city of the Tibetans in exile, Dharmsala, and even later to Tibet itself, it will be interesting to see how the people have changed + coped, and where the REAL Tibet now lays.