Dalai Lama in Leh - photos (11 August 2007)
People waiting for the arrival of the Dalai Lama, Main Bazaar road, Leh.
Dalai Lama's arrival.
Crowd reactions.
Tuesday, 4 September 2007
Sunday, 2 September 2007
Same conversation, over and over again
"No I'm not Japanese."
"No I'm not Korean."
"I'm from New Zealand."
"Yes I look Asian because I was born in Taiwan, but if you go to Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand right now, you'll see people from everywhere around the world."
If I get a dollar every time I have this conversation, let's say the money I got will probably be enough to cover all my meal costs for this whole trip. I was quite patient in the beginning, thinking that it's part of my responsibility to "educate" people, but man~ how many times is too many to have the same conversation? How about 8 times a day? That's my highest daily record so far.
Somehow I find that Indians have more problem accepting my answer when I said I'm from New Zealand, whereas most Europeans are ok with it. I think the reason is simple, many big cities in Europe are quite multi-cultural as I have observed when I was there, and people there are used to the idea of having people from different culture & background living in the same country. Which is not quite the case in most Indian cities. Sure you see lot's of westerners in touristy places, but they're just tourists.
Here's an interesting observation, guess people from which country make up the number 1 tourist population in India? Answer: Israelis.
The second place probably goes to the French.
As for New Zealanders, so far I've met 4.
Taiwaneses: 7.
Australians: 3.
Chinese: 0.
Rains
Right now I'm trapped inside the internet cafe, because it's pouring like cats & dogs outside. Dharamsala certainly lives up to its reputation as the second rainiest place in India.
I have a umbrella with me, but judging by how heavy the rain is, I'll still be half soaked if I attempt to walk back from McLeod Ganj to Bhagsu (15 min).
The noise of the rain is so loud, that you'll be forgiven to think that there's a waterfall right outside the front door of the building.
It doesn't rain all day here, but since I arrived on last sunday, there was a heavy rain like this almost everyday for 1~2 hours. Ah well, what can you expect from the second rainiest place in India during monsoon?
The effect of altitude change
Did I just walk 7km uphill in 45 minutes? That can't be right. According to the road sign, that's the distance between Dharamsala & McLeod Ganj. However I'm suspicious about this figure. According to Lonely Planet, the distance by walking is 4km, and that feels more like the correct distanace to me.
Having lived in places with altitude higher than 3000~4000m for about a month, back in places under 2000m, I feel like superman. Ok...not quite, but people who know me well would know that my walking speed uphill had always been dramatically slower than my average walking speed, but now in Dharamsala, I can keep up the same pace all the way uphill, without getting out of breath. I didn't even have to drink any water, even though I sweat a lot during the walk.
It's good to feel fit and well.
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