Hi from South India,
Whew, that last few days have been a whirlwind. We left Mysore early Friday morning and made a stop at Chamundi Hills to watch the sunrise. Unfortunately, it was too foggy to see the sunrise, but we did have a short yoga class led by our one and only, Mr. Scott. Chamundi Hills are one of the most sacred hills in South India. According to legend, it is named after the Goddess Chamundeswari who killed the demon Mahishasura in a battle there. Quite the busy place, especially on Fridays which is a holy day here and many of the people that come just to visit the temple.
From there we headed to Bylakuppe, where we are now staying. Bylakuppe is comprised of two Tibetan refugee settlements that has now grown into a full-fledged town housing the largest Tibetan population outside of Dharmasala in India.
We are staying at a place called Veerabhoomi Tourist Village. We are sleeping in adobe style cottages, a bit rustic but charming none the less. The staff here is very accommodating, which I'm sure is hard at times with the personalities of 29 individual people. Seeing the stars and hearing the crickets at night, and hearing the roosters crowing in the morning during yoga class is true country living.
We spent the day on Saturday visiting the Sera Je Monastery, a huge Buddhist Monastery with a significant student population. We were given a tour by one of the higher level Buddhist and then invited to stay for tea where he answered any questions we had. After the tour there we stopped at the Namdroling Temple, also known as the Golden Temple. This is the most famous monastery in the region. It is home to nearly 5000 monks and nuns.
We then visited the Tsogyal Shedrub Dargyeling Nunnery. This is a Buddhist Nunnery where almost 400 nuns study and practice. They were gracious enough to allow us to observe them while reciting text out loud.
After the monastery and nunnery visits, some headed off to visit a Tibetan doctor, some headed to see a Tibetan tailor and some went to the Indian tailor. For extremely reasonable prices your can bring them your material, and they will sew you an outfit and have it finished within the next couple days.
The local people here are so friendly and always ask where we are from. When you tell them "America", they smile and say "Obama" or "very cold". They love to have their picture taken and then to see the picture. Every morning from the bus we can see the kids, all dressed in uniforms walking along side the roads, heading off to school. The people here have so little, but certainly seem to be very happy with what they do have. Not uncommon to see their cows and goats tethered in the front yard right next to the front door of the house. Some houses are painted the usual India style in very colorful colors, if they are painted at all. The shop owners keep their shops open many hours every day of the week, except on Holy Days. Most people do not have refrigerators, but go to the local street vendors every day for their meat or vegetables to eat that day.
So much to do, so much to see, so little time..... So very much more to share...stay tuned! Don't think I can share pics until I can get home. My roomie Deb has been nice enough to share her iPad so I could do this Blog.
Hope the weather is warming up back home, miss all of you!! Special birthday wishes to my son Tyler, love you!
Linda
Whew, that last few days have been a whirlwind. We left Mysore early Friday morning and made a stop at Chamundi Hills to watch the sunrise. Unfortunately, it was too foggy to see the sunrise, but we did have a short yoga class led by our one and only, Mr. Scott. Chamundi Hills are one of the most sacred hills in South India. According to legend, it is named after the Goddess Chamundeswari who killed the demon Mahishasura in a battle there. Quite the busy place, especially on Fridays which is a holy day here and many of the people that come just to visit the temple.
From there we headed to Bylakuppe, where we are now staying. Bylakuppe is comprised of two Tibetan refugee settlements that has now grown into a full-fledged town housing the largest Tibetan population outside of Dharmasala in India.
We are staying at a place called Veerabhoomi Tourist Village. We are sleeping in adobe style cottages, a bit rustic but charming none the less. The staff here is very accommodating, which I'm sure is hard at times with the personalities of 29 individual people. Seeing the stars and hearing the crickets at night, and hearing the roosters crowing in the morning during yoga class is true country living.
We spent the day on Saturday visiting the Sera Je Monastery, a huge Buddhist Monastery with a significant student population. We were given a tour by one of the higher level Buddhist and then invited to stay for tea where he answered any questions we had. After the tour there we stopped at the Namdroling Temple, also known as the Golden Temple. This is the most famous monastery in the region. It is home to nearly 5000 monks and nuns.
We then visited the Tsogyal Shedrub Dargyeling Nunnery. This is a Buddhist Nunnery where almost 400 nuns study and practice. They were gracious enough to allow us to observe them while reciting text out loud.
After the monastery and nunnery visits, some headed off to visit a Tibetan doctor, some headed to see a Tibetan tailor and some went to the Indian tailor. For extremely reasonable prices your can bring them your material, and they will sew you an outfit and have it finished within the next couple days.
The local people here are so friendly and always ask where we are from. When you tell them "America", they smile and say "Obama" or "very cold". They love to have their picture taken and then to see the picture. Every morning from the bus we can see the kids, all dressed in uniforms walking along side the roads, heading off to school. The people here have so little, but certainly seem to be very happy with what they do have. Not uncommon to see their cows and goats tethered in the front yard right next to the front door of the house. Some houses are painted the usual India style in very colorful colors, if they are painted at all. The shop owners keep their shops open many hours every day of the week, except on Holy Days. Most people do not have refrigerators, but go to the local street vendors every day for their meat or vegetables to eat that day.
So much to do, so much to see, so little time..... So very much more to share...stay tuned! Don't think I can share pics until I can get home. My roomie Deb has been nice enough to share her iPad so I could do this Blog.
Hope the weather is warming up back home, miss all of you!! Special birthday wishes to my son Tyler, love you!
Linda
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