Adventures in Tibet Part II: I Know Too Much Cyrillic for My Own Good

I rolled out of bed at noon, still really groggy, but well aware from my research that this town shuts down early, and that to have any shot of salvaging the day, I’d have to power through and just get to bed early. I would eventually learn from the Dalai Lama that a true Buddhist should be a loner, rejecting personal relationships, so the fact that Sanju was out of commission on the first day really just made everything more Buddhist.

The first thing I had to do on this good Sunday was register to see the Dalai Lama. I’m not totally positive why they do this, as there was no background check on me or anything, and although I did get a totally sweet ID card with my photo stapled to it and all of the writing in Tibetan, I never actually had to show it to get into the lectures. Anyway, this led me to the main temple complex in Dharamsala, where I noticed all of the signs were in Russian. The conference had been called by Russian Buddhists, so I was expecting some Russian flair to this. And fortunately, I know some really basic Cyrillic, mostly from math classes, and the word "REGISTRATION" had just been converted to the Cyrillic alphabet as РЕГИСТРАЖИЯ. I was able to pick out REG_STRA___ and made some deductions. Unfortunately, registration at the temple was only for Russians, registration for foreigners would open on Monday at an office in town, and what the hell was I doing there looking for registration? I know too much Cyrillic for my own good.

The benefit, though, and where this vacation started to go great in all sorts of ways, was that I was at the Dalai Lama Temple Complex BEFORE it was mobbed with people. For the rest of the trip, this place would be packed, and would also be off limits to photography. So I got to shoot the place, unlike people who didn’t come early, drawn in by Russian signs. It’s a neat place with some cool prayer wheels. They also have an actual temple inside, although photography in there was banned at all times. So I didn’t get to photograph their offerings of Chips Ahoy! to the various deities inside. Chips Ahoy!, mind you, that expired a year ago. I doubt the Buddha is pleased. Unless he likes softer cookies, as I do. Seriously, leave some Chips Ahoy! out overnight. You may enjoy them more.

With the Dalai Complex down, I set out for an afternoon walk to Bhagsu, a nearby village and home to a neat temple and some waterfalls. Neither was spectacular, but the falls were pretty cool, and made for a good warmup to the next day’s hike up the Himalayas.