Norbulingka redux

Verity and Samten Kyi.

Most of the volunteer teachers at Tibet Charity don't stick around for the full 4-month term. This means that many of the students have numerous different English teachers throughout their education here. When I first started at the beginning of August, I was teaching both the Elementary and Pre-Intermediate classes. I since handed the Pre-Intermediates off to Brij, and then he handed them off to Charlene. When Verity arrived a few weeks ago, she took on some students for conversation classes.

One of the students who has had me, Brij, Verity, and Charlene is Samten Kyi. She is an absolute sweetheart and her English is pretty decent. She and Verity have apparently hit it off really well, and often times for their conversation “classes” they just go for walks around town and talk about whatever comes to mind. Samten Kyi offered to take Verity to Norbulingka to show her the workshops there, and then Charlene and I got invited to go with them.

The workshops aren't open on the weekends – when I had gone to Norbulingka before – so, as those who speak British English say, I was keen to go again and see the Tibetan crafters at work.

As usual, one of my students, Gyaltsen, kept me after class so I could pronounce the vocab words he'd gotten from another teacher. After a few minutes I told him I had to get going because there was a taxi waiting for me; “Sorry, Teacher!” he said and scampered off.

Even though monsoon season is supposed to have ended a few weeks ago, we still get bouts of extreme fog and rain. I grabbed my umbrella – and it's a good thing, too – and we headed off down the mountain.

Just as we arrived at Norbulingka, it started pouring. We all jumped out and ran into the Tibetan cafe where we had decided to have lunch. Over thukpa (Tibetan soup) and tea, Samten Kyi explained to us that “yaks don't give milk. Yak wife gives milk” and that female yaks are called dri, although to hear her say it it sounded more like “drrr.” I didn't realize “yaks” were only male.

Luckily, the rain stopped just as we finished our meal and we were able to go watch some of the artisans at work: tailors, thangka painters, and weavers:

 

They have a Tibetan doll museum as well.

Samten Kyi showed us where she's from in Tibet:

Tibet has musk deer...

...Tibetan wolves, Himalayan bears...

... and Yetis, apparently.

Before we left we stopped in the gift shop. The things in the Norbulingka gift shop are very nice, with price tags to match; there was a strand of (very pretty) amber prayer beads... for 33,000 rupees! We didn't buy them. I did, however, seriously contemplate picking up one of the handwoven raw silk shawls (they were actually fairly reasonably priced).

Oh, and apparently an Indian reality show was being filmed when we were there.

TRIUND

If you recall, last weekend we went on a hike. One of our party wanted to go to Triund, but the rest of us weren't feeling up for it as a spur of the moment thing so we kept it local that day. Well, earlier this week we planned. We planned on pulling out the big guns.

Today, we would go to Triund.

Triund is the trekking destination here. It's up on a mountain and getting there is quite an adventure. It's a name that carries a lot of weight around here – “'Where are you going?' 'Triund'” is usually followed by an awed “ooooooh,” whether it's audible or not. From what I understand, it's a hike that many people can – and do – make, not just the seasoned professionals and hardcore hikers. I guess it's kind of like collecting your family or friends and going to the beach for a day... except there's a lot of work involved in getting there.

The hike generally takes about 5 hours to complete if you are a group of mildly experienced hikers moving at a reasonable pace. Most of the teachers at Tibet Charity tend to fall into this group. We thought it would be fun to invite the students to come with, because a few weeks back Brij and I and some students went for a hike to Naddi and had a picnic, and it was all kinds of fun.

So that's what we did. We invited our students to trek to Triund this weekend. We haven't had much rain all week, so we figured it was pretty safe to say the monsoon wouldn't be giving us much trouble. The temperature has been fantastic – comfortably in the 70s – and we've had a lot of sun. We made plans to meet in McLeod's main square at 7:30am (yeah... it's the whole 5-hours-to-get-there thing), have a picnic at Triund, chill for a bit, and be home in time for the Liverpool game at 7.

Last night as Brij and I sat out on our balcony finishing off a bag of sunflower seeds, the fog rolled in. Then we saw lightning. We heard some thunder. The clouds passed after a bit with no real rain, but we were a little concerned for the morning. Regardless, we got up and got ready to meet everyone bright and early (just in case).

A rather poorly taken photo of us failing to look like badasses, on our way to the main square to meet the students.

We got to the main square a few short minutes after 7:30. It's nice and quiet in the main square at 7:30 in the morning.

This guy kept sweeping garbage at me. I was not amused.

At 8am we finally decided that nobody else was showing up, so we had some decisions to make. The Reader's Digest condensed version is that in the end we decided we'd trek up to, or at least toward, Triund after all, just the 4 of us teachers.

Off we went. No more than ten minutes in this dog decided to join us, and she stayed with us for the first hour or so of the hike. According to the guys, every time Tibet Charity teachers have gone to Triund, at least one dog has decided to tag along.

Spontaneous dog acquisition complete, we were on our way.

See that? That's where we're heading.

The rather run-down little altar just before the first tea shop.

These young trekkers went missing during their travels around Trind. It's been around a month now, so everyone assumes the worst, unfortunately.

First tea shop = first break: 1 hour in. I'm really glad I have these shoes. They are badass.

Marie getting ready to head up after the first tea shop and the temple.

Where we came from.

Brij pointing out landmarks. Us saying "omg."

A few hours earlier we were waaaaaaaay over there.

Donkey delivery service! Second tea shop, about halfway to the top.

We met some new friends. These guys are university students from Punjab.

Marie taking a much needed break at the third tea shop.

The fog rolled in from time to time...

One last break before the final stretch!

Oh, what's this? Could it be... the end??

Five hours and three tea shops later, and we finally made it.

TRIUND.

(Don't forget, all photos can be clicked for a better view.)

The photos really don't even begin to do it justice. It was breathtaking.

It reminded me of the Calm Lands.

Or of any starting newbie zone in an MMO.

Of course, shortly after lunch it started raining.

Waaa, rain is cold in the mountains.

We decided to try to wait it out because you can never tell how long it'll rain here, and so when it let up a half hour or so later, we set off.

Five minutes in, it started hailing.

Not to be deterred by a little bit of ice falling from the sky, we kept moving. It's quicker going down because you've got gravity helping, but it can also be hard on your knees and you've got to be careful not to twist an ankle or something.

About halfway down our canine companion rejoined us, and brought a friend.

Look at this view. LOOK AT HOW FAR YOU CAN SEE.

I'm serious.. LOOK AT IT. It's insane.

Oh, and on the way through town Marie and I stopped to buy some fruits. I asked for parsley and when the language barrier proved to be a bit too much, the guy wound up showing me into their storeroom. I didn't see any parsley, but I did see garlic, so I asked how much it was. The key here is I asked for it in Hindi: I may not know much, but I do know a few words and phrases, and I made sure “lahsun” was one of them. I never did find out how much it costs, but he gave me a bulb for free so I'm going to consider the transaction successful.

And now, my friends, it's bedtime.