Dalai Lama Land

Dharmasala Day 1

My first day in Dhasa as the locals call it here was truly a blessing in disguise. My

original plan was to see all my teachers/ gurus here in India, but I was not going to hold

too tight to that plan because many things happen on trips like this. I let go of the idea

of seeing Dalai because the public program was past by one day when I would arrive. And they

denied my request in the main office for a visit. So I went to Dhasa with the intention of

meeting Susie family and trying to capture a snapshot of life in Tibetan Refugee

grounds...Dharmasala. After a long 13 hour buss ride which was not too bad, except that I

didn't sleep all night I checked into my guest house and crashed for an hour. It was a

stroke of luck that I even made it to this place because last night I had exactly the

amount of R's to get on the buss, silly me thought they might take credit so i missed

going to the bank before the Main bus terminal. So I'm traveling all the way up into the

Himalayas again with like 2 R's and no dinner. I was OK with it though. I had my emergency

bars if i needed. At the dinner stop a Indian man sitting next to me would let me go with

out dinner so he bought me a ticket for the thali. I was grateful and thanked him 3 times

and he told me to stop HaaHaa! Anyhow, its a long ride and any food will help bear the
hours.

SO after my nap i decided to make a plan. What am i going to do here exactly. Well, I

called Sonam and meet with her first. She is the mother of Susie's family. Susie a friend

from Seattle tried to adopt her kids but it was not possible so she instead send support

and gifts when possible and I was the carrier this time. First we connect and give her some

cash...about 185 USD which is enough to pay her rent for about 1 year. We instantly became

friends. Now i am a little careful with her because its natural, but I feel and see she is

just a simple person with a big heart. She tells me Dalai is teaching and takes me to the

office to get my pass. At the office other westerners are turned away because this lesson

is only for high monks and not public. however, Sonam walks me thru the line and i get a

pass! YEAH! Dalai I'm here.
I spent the afternoon with Sonam and her family...brother and mother. The rest are in

school or abroad. i took them all out to dinner. I offered to take them to some place

really nice. They only knew one restaurant in their small town because they never go out to

eat. We forget how lucky we are in America. The meal was about ten usd for the 5 of us.

At this point in the trip I have been super charged by so many miracles. so seeing Dalai is

just adding to the pot of golden love that has surrounded this soul here and now. The 2nd

morning i went to the temple and sat in meditation with about 400 or so high level monks as

Dalai chanted the lessons to them about karma. The morning was from 9 to 1130 and afternoon

1 to 3. I didn't bring my Fm radio with me because I forgot to get one so I didn't

understand a word, but it was not necessary. the energy flowed thru me this morning as if I

was breathing from inside out. Quite peaceful and energizing. Maybe its the altitude or

exhaustion, but whatever it is its welcome here.

The next few days I will spend time doing a few sight seeing tasks, but mostly spending

time with Sonam and her family. I decided to document their story and create a slideshow

from the images and sound recording I will get from them. I'll not write about them now,

because when I return to the usa i will be doing an extensive script about them. be on the

look out for the work will be presented in a few months at a fundraiser for the Tibetan

cause.
The last day in Dhasa...I went to the Temple in the morning. There I sat in the middle of

about 150 refugees including Sonam's mom and received
blessings from the Dalai lama and 2

other highest Lama's. I was buzzing for like 2 days following. I never expected this and I

hope that i can blast anyone how comes across my path with this energy from now on is some

sort of manner.