Meditation and Momos: MacLeod Culture

One of the main reasons we came to this area was to attend a 10-day Buddhist retreat at the Tushita Meditation Center.  It was a wonderful and life-changing experience.  Being that it was a silent retreat, we weren't allowed to speak except to ask questions during our teachings and during discussion group time.  Being able to live in silence for 10 days in India was serenity.
The retreat was based on the Mahayana tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, which is one of the two main branches of Buddhism.  It originated in India (but is present in many countries, especially Tibet).  Chris and I both learned a lot about ourselves and our potentials.  And who knows, maybe there'll be a Buddhism category on Jeopardy someday!

Our gompa (meditation hall)

The stupa, located behind the main gompa. The stupa is a Buddhist monument is composed of a solid hemisphere topped by a spire which contains relics of Buddha. In northern India, it's a common to see people circling the stupa, doing the mala (saying mantras with mala beads),

We shared some comfortable silence with these great people.  As well as some chatty ones afterwards !

After we came out of the retreat, we liked the Dharamshala area so much, we decided to stay for a whole month.  A months in a small town called MacLeod Ganj, where the Indian, Tibetan and International population is abundant.   There was just so much to do (typical grassroot community!): courses, projects, meditation and volunteering oh my !


Chris took a woodcarving class, where he made a beautiful piece.

Chris carving in the teeny-tiny woodcarving room

Tools make progress

The final product

While Chris was carving, I was cooking.  I took a North Indian cooking class with a sweet n' severe Nisha.  Don't ask stupid questions.

Nisha, showing us her tricks.

Palak Paneer.  Palak is spinach and paneer are cubes of unfermented cheese, made with milk curd.  D-lish !

Channa Masala is mmmm....good.

And of course, we took a Tibetan cooking class, where we learned to make momos and Tibetan soups.

Let's get ready to momo !

The best momo teacher ever.  And she had a story to tell.

Learning with a few friends from our meditation retreat, Piret and Emma.

Playing with dough

They're kind of cute eh?

Waiting to steam. Like babies in a blanket !

You can find momos everywhere on the streets.  Good fast food.

Deep-friend Tibetan pastries.   I am forcing a smile.  I prefer momos.

Our Tibetan cooking teacher told us about a Tibetan music/talent show that was going on.  I decided to check it out.  It was a good 3 hours of Tibetans singing Tibetan hits.  It was....interesting.

I love this place because it's loaded with Tibetan culture, which I found, I have a soft spot for.  As well, they love sharing their culture.  Not just because tourists appreciate it and because they can make a buck out of it, but because it is the culture that they have left (being that it is at risk of slowly disappearing due to Chinese intolerance) and they are sharing it to spread it and avoid loosing it forever.  The sharing is genuine.

Life's a beach: Gokarna and Goa

Another big day of travel : from Kumily, a 6hr bus ride to Kochi, then an overnight train to Mangalore and then a 5 hr bus ride (with 3 bus transfers) to Gokarna and a small rickshaw ride and we were in heaven: Kudle Beach.  If you're looking for beautiful beach, without the hustle bustle of Goa, you've found it in Gokarna (province: Karnataka, where they speak Kannada, go figure!).  Gokarna itself is a very spiritual town. Hordes of Hindu pilgrims gather here throughout the year to pay their respects to the ancient temples found in the town (non-hindus are not allowed in the temples). :-(

Kudle beach is a beautiful place

And then, walk 20 minutes and you get to Kudle beach, another 2 km to Om beach, another 4 to Paradise beach.  There isn't much to do in Kudle Beach but lie around and sit on the beach, which is exactly what we did for 5 days.  Wake up, meditate, lie around, eat, lie around, swim, lie around, eat, lie around, swim, lie around, eat, meditate, sit out and watch sunset.  That was our days' schedule.  Good days indeed.

Kudle beach

Love you

Our place, cozy and right on the beach. The only downfall: a rat came for visits every night, running around the rafters. He wasn't annoying really, except that he tried chewing through my backpack. 

Our neighbors' place and huts all over the place

Hammocks and sunsets go together like curry and chapathi

Our hang out place.  We had a lovely neighbor, and he had a lovely hammock.

Looking out into the abyss

Yep, cows are everywhere. Even on the beaches. And sometimes, they can be a nuisance.

You'll always find a cricket game on the beach

I think "The Gorillaz'" animation was inspired by these fellas.

Colored powder for sale for the Holi festival in Gokarna

Fruit huts are a place for refuge.  Chris taking his daily hit of coconut water

We made it.  We travelled from Gatwick to Goa.  We enjoyed both places (okay, Gatwick airport wasn't THAT great, but still) and everything in between.  Goa is not India.  It's a beach paradise, filled with foreign (and a few Indian) bathers. Indian culture did not seem so genuine here...much of it was "set up" to impress and delight tourists. Okay, so maybe I'm generalizing a little bit.  There is Goan cuisine and culture, it's just not so obvious.  Goa (which is a province, not a city) can be split into three parts: north, central and south.  The north is party central where the trance scene (and thus the drug scene) is huge.  Head to the center and things get decidedly more cultural.  Here lies the capital (Panaji) as well as many mansions, forts, temples and cathedrals.  Then there's the lazy and calm south, which is where we hung out. Isolated beaches are more common and the up-and-bnmping beaches cater to the calmer, quieter crowd, looking to lounge in their hammocks at night rather than party the night away.

Every country has it's paradise beaches (Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam) and Goa is where you'll find India's.  Yet, despite this bashing, it is a BEAUTIFUL place.  It's luxurious, clean and easy to travel.  For us, it was a nice return to our comfort zone.

We stayed on Patnem Beach.

Just chillin'

Nope, nobody.

We rented a motorcycle and toured around Goa province for a day.  From top to bottom, Goa is only about 30 kms, so you can see a lot of the province scootering for a day.

The hog

A hindu temple we drove by along the way

Sunset on Patnem beach

Enjoying fenni, a cashew spirit

After spending just over a week on the beaches, we had enough.  We're not really beach bums (Chris, being a redhead doesn't tan, he burns.  And then burns again, and again, and again....).  Things were starting to get a bit too hot, so we decided it would be a good thing to head way up north, close to the Himalayans (Nepal and Tibet) where a totally different kind of India was waiting...