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您好，旧金山！

您好，旧金山！我一直因为时差和旅行疲劳而睡觉…a sixteen-hour flight is no joke, although considerably cushier than, say, a twelve-hour bus ride to 新德里 , in 的back of 的bus. Sixteen hours of jet lag is nothing to sneeze at, either…

SARS (the pneumonia virus thing) was very much in evidence on 的flight out, as about 1/4 of my fellow passengers were wearing surgical masks, presumably in an effort to protect themselves. This struck me as rather odd–SARS在全球仅杀死了60人，这使其比开车的危险要小得多。但我想，未知的危险总是看起来更可怕。我个人来说，经过一个月的狭窄吉普车和公交车在印度的公路上行驶之后，一种神秘的致命病毒似乎起了很大的作用。

印度 n bus drivers, you see, have 的happy habit of trundling at high speed around narrow windy mountain roads. This in itself is not so bad, but when you’re coming up on a blind curve next to a sheer dropoff, and your driver selects this moment to (what 的hell) pass a giant dump truck (six inches to spare), it does provide whole new insights into reincarnation. Unfortunately, this is pretty much normal behavior for 印度 n drivers. (It’s not a case of they’re better drivers: they just have more accidents. A Jeep plunged down 的mountain 的week before I was traveling, killing all five people on board.)

And then I got to 新德里 Airport and discovered armed soldiers crawling all over 的airport…three at each gate, and six or seven in 的airport lounge, plus a pair of sandbag bunkers out in front of 的airport, with two rifle-bearing soldiers in each. Compared to all 那, wearing a little surgical mask for a disease 那’全世界有60人丧生，这似乎很愚蠢。

Similarly, once I got to San Francisco Airport, there were lots of signs everywhere proclaiming an orange level terrorist alert, but no actual evidence of additional screening. compared to delhi airport, 的whole thing seemed sort of amusing.

前往旧金山：

旧金山是一个有趣的地方。它似乎已完全被西方人超越。美元似乎正在被广泛使用–in fact, to 的point where 我没有’没有见过其他货币。街道非常宽阔，没有母牛，水牛或人。我对此有些疑惑，尤其是因为似乎完全缺乏嘟嘟车，出租车和事实上的常规出租车，但无疑这最终将变得更有意义。毕竟，人们必须以某种方式四处走走。

There are also no hotel touts, which caused me some puzzlement at 的airport. Usually there are crowds of people standing around when 的bus comes in, 读y to cart you off to their guesthouse in exchange for a suitably inflated rate to pay for their commission. (One solves this 通过 switching to a different guesthouse 的following day.) But in fact there was no one standing outside 的curb.

幸运的是，我’d made previous arrangements for a homestay, 所以我 was met at 的airport 通过 a cute blond guy, who helped me drag my luggage into 的car, and down a curiously empty, curiously broad, and curiously well-paved highway. (No dirt roads in evidence.) After I dumped my bags and fell over dead for awhile, my host appeared, a tall blonde (Western) woman who…

…oh. Hi, Carolyn.

It’s 好 to be home. 🙂

田

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您好，曼谷！印度回顾展

简要说明一下，让大家知道我’m OK…I made it to 曼谷 , after 36 hours of travel hell in 印度 . I now understand why 的Delhi airport is crawling with soldiers, armed with rifles and submachine guns: after 36 hours of dealing with double-dealing taxi drivers, extortionate bus drivers, and clamoring beggars, not to mention 的WONDERFUL people at Air 印度 , terrorism seemed like a perfectly rational response. (Heck, even 的bathroom attendant tried to cheat me.) However, I managed to navigate my way through all 的various travel hazards, and landed in 曼谷 yesterday morning at 2am. There I promptly fell over dead, having not slept for two nights and eaten exactly one meal in 36 hours.

It is said 那 印度 is one of 的most difficult countries in which to travel. This is entirely true, although it depends, of course, on what part of 印度 you’re in. The current 印度 covers far more territory, and encompasses many more cultures, than any historical government of 的region. So traveling from one region of 印度 to another is almost like going to a totally different country.

那 said, my experience with 新德里 , and Himachal Pradesh province generally, has been 那 any 印度 n shopkeeper, taxi driver, etc. who interacts with tourists regularly, will not hesitate to cheat or lie to you; and 那 anyone who is being nice and solicitous to you, should be treated with grave (but polite) suspicion. Also, talking to any 印度 n male for more than ten minutes (or sometimes five) is generally considered a sexual invitation, if you happen to be female and single.

当然，此规则也有例外–the hotelkeeper where I stayed in 新德里 , and 的thangka shop owner, were both perfectly sweet, decent, and very nice guys–但我认为总的来说’s a 好 idea to be on your guard at all times in 印度 . Especially since many of 的people who lie, are very smooth and scrupulously honest right up until 的point where they decide a lie would serve them better. This is apparently extra-true for Kashmiri merchants. So, if you go to 印度 , do take care.

It was interesting talking shop with 的Kashmiri merchants: I know a lot about fiber arts, of course, and can distinguish most fiber contents 通过 feel (it’s not 那 hard). So, after one or two bad encounters, I started playing dumb to test people. It was pretty hilarious: guys were swearing to me 那 polyester and cotton were silk, rayon was wool, and shatoosh was spun duck feathers (!). The last was really funny–shatoosh, as you may or may not know, is 的finest, softest fiber in 的world, way softer than cashmere. It’也是非法的。这是因为’s made from 的fur of an endangered antelope–必须杀死两个或三个chiru才能制成一条shatoosh披肩。

So it was really funny watching this guy swear up and down 那 it was made from 的feathers of a very special duck, not from antelope at all (“that’s just propaganda”). He even went so far as to explain to me 那 的feathers were from big downy tufts on 的ducks’ throats, and 那 not only were 的ducks not hurt, but villagers had to go down to 的stream every morning to collect 的few feathers 那 had fallen from 的ducks’ throats 的previous night. Then they took these downy feathers and spun them into yarn. He was so smooth, I almost would have believed him despite knowing all about 的chiru–except 那 I *know* fiber, and if 那 shawl was spun from duck feathers, I’我要开始嘎嘎叫

Of course, 的same guy also assured me fervently 那 pashmina (i.e. cashmere) was sheared from 的throat of a kid goat, and 那 adult goats couldn’t be used. (Cashmere actually comes from 的downy undercoat of adult goats, and is combed out, not sheared.) So I’m not sure if he had absolutely no clue (his supplier could have been cheating him), or if he was merely trying to put me on. In either case, it was a masterly performance, especially since 的rest of his stuff was precisely “on”, and he even went out of his way to point out some of 的cheats “其他克什米尔商人”用于不幸的游客。

（指出其他人’事实证明，s作弊是试图欺骗您的人们的最爱策略–想法是让您措手不及。尽管如此，它还是有用的–first, because it’本身就是一个危险信号，其次，因为它告诉您*其他*的人可能会试图拉扯您。当然，诚实的店主也会指出作弊行为，所以它不会’它会自动意味着您应该走出去。买者自负。）

在此稍作休息：尽管我很少提及特定的商人，但根据我的经验，达兰萨拉有一位印度商人，他们完全可靠且价格合理。他’是在McLeod Ganj的Temple Road上经营Mementos 印度 的人。在整个达兰萨拉地区，他还藏有最好的藏族手工艺品，并非完全偶然。因此，如果您在该地区，一定要看看他的商店。它’位于McLeod Ganj的汽车站附近，横跨Temple Road和与其平行的道路；在天普道（Temple Road）上，标志牌写着Mementos 印度 ，在另一条路上，标志牌上写着Namaste 印度 。他拥有我以前很喜欢的精彩唐卡（后来我去看了其他供应商’坦卡，他们发现它们的质量要差得多，价格要高得多），*华丽的*手工雕刻的银和青铜佛像，以及来自旁遮普邦的带有精美银饰手柄的Damascan钢匕首。古董银制的磨坊，精美的金饰等（很多）。他也完全诚实。所以，如果你’曾经在Dharamsala / McLeod Ganj，请不要错过这家商店。它拥有我最好的手工艺品’我曾经在印度或其他任何地方见过。在那买东西不会出错。

My experience with Tibetans, 通过 的way, is 那 they are generally honest and helpful, one of 的best 亚洲 n peoples to deal with. There are, of course, exceptions to this, as to every other rule.

另外，请注意其他旅客：目前，以美国人身份旅行是一个小玩意儿。我收集到的支持是，在美国和英国，战争是强大的，但对于世界其他地区则并非如此。从我与当地人的遭遇中，印度和泰国大多数人都认为美国对伊拉克的入侵是没有道理，邪恶的，并且严重违反了国际法。 （我可以’不要说我不同意他们。）换句话说，美国人现在还不很受欢迎。这让我有些不适，因为每个人总是问你在哪里’因此，我必须每天约四到五次证明自己是美国人，并应对这些反应。一世’我以前从未想过要提它，但是现在它让我有些犹豫。

（不，我’我不会撒谎。作为一般原则，我赢了’除非我的生命处于危险之中–总的来说，这不是’t. Not only 那, but despite 的fact 那 I don’t support 的war at all, think we’ve committed a serious act of aggression, and agree wholeheartedly with 的many people who are upset at us, I’我仍然是美国人，而我’ll stand with 的rest of my country. Even if it means I spend 的rest of this trip apologizing for our behavior–我可能会的。）

无论如何，我现在已经将国籍更改为“美国战争是愚蠢的布什是疯狂的”, which seems to help somewhat. It is not 那 people hate Americans (at least, not yet). But there is a hesitancy here, and a latent hostility, 那 wasn’t there before. (No one, incidentally, is talking about anything *but* 的war, either in 泰国 or 印度 .)

因此，如果您计划出国旅行，我会考虑推迟它，或者仔细考虑您的确切位置’re going. (I’我非常感谢’t go to Kashmir, 通过 的way: 24 people were blown up in a Kashmir terrorist action a few days ago, 的border has flared up again, and there have been some pretty nasty anti-American protests.) You could lie and say you’来自加拿大，但是如果继续下去，我不会’t think anyone on 的American continent is going to be popular, either.

明天我’m going to meet with 的editor of Farang! magazine, and 的body painter, and then…well, we’我会看看会发生什么。 ðŸ™，一般而言，接下来的几天是“quiet time”–I plan to write some travel retrospectives, and maybe a few pieces on 的Dalai Lama’s teachings–因此您可能会也可能不会收到我的来信。但是我’m in 曼谷 , and I’m OK. 🙂

从曼谷签字–

田

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回到达赖喇嘛达兰萨拉's teachings

好吧，我’ve been back in 达兰萨拉 for a couple days now, and have been going to 的Dalai Lama’的教.。这是三个半小时的事情，下午1-4：30，非常有趣…从非常基础的入门到深刻的哲学，他一次都在许多不同的级别任教。 （它’s impossible to tell how deep since 的higher levels are way over my head, but I know enough about, hmm, logical structures to see 那 he’在很深的层次上思考问题。它’细微差别，顺序和结构完全对齐是非常不寻常的，但是他做到了。）

Structurally, 的teachings start with chanting Tibetan prayers, then an offering, both of thrown rice, and something more complicated 那 的Dalai Lama does. (I have no idea what those are about, since they aren’然后翻译：）尊者教了三个半小时，中间有短暂的休息。 FM收音机提供四种或五种不同语言的翻译版本…the English translation is quite 好, but it clearly leaves out a great deal. I wish I understood Tibetan.

(On 的other hand, a Tibetan friend of mine says 那 she doesn’不了解他一半的事’s saying, either…apparently a lot of 的vocabulary is specialized religious words, which she doesn’t know–so, oddly, it’s easier for her to listen to 的English translation–more accessible.)

Listening to 的Dalai Lama speak is very different from 读ing his books…这些书是一致的，但没有那么复杂。它’看着他直接离开真是太好了“It’s a 好 idea to practice compassion” into a precisely presented discussion of 的philosophical differences, history, and source of 的split between Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism. (Actually he talked about much more subtle differences than 那, but I can’t cite them, because they went right over my head.) So people of pretty much any philosophical depth can get something out of 的teaching, and I’我肯定这是故意的…他有着复杂而自律的心​​态。

(I’ve developed 的odd ability to “read” people’s minds–which is to say, 通过 talking to someone for a couple of hours, I can develop a pretty 好 idea of 的world they live in, their internal “rules”以及他们与世界互动的深度。有些人思维复杂，有些人思维相对简单，有些人深入研究事物，有些’t. The Dalai Lama has one of 的most complex, well-structured, and well-balanced minds I’我看了很久…鉴于他的声誉，当然只有这样。尽管如此’听到他讲话很高兴。一世’d喜欢在晚餐时和他说话–not 那 I’m likely to get 的chance, of course. But you never know. 😉 )

达赖喇嘛也很有幽默感，’t as obvious in 的books…例如，他在讨论无常，特别是年龄如何破坏青春和美丽。他说，“As 的great sage _____ remarked once, 的only thing to be said for aging is 那 it comes on gradually…I mean, if you were young and beautiful one day and woke up 的next day wrinkled and ugly, you’d可能死于心脏病。所以’s 好 那 it comes on gradually.

“In my case, I used to run up 的mountain back behind 的monastery in my youth, and leave my attendants far behind. This worried them of course, because 的mountain was quite steep, and if I had fallen, I might have died, which would have been bad for them. But now, of course, my knees aren’t so 好…my eyesight is okay, at least right now, but then, my hairline is receding, and you can see 的gray hairs coming in…I joke sometimes 那 my gray hair is racing my receding hairline. But being bald is okay, since there’s a Tibetan joke 那 baldness, goiter, and [missed 的third] are 的beauty marks of a monk. This makes some sense, if you’喉咙又瘦又修士…”

那’s a pretty 好 example of his speaking style…funny, memorable, rambling, humble, and deep all at 的same time, plus full of illustrative stories. It’非常好的坐着和听他说话。

那’s not to say 那 的teachings are all fun and roses. They’绝对*包装*–the courtyard of 的temple is completely full, you have to arrive an hour or two in advance to get 好 seats–and 的sun can be blazingly hot. It’太拥挤了–我不得不蹲了一个小时，因为没有’甚至没有足够的空间坐着。 （幸运的是，我终于找到了一个足够大的空间–我的腿在“杀死”我。）’三个小时也很难引起注意。但它’太棒了，我 ’m staying as long as I can before flying back to 曼谷 . Next year, I may come back to 达兰萨拉, just for 的teachings.

（请介意，我’m still not a Buddhist. The deeper points of Buddhist philosophy make no sense to me. But there is something very powerful about 的Dalai Lama’s message, 那 transcends theology…he very clearly and squarely puts compassion first, and 的rest of 的theology is philosophical window-dressing. (Not to say 那 they aren’t important, but they take a definite second place to compassion.) This dedication to compassion shows up not just in what he says, but in 的way he teaches, and 的way he presents his arguments…he doesn’只是在思想上相信它，而是在各个层面上实践它。非常漂亮。也真的，真的，真的很酷。 ðŸ™，）

I suppose at this point it would be irreverent to say 那 he also looks really cool in shades. 😉 But, in fact, he *does* look really cool in shades. 😉

In other news, I went 通过 的Norbilinga Institute this morning to watch thangka being painted…it was, of course, amazing. The artists paint with incredibly fine brushes, and can spend a month or more just laying out 的outlines. They train for at least six years before they are fully qualified to paint for Norbilinga…and 的detail on some of 的thangkas is absolutely fantastic. I was looking at a thangka of 的Dalai Lama today (Buddha of Compassion with a thousand hands and some large number of heads)–you couldn’t get a computer to print at 那 resolution, let alone paint it with a brush. And 的thangka at Norbilinga are supposed to be 的best of 的best.

我必须说，我真的很喜欢thangka。 （今晚我花了两个小时通过店主看’s private collection…the “good”他在家的那些…woo. I mean, woo. Woo woo woo. Words cannot describe. 😎 ) Thangkas have incredible detail and elegance in 的artistic lines. They’少谈猖self的自我表达（基本构图是固定的），而谈谈绘画固定主题时的优雅。一世’我很想学画画，如果有的话’s anyone teaching in 的Bay Area. (Not 那 I’我要花六年的时间学习绘画–that outlasts my attention span 通过 a 好 4.5 years, thank you very much 😉 –但是学习有关这种笔法的知识会很高兴。）

事实证明，唐卡实际上有两种…the non-painted kind are made of fabric, and make 的eighteen months I spent on my wedding dress look simplistic. They’re hard to describe, but basically they cut out pieces of silk along 的basic outlines of a thangka, then border 的edge of each piece with a fine silk-wrapped horsehair cord (about 的same thickness as fine florist’s wire), then embroider 的finer details. It takes an incredibly long time and costs 的earth. I watched them wrapping 的silk around 的horsehair, and carefully couching 的resulting cord with nearly invisible stitches in incredibly fine thread…wow.

It looks like 的Internet cafe is now closing, 所以我’m off…more later, if I get 的chance.

I’ll be in 达兰萨拉 through 的24th…I take 的night bus to 新德里 Monday night, and fly out to 曼谷 Tuesday evening. I fly back to San Francisco March 31.

I look forward to 的hot showers. 🙂

田

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前往达兰萨拉？，西藏经prayer，印度教节日！

好吧，我 spent last night sleeping with a guru…

不，不，我没有’t do anything 那 would mess up my karma. I spent last night up in 的caves, and since there’s a puja going on, 的place was packed–so 的only place for me to sleep, was 的main cave, with 的shrine to Guru Padmasambhava.

其实很整洁’s a big cave, paved in marble tiles, and has three separate shrines in it. The first one is a shrine to various Tibetan gods (which I can finally recognize! having spent four solid hours looking at thangka), 的second is a shrine with a 10-15 foot statue of Guru Padmasambhava, and 的third is a shrine to an 印度 n princess who was supposed to have been his disciple. I was sleeping in 的outermost area, on a Tibetan carpet, under a rock overhang. Very quiet, very peaceful, 好 for meditation in 的morning, too. I liked it very much.

昨天我也看到藏有西藏的经prayer。这些在Rewalsar和Dharamsala都可用–我以为它们是使用标准印刷机印刷的，但事实证明，其中很多是手工印刷的！使用精心雕刻的木刻。一位修女用刷子（像你’d use to clean your bathtub) and scrubs 印度 ink all over 的woodcut, another lays 的fabric over 的wood and scrubs over it with a wadded-up plastic bag. The print appears as if 通过 magic. 🙂

（我必须承认，我’ve always had a soft spot for hand-printing. One of my fondest childhood memories was printing 的family Christmas cards (actually Chinese New Year cards)…we silkscreened them in two colors, using Chinese papercuts to make 的designs, and we’d run all over 的house, laying 的cards out to dry. Probably 的most fun we had all Christmas.)

我避开明天去达兰萨拉’t decided yet. I have found a friend who has a friend who is close to 的Dalai Lama, who probably can’t get me in (too busy right now, with 的public teachings going on, and anyway there’我没有理由浪费他的圣洁’的时间），但谁能使我的唐卡祝福呢？–所以明天我可以和她回达兰萨拉。我也可能等一两天再走–I haven’还没有决定。一世’我希望在卢瓦尔萨尔（Rewalsar）再过几天和平，但在达兰萨拉（Dharamsala）有一些有趣的可能性…Tenzin (the woman I’ve met) has a cousin who paints thangkas at 的Norbilinga Institute, for example. Ooh. 🙂

(The taxi driver who wants to marry me also runs an antique Tibetan musical instruments business on 的side…while I am not up for 的first proposition, 的second one sounds intriguing…更华丽的手工艺品？注册我…. 😉 )

Today, 通过 的way, is Yet Another Religious Festival (!). One of 的wonderful things about 印度 is 那 there are so many different religions and cultures, 那 almost every day seems to be a holiday or cultural event of some sort. I’我已经来这里整整一个月了，我们’我曾参加过湿婆节（Losar）（西藏新年），为期十天的湿婆节’s wife, Tibetan Uprising Day, 的puja (which is a monthly event commemmorating something 那 happened on 的10th of 的month, but I forget what), and this festival, which appears to be a spring festival to Krishna. (I’我很难得到一个真正的答案–语言问题。）

This festival is more colorful than many of 的others–it appears to involve a lot of dancing, parades with Hindi music and drumming, and (most importantly) smearing and splashing people with paint, especially on faces. (My face is now red. And blue. And pink. And yellow. And, at 那, much less colorful than most folks’. 😉 ) I’d take photos, except 那 going outside puts you at imminent danger of being squirted, splashed, etc….which is not 好 for 的camera…so I have been hiding in 的Internet cafe. It’看起来很整洁，但距离很远。

I had a weird moment of culture shock yesterday, mostly around competencies (or lack thereof). Tenzin, 的Tibetan activist woman who’s befriended me, was horrified to find out 那 的hotel hadn’确实按照他们的预期去洗了我的衣服。她说，“Didn’您告诉他们您立即需要吗？”

我说，“Well, 的kid didn’t speak English.”

她说，“Oh.”

Then I mentioned 那 I’d dropped my clothes off at 的cleaners, and she said, “hmm, 的weather was bad yesterday, they may not be 读y yet. Do you have their number? We could call them…”

我说，“No, I didn’t get their number.”

她说，“您应该始终获得他们的电话号码！然后你可以打电话给他们找出答案…”

我说，“Well, 的person on 的other end of 的line doesn’我的英语说得不够多…and I don’无法使用电话…It’仅显示会更容易，如果没有显示则稍后再返回’t 读y.”

The funny thing was, 的world she lives in isn’t all 那 different from 的world I was in, jut six months ago. I mean, once upon a time, I could do miraculous things like ask for laundry in a hurry, request bus schedules, and so on. I’ve just gotten so used to not being able to communicate, 那 her (completely logical) suggestions came as a total shock. Of course, she was amazed 通过 my incompetence, too.

I was then culturally astonished to discover 那 many of 的nuns can’t write. (They can all 读, or most of them anyway.) It had never occurred to me 那 anyone could live without 写作 , but of course if one’s spending one’s life meditating…

One of 的most interesting things about traveling has been seeing how required skills shift from culture to culture…例如，阿卡人’t handle a 15″ knife is going to have serious competency problems, whereas being able to 读 and write is considerably less necessary (though still useful). Conversely, in 的U.S., it’s颠倒了：没人知道怎么用砍刀，但是扫盲是必不可少的。不同的上下文。

反正’回家并再次具有文化能力真的很有趣。我怀疑我’ll go into massive shock, 的first time I actually have a conversation (!) with a shopkeeper. 😉

Incidentally, someone asked me what things I missed from 的U.S., while traveling…经过两三个星期的思考，我’我想出了两件事：保证热水，快速的互联网访问和我最喜欢的牙膏。 （我*梦想* T-1线。）

说到这，我’米几乎用完我最喜欢的牙膏（我花了六个月的时间），所以’现在肯定该回家了。 ðŸ〜‰

顺便说一下，我已经换了班机。一世’m现在回到3月31日。是的，我’米途经曼谷。是的，我’ve heard about 的killer pneumonia thing. We’ll see what happens.

Good luck with 的war–我希望一切顺利，回到家。 （一世’在达兰萨拉会很安全。）

田

通过

回到左派（Rewalsar）

好。我几乎不知道该说些什么…

我是说’ve joked a lot about selling off 的excess guys who’我在旅行中走近我，但碰巧的是，我’我实际上已经被卖了。任何人都想要一个丈夫吗？他’ll do 的dishes, wash 的laundry, and change 的diapers…and pay you to boot. All you have to do is get him into 的country. 😉

——— So, yesterday, after two frenzied days of shopping and trying to get my thangkas (religious paintings) blessed 通过 various Tibetan personages, I went back to Rewalsar. I missed 的rest of my travel companions through a foulup in communications, so wound up having to get my own taxi, for 的princely sum of 1600 rupees ($34). (To put this in perspective, 那 would pay a month’在达兰萨拉的公寓租金。）

However, to prevent getting ripped off (a white American friend was quoted 2200 rupees for 的same trip), I trekked back to 的Tibetan handicrafts shop, where I’d与一位慷慨的藏族妇女交了朋友。

(I’ve learned 通过 now 那 的best way to avoid being cheated while traveling is to make friends with a local person, and get them to advise you. It is, of course, 好 to give them a gift in exchange–otherwise, you’重用未来的游客’ travel karma. I don’t like giving cash (it encourages people to see tourists as money cows), 所以我 like to buy small gifts instead–我给了她一个她非常爱的慈悲唐卡。

无论如何，她不是’t there, but one of her friends ran off to bargain with 的taxi union for me. So I wound up with a Tibetan driver at a pretty 好 rate.

The guy was really sweet (and kind of cute), so when, about two or three hours into 的trip, he started in on 的“你有男朋友吗？”例行，我一直坚持下去，只是为了看看他的想法…我以为他在找人，但事实证明他有光荣的意图。有点。

He was, of course, looking for a Western girlfriend to marry him, and get him a visa into 的U.S. or some other country. (Once in, Tibetans get refugee status, but they have to get into 的country first–没有护照，这是一个巧妙的技巧。一世’m a little fuzzy on 的details, though.) So he offered first to pay me for a paper marriage, then (when I politely declined) asked me if I knew anyone who was looking for a househusband. In fact, he insisted on it. So, if you’re in 的market, and planning to go to 达兰萨拉, I can send you a photo and his email… 😉

Being in 达兰萨拉 was actually a bit discomfiting, 通过 的way… it’s made me uncomfortably aware of being rich. Not because my yearly salary is more than most 印度 ns/Tibetans will earn in their lifetimes (this is true for most Americans, 通过 的way), but because I have U.S. citizenship…Tibetans, even if they were born and raised in 印度 , do not. (The U.S. is one of very few nations 那 grants citizenship to anyone born within its borders. I think it’s one of 的coolest things about 的U.S., actually.)

所以藏人可以’拥有土地，担任敏感职务或自由出行…而且他们没有护照，这使他们无法离开印度。当他们问我是否有公民身份时，他们脸上充满渴望的表情’确实令人心碎，但这让我有点抽搐。

Tibetans, you see, consider me a fellow refugee from 的Cultural Revolution–my parents left 中国 during 的Communist takeover, theirs left when 中国 invaded Tibet. My parents got into 的U.S.; theirs walked out of Tibet, into 印度 . I got lucky. ———

Other than 那, I’我主要是跑来跑去买礼物–I think I have finally found a route to have my thangkas (religious cloth paintings) blessed 通过 的Dalai Lama, which is wonderful!–尽管这将意味着另一次前往达兰萨拉的旅行。

I’ll be spending 的next four or five days up on 的mountain, so don’t expect to hear from me much. Most of 的lamas/nuns are going to be engaged in a religious retreat (puja) for 的week–I’m not going both because I was sick in 达兰萨拉 (so a week of sporadic fasting is not a 好 idea), and because I’我完全不了解藏传佛教。通常这不会’不能阻止我，但我想静静地思考一下–so I’m going to spend 的week in 的kitchen, spinning and 针织 and helping out 的nuns/caretakers. (Lena, I definitely owe you a favor: everyone has been just wonderful, mostly on your account. Thank you. 🙂 )

Some of my flight details have changed, incidentally; 所以我 will be back in 曼谷 March 25, and returning home on March 31. But don’t pay out on 的pool just yet–你永远不知道会发生什么。 ðŸ〜‰

回到左派马–

田