Saying by to Tenzin

Arriving in Ladhak,

The last day of teaching in Padam was just great. Not only did His Holiness give a great teaching on the eight verses of mind training but also gave a Chenrazig (compassion Buddha) and White Tara (long life Buddha empowerment and blessing. Even though the sun beat down a few thousand people endures the heat and sat patiently under the shade of umbrellas and shawls, bushes, and broken up cardboard boxes while wearing wet headscarfs. No words can explain what a wonderful morning it was, even the sky seemed bluer the clouds and snow cap mountains whiter and the fields greener. I can only describe the valley as more magical or truly blessed. Everyone present was happy and smiling, even the security guards became more pleasant. I was lucky to meet with Tenzin, the young Monk who befriended me before I left town. We had a bowl of Thentuk ( Tibetan veg soup with noodles) and chatted in his bad English and my bad Tibetan. We was showing off his new Bod Marley head scarf he had just got in the market.

our jeep in Ladhak

The highest point between Srinagar and Leh

Giant Matreya rock carving outside Kargil

So after a huge gathering like that come the exodus and I was lucky to jump on a jeep at 5pm going straight to Leh. It turned out to be a 20 hours journey but better that than an overnight stop in Kargil which is a noisy, filthy and busy town. I was lucky to be travelling with Emma English lass whom I had previously met in Srinagar, so it was nice to have company, share a good laugh and a chat. It was close to full moon that night and because the sun had been so strong during the day the snow was melting quicker which meant that the road was flooded on some parts. So at 1am and 3am we were wading through a torrent of water and pushing the jeep some of the way. Lucky we had some strong and fun Indian guys who were making the whole event into an adventure. It was a long night but so amazing to see the glaciers and mountain during the full moon. As Emma said “wow, now that is some geography!” At one point we saw a herd of wild donkey running around and playing in a meadow, braying at the top of their lungs, maybe they were pretending to be a pack of wolves howling at the moon.

The road from Kargil to Leh was paved, Yahoo!!! So it was a fast portion of the journey.  Seems that since the Hindi movie “The Three Idiots came out a few years back, Ladhak has been swamped with Indian tourists which meant better roads had to be built. Leh is packed full of tourists, hikers, rafters and people here for the teachings. Leh used to be a quiet place but it is busy these days. Luckily found a room with a great view of the mountain for only 300 rupees, ($6) ok it has a bucket shower  but hey no worries.