Someone's in the kitchen with Lhamo

Thanks to Lonely Planet, I decided to take a Tibetan cooking class during my stay in McLeod Ganj. I spent three wonderful mornings with Lhamo, a local Tibetan and learned how to make momos (dumplings), soup and bread.



The classes were great. Lhamo's a pro.



The momos were the best. We made veggie momos, spinach and cheese momos and brown-sugar sesame-seed momos.



We made the momo dough and rolled the momo dough.



Then we steamed the momos. Then we ate the momos. We ate them with a mixture of cabbage, soy sauce and ketchup. I asked if ketchup was authentic Tibetan food. Lhamo said in Tibet they would use fresh tomatoes, but he liked ketchup.



Day two: Soup!



First we made small momos then put them in a homemade soup broth.



Day three: bread!



This little pocket is full of veggies, spices and oil. We made the dough from scratch and knotted it and put in the oven.



Bread number two involved twisting.



And oily hands.



We steamed the twisted dough and veggie mixture and baked the knotted loaf. Everything was amazing.

I held off from posting and recipes so you'll have to visit Lhamo yourself when you're in the area. The classes were 300 Rs each or about $6 CAD. Not too shabby for a deliciously home-cooked meal that you had a part in making.

A walk through prayer flags

Everyday I was in McLeod Ganj I took a walk around the Tsuglagkhang Temple complex. The temple itself is the most important Buddhist temple in the city and the majority of Tibetans I talked with said they go to the temple everyday. The temple itself was alright, but I only went inside once. The rest of the time I just walked through the wooded area just below on a path. It was all quite inspiring in the morning light, surrounded by Tibetan prayer flags. I took a ton of pictures of the flags. Almost too many I'd say.












A part of the walk around the temple included a whole slew of prayer wheels. You're meant to spin the wheel clockwise and each time around is equal to one "om" which is just good for the soul, really.

In Dharamsala with the Dalai Lama

As my time in Varanasi ended two awful things happened. One, I got Delhi Belly and the first of seven days of being sick began. Two, Emily flew off to Thailand and my best bud was gone.

I planned on going to Dharamsala for a few days to kick it with Dalai Lama. After fleeing Tibet, he's lived in McLeod Ganj, a suburb of Dharamsala since 1959. He was never actually in the city while I was there, but that didn't stop me from spending 12 days there.



Most of McLeod Ganj is Tibetan rather than Indian. The first stop after fleeing Tibet is McLeod Ganj to meet with the Dalai. Then a lot of the younger Tibetans head to boarding schools in the area while older people settle with family and friends in the city.



This the view from my hotel. It looks nice and sunny and all that, but really it was about 4 degrees Celsius and there's no central heating. I needed a lot of blankets and yak wool to keep warm.



The road to the Secretariat of the Tibetan Government in Exile.



Hanging out at the Secretariat of the Tibetan Government in Exile.



Outside the library at the Secretariat of the Tibetan Government in Exile.



As I mentioned before, if you don't find the most practical, "non-progressive" way of doing things, you're not Indian.



Need I say it again?




A Pony!!!



McLeod Ganj, wasn't really India at all. It was the most peaceful, clean, quiet town I visited while on the subcontintent. I'm guessing it's more Tibetan than Indian.

Learning on the Ganges: Adventures of Pinky and Sony

Like I said, I could have spent hours just sitting on the riverbank. This was especially true when there was a group of cool kids that wanted to hang out. And even more true when they gave Emily and me Hindi names. I was Sony, like the electronics and Em was Pinky, like her skin.



This photo looks rather "I went to a third world county and saved them with my Western ideals." But I didn't save anyone. I swear.



Emily on the other hand... Nah, she was just reading aloud. Actually she was reading Listening to Grasshoppers: Notes on Democracy by Arundhati Roy. Great book if you're into that whole Left Wing thing.



This pup was totally into that Left Wing thing.



So was this cow.



The kids loved posing for photos. Total magazine shoot.









This small child holding the baby had managed to climb onto a ledge, five feet off the ground and teetered about, holding the baby the whole time. Emily "Umm, I don't think the baby should be up there..." Kids "Nah it's okay."