The Smallweed Family

Thursday 20th May 2010

22:35

My bed, Dip Tse Chok Ling Monastery, McLeod Ganj

India

Today I was offered $10,000 to transport 'Jewels' from India to London.

I met the same Indian guy I'd drank tea with the day before, I talked him out of dinner, so he took me to the village of Bagsu for another tea where, lo-and-behold, we met the two guys who I had previously failed to turn up to meet for dinner the week before. 

I apologised and there was a passive acceptance. 

I guess they didn't really care, as they were just trying to soften me up to use me as their mule. 

In a business meeting-like atmosphere the whole thing was explained; how the whole deal was all a loop hole for getting around some tax laws. 

What a complication. 

I told them I'd think about it, though of course I was just placating them. My obvious inclination is to stay clear of it, may it is legit though. It's a little pathetic though.

I went to the library in the morning. 

Bought a new toothbrush which I am just about to use, used the internet, bought my Dad a book. 

I booked a hostel in London. 

And sent a book proposal to an agent. 

The whole jewel thing feels weird, taking a false interest in travellers, serving them tea and so on, is such a waste of time. Cut to the chase, crappy talks about each others families and what not, I don't care and they don't care. 

6 momos, banana and curd, Diet Pepsi. One place for the momos, another for the fruit and another shop for the curd and biscuits. I quite like it really. 

Sometimes, as an Englishman here, well anywhere that isn't England, I feel like a banana tree being attacked by monkeys, there's no escape and I'm surrounded by people trying to get my English. 

I can't run or go anywhere. Sometimes it feels like a burden to be white. I am going to let it go though, to drop these feelings of annoyance. But they do naturally rise up from time to time, before dying away. 

I'm sure there are better simile I could use though. 

I like the routine of getting a good nights sleep here, waking around the same time each day, naturally. It's good. 

70rps to watch the champions league final.  

A New Lodger

Wednesday 19th May 2010

10pm 

My bed at the Dip Tse Chok Ling Monastery

Read a great article in the Times of India tonight. Everyday the column named 'The Speaking Tree' is printed and has a different writer who will give some kind of spiritual or enlightening advice. Tonight's column focused on Buddhism and the frame of mind we should adopt to life. 

Made a mistake on the Sudoku. Didn't do well on the crossword. 

Ate curd with banana for dinner. 4 momos (veg) one piece of Tibetan bread. Drank some Diet Pepsi and ate a packet of biscuits. Felt good to eat some fruit. 

Read a lot of Siddhartha by Hesse. As I read the story I could identify many of the main characteristics of the story and how they related to some specific Buddhist principles. It felt strangely reassuring. Finished a small book/pamphlet Tibetan poetry in, there were also a couple of thought provoking essays by Tibetans and there views on the future of their existence in the shadow of China. 

Walked to St. John's Church with Tensing and tutored him there. He was in good spirits. I remained behind after he left and read. 

Had to take a dump in the woods. 

I bought a rosary today, a Buddhist one of course. I'd like to give meditation another go once I've learned more. Meditation comes in many forms though. 

I cut out the Speaking Tree article. I e-mailed the writer and thanked him. 

I'm apprehensive about the lifestyle I'll have when I return to England. There are many options to consider and I'm sure many people to see. However simply I lay things out in my mind a return to a more worldly environment will I think complicate my life. I'll know once I return. 

I met the Indian guy I mentioned yesterday, we had a coffee, he wanted to have dinner tomorrow but I like eating alone in the evenings here in my room, slowly and in silence, occasionally glancing at the newspaper. I take my time,  appreciate the food before me and enjoy it. It's nice to meet people, but my space is important, I don't want to get to pally with people here because I want to develop my understanding of Buddhism to the limit. Of course meeting people is a good way to practice. I just need to find the right balance. 

Got my left shoe fixed. 

Gary Neville didn't make the world cup squad. Not surprised he really, he's been injured so much in the past 3 or 4 years. He was great in his day though. 

I feel more part of the gang now I have my rosary. 

Tomorrow, library in the AM, meet the Indian guy in the PM. Use the internet. Do all the other routine things I do in there calming simplicity. 

If I can think of anything else worthwhile to add here I will. 

Enjoyed a pot of Darjeeling Tea this afternoon on a rooftop. 

Lovely view of the mountains. 

Must buy new toothbrush. 

Moving On

Tuesday 18th May 2010

9.45pm

My bed at the Dip Tse Chok Ling Monastery, McLeod Ganj

India

Today. Woke up around 7am. Bought paper, previously angry seller was back to his more affable self. Bought 6 eclairs and one piece of bread. Rain in the air. 

Had a tea on the way to the library, I found a quiet tea shop half way down the hill.

I read until lunchtime, 1pm, then marched half way back up the hill to the tea shop for another tea. The library closes for one hour at lunchtime everyday so we're all chucked out then. The tea shop, which is on a road side next to a motorbike garage and basically a small hut does basic food. 

After lunch I marched back down the hill to the library again, along the winding roads spiraling and weaving downward and stayed at the library until 3.30pm. 

As I was walking back down the hill out of the blue I bumped into an Indian man who I had randomly got talking to a week before up in the main square. To be honest I tried to put him off me with my general apathy, but for what it is worth I'll meet him for a drink tomorrow afternoon. I'm not sure why he really wants to, but I'm sure I'll find out. I confess I forgotten his name. 

Ate 2 samosas, 2 chapatis, a packet of biscuits, some curd, a few eclairs and a bottle of Pepsi for dinner. Again did the Sudoku and made a pretty passable effort at the crossword. It's amazing when you realise that everything is interconnected in a crossword so much more pops out at you, a little concentration and time is all you need. This reminds me of the Buddhist teaching on dependent origination and right mindfulness. 

(edit: here is a link Dependent Origination - Cause and effect)

 I read some good stuff in the library today and made lots of notes. I don't know why I wrote so many notes, it feels good to write them, I can lay down things in a way I can more easily and comfortable interpret. They give me a clearer understanding. 

On the front page of the paper today was the news that some men involved in the gang rape of a Japanese  tourist in Bodhgaya earlier this year have been sentenced to life in prison. 

The resonates with me because I was in Bodhgaya on the day it happened and 2 store owners told me all about it, so to see it reported in the newspaper and justice served is interesting. 

It has rained on and off for the past few days, tonight though it has rained heavily and it was monsoon-like. Storm clouds of all shades of grey and black linger in the air from the left of the valley that my monastery sits in and are above the Dalai Lama's residence; they stretch all the way across the sky and horizon to the right where among the trees I can see St. John's Church. 

In the UK the thunder and lightning we get is tame compared to here and the far east. 

I used the internet today. I prepared some grammar tips for Tensing and organised one or two things ahead of going home. Also I proofread some more of Tensings poems. 

For some reason tonight there was not a momo seller insight in the town and I looked in all the usual places. 

I finished reading The Wisdom of Forgiveness today, a really great book. In fact I've been lucky to here to read several great books while living at my own pace in my own environment. I hope it's something I can maintain back home.

I do like curd. I'm going to buy lots of it from now on. Only 10Rps for 200g.

A job in a cinema, bookstore or cafe, that sounds nice. A CELTA along the way. That'll do between between getting home and the new year.

I'll probably have different ideas tomorrow, but the above, at its heart, would I hope with right living environment help me to keep and maintain the relative peace which I have here.

Where will I settle, I don't know.

I'm going to do some more reading now and then sleep.
It's very quiet here aside from the occasional person opening and closing their doors.

In India there are guys in the street who fix shoes.
They spend all day looking at peoples feet to try and pick out potential customers.
One of my shoes needed a little stitching, so a young guy carrying his thread and insoles approached me today. It was a little painful.

My mind was on dinner not my shoes. I didn't get them fixed, but engaged in the small talk that the guy initiated, he seemed fidgety, he wanted me to buy him food and promise him I'd meet him the next day so he could fix my shoe. Maybe...

It's funny, I've read and learn't a lot of things about Buddhism over the past few months that resonated deeply with me.

There are thoughts, actions, ideas and inclinations I've had in the past which I look at now that fit into Buddhism and its teachings, they click with it. I can recognise now that in many ways my natural feelings were leading me, albeit loosely towards Buddhism. After being exposed to Buddhism more directly I feel those original feelings being being harnessed and cultivated in a more concentrated way.

Mindfulness, self-view, compassion, wisdom, suffering, dependent origination, emptiness...all are very interesting things, which after taking some time to let sink in and truly acknowledge now feel to me like they make a lot of sense.

I can hear the rain falling outside and thunder roaring, it will  be a wet night.

If I feel I need to get away next year then maybe I'll back to India or Nepal.

There are many avenues open and options to choose between, perhaps one choice is to choose none of them. 

Lady Dedlock

Monday 17th May 2010

10.40pm 

My bed, Dip Tse Chok Ling Monastery, McLeod Ganj

India

I still haven't really looked around this temple complex fully or taken a good look in the library. I must change that. 

I don't mind squat toilets in the slightest, however western ones are great for thinking on and reading on. At least squat style toilets stop you wasting any time. 

As usual today I walked up the steps, got the paper, a different guy was there, bought some bread and drank a cheap tea while reading the headlines. Then I spent the morning down at the Tibetan Government library which felt very productive. 

At lunch I drank a Tibetan tea, that seemed to come with some kind of cream on top and I swear the water used was a little oily, not good. In future I'll stick to the Milk Tea. 

Who should magically appear after lunch but Tensing who came to the reading room to read. He had overslept and missed out meeting. Around 3.30pm we went to a cafe, next to his extended family's home and went through all his poems. 

He gave me  a book on meditation. 

His voice seemed strained and he said he had done a lot of talking the night before, but I wondered if he was being open or not. Perhaps he'd had an argument with his relations. Perhaps hiding things is something we both have in common. 

I felt a little comfortable as we sat on his porch drinking tea, his family inside the house staying out of the way. 

I tried to help him out as best I could. His grammar needs work, but it wont improve while his focus is on his own poetry where the grammar rules can go out the window.

Sure I could give him lots of examples, but I think he needs to focus on some essay writing to step things up or get study books, especially as he has aspirations of getting a scholarship that may require and IELTS score. 

Will see him again Wednesday. He was going to walk back up the hill with me, but revealed he had to spend some time with his relatives. 

After coming back to the town I got 8 momos, a diet Pepsi, a handful of eclairs, and a small packet of mango biscuits. 

Completed the sudoku again, though the paper rated today's sudoku challenge as easy. Initially made a shoddy attempt at the crossword but went back to it later and got 50% of it done. 

England won the Twenty20 world cup. I look forward to reading about it in the newspapers. 

Last night, after midnight, it seemed a large cat was prowling around outside within the temple premises or at least very near. One of the guys in another room twice called out to his friends startled as he heard the same deep growl outside that I did. The first growl didn't seem conclusive to me, it couldn't possibly have really been what it sounded like, but the second growl cleared things up. From my window I saw nothing, Surely not a tiger? Who knows, but it was definitely no dog. 

To get to Delhi from here takes 12 to 13 hours by bus. 

Esther's Narrative

Sunday 16th May 2010

10.45pm 

My bed at the Dip Tse Chok Ling Monastery, McLeod Ganj 

India

So the lesson of today is don't let your emotions, more specifically anger, get the better of you. 

Today when getting the newspaper the newspaper seller, who arranged to hold back a copy of the Times of India for me and who had been gone in place of his boss for the last few days let rip at me for not collecting the copies which specifically had my name on. 

I really couldn't understand his anger. He claimed I hadn't turned up at all, obviously I said that I had, but had just not been given the copies with my name on. 

I was surprised as previously he'd been generally affable. I didn't get angry back, just tried to diffuse things. It must have been on his mind that morning because he didn't even wait for the other customers to leave or finish serving them before dishing out flippantly that he had in his possession a total of two newspapers with my name on. 

Remember...patience...compassion. Don't judge. It was his choice to be angry and let those feelings control him. 

They'll be no more copies with my name on, but I'll still go in to the mornings to get a copy on the chance they'll have one.

It's strange how Indian people, for what reason I'm not sure, have a fixation and impatience about making money. There is an element of addiction and obsession with it that exists and I can feel it often. It is unhealthy. The Tibetan community emit completely different signals. It is an interesting contrast between the two.

I guess it is a trend or characteristic of Indian society, though I don't know if it something that may relate to Hinduism specifically. I wouldn't expect it to of course, Tibetans are equally spiritual but have a different view.

It's an interesting area to look at. Fora country renowned for it's spirituality I find little of it in the majority of Hindus I've met (probably just the those in the tourism business trying to make money really) than the Sikhs and Tibetans I've come across, who I suppose I've met in different circumstances so far. Certainly when it comes to openness, kindness, understanding, empathy and attitudes towards finance it seems the Buddhists are street ahead, it perhaps a little less enterprising.

After the newspaper incident I went to meet Tensing, but after 30 minutes he was nowhere to be seen. I'll go back to our small cafe meeting point tomorrow in case we've got our wires crossed.  

Until we meet I've got all his poems on me. I'm sure we'll bump into each other soon enough. 

So I wandered down to St. John's Church and with the backdrop of singing from the Sunday service sat in the graveyard overlooking the Kangra Valley and read from my Buddhist ethics book, only one chapter remaining now. 

I used the internet for a couple of hours which is always useful. 

For a time today I felt a little bit at a loss. I could have stayed online longer, but 2 hours at once is enough. Maybe I'll go back tomorrow and pursue more literary agents.

I've visited several bookstores and eventually settled on Siddhartha by Hesse, which is half classic and half Buddhist. 

I want to try and get something covering compassion, mindlessness and the workings of karma as well as some kind of all encompassing glossary. There are also a couple of Buddhist Sutras I'd like to see English versions of. 

I researched MAs in Buddhist Studies, but they don't seem viable with my academic background. And what might I do after? 

Is their and MA in Religious Literature? Further research required. 

Drank some tea at a new cafe. The one I went to yesterday was better though. Today's cafe was full of monks, great, but the downside was just that, that it was overcrowded. 

I ate 8 momos instead of 12. The momo woman who always welcomes me with a smile told me tomorrow is her day off, so I'll have to find an alternative. 

Tomorrow, library. 

No cinema or cooking or Tai Chi. 

Just reading, internet and drinking tea, and more reading. 

I completed the Sudoku in the newspaper again today with a fair amount of competence. But nose dived with the crossword. Am enjoying the mental workout.    

Tom-all-alone's

Saturday 15th of May 2010

11pm

Bed, Dip Tse Chok Ling Monastery, McLeod Ganj

India

So what of today?

Today was refreshingly peaceful and straight forward.

I walked down to the library picked out The Way It Is, which is a book by a western monk which I am ploughing through and getting a lot or practical and useful information from.

Also I've started reading The Wisdom of Forgiveness, a wonderfully light hearted book concerning the Dalai Lama that contains several interviews with the author.

Finally on the table I had a copy of Herman Hesse's Siddhartha, that I haven't started yet but will do soon.

There are still some gaps in my historical understanding of Buddhism and some recent history that I want to grasp. But finding the right books isn't so easy.

I stayed at the library from around 10am to 4.30pm before starting the blood pumping walk back up the hill. I found the local cinema, 150Rs for a ticket, which is basically a basement with a few rooms with large TVs in with comfy sofas and bean bags. 

I corrected Tensings poems. I found a nice cafe with a rooftop terrace at around 5pm that was pretty quiet.

The view overlooked one side of the town, it was nice and I got a small pot of Darjeeling Tea. 

Apart from that I did nothing out of the ordinary apart from successfully complete today's Sudoku in the Times of India. I had a good stab at the crossword too. 

I bought some good momos, a few biscuits and a Pepsi and came back to the monastery, before eating the momos I did some reading out in the communal bench area offering a view of the valley. I was joined for a few minutes by a young monk, he must have been 6 or 7; I couldn't hold his attention for long. 

I found out I can use the small library here at the monastery I am staying in, all I have to do is ask for the key. 

I'm living calmly and happily within my own means and it's nice to give time to myself here, to contemplate and be aware. 

After a long dinner in my room I read some of my Buddhist ethics book and a chapter of Vanity Fair.

Tomorrow I'll meet Tensing. 

I wonder what I'll do next week...reading for sure. 

The library chairs are very comfortable. 

Actually my bed here at the monastery is very cosy. 

I've 3 thick woollen rugs to cover me. 

I haven't arranged to try and do Tai Chi yet. 

I may use the internet tomorrow. 

Maybe I'll purchase one or two books, we'll see. 

I want to practise patience, and develop more patience. 

Hmm cooking classes...I'll give them some thought, but then again why complicate my simple and peaceful routine? 

Bell Yard

Saturday 15th May 2010

7.45am

In bed at the Dip Tse Chok Ling Monastery, McLeod Ganj

India

I find it amusing how many shopkeepers get so paranoid about bank notes here, if the condition of them isn't pristine they wet their pants and refuse to accept them.

Yesterday when I paid for a cup of tea, that cost 15Rs, I used a frazzled 50Rs note. The cashier didn't like it though so he chose to accept a crisp 10Rs note instead. His choice.

First thing this morning and last things last night I have been correcting Tensing's English poems and trying to decipher his hand writing. I'm trying to use some creative judgement and to just try and correct the grammar and punctuation as much as possible with poetry.

Last night I finish The Last Mughal.

I bought momos from a different vendor and they were inferior to the ones sold by the usual lady I go to. These others did not have the same good fresh filling while the texture of the momos was weaker and they didn't hold together well.

I thought about getting a Kit-Kat Chunky, they cost 40Rs (A packet of chocolate biscuits is 20Rs) but they don't know how (or have the means) to look after chocolate here, nothing is protected from the heat. The chocolate sits half melted and squashed in the counters and on the shelves and no one seems to buy it.

Yesterday I went to the opening of a Tibetan art and poetry exhibition, I'll give the details of it to Tensing. Some of the oil paintings were really great and all related to Tibet or Buddha. I got a small book of poems.

I had a tea in the cafe upstairs. Earl Grey.

Before that I used the internet for two hours but despite the time I spent online I inevitably forgot to check one or two things. Though I did correct some writing an old student from South Korea sent to me.

Across the road from the internet cafe was the Gu-Chu-Sum Movement (Gu-Cha-Sum - 9-10-3) which is named so because in September and October 1987 and March 1988 there were big protests in Tibet that were punished by the Chinese.

(Upon typing up this diary I've come across their website http://9103.org/)

Anyway, they had a very graphic photography exhibition of the suppression enforced by the Chinese. The exhibition didn't shy away from showing the gruesome treatment of the monks and the dead bodies of Tibetans killed by the Chinese. Pictures of dead bodies lying blood stained either in hospital beds or in some local street somewhere surrounded by people.

The earlier half of the day was taken up by helping and speaking to Tensing, who has taken to buying all my cups of tea. 

We went to Dal Lake, past his old school and sat for a couple of hours outside a small Hindu temple. It turns out both his parents are dead, but he has a couple of aunts and an uncle an one step-sister. Though I am not sure how much of what he tells me is true. He went to school here in McLeod Ganj at the TCV - Tibetan Children's Village and naturally had some problems growing up without a stable family. 

He told me he has had meaningful contact with just one of his maternal aunts who made an impression on him and knocked some sense into him; he talks fondly of her.  

He mentioned his academic past to me too which had been a struggle for one reason or another, he moved to a school in Dehdradun  and past an important exam there. A highly reputed school is there in that town and many Tibetans live there. 

At one of our first meetings he told me he wanted to be a writer; he seems creative; he mentioned how he had enjoyed drama classes in the past; bunked off school to smoke; wrote songs and compositions that he wanted to record and had other such ideas about things he wanted to do. He's a quiet person though. He seems slightly aloof from the world, which is reflected in his body language and demeanour, which I perhaps comes from some his childhood experiences.

His distant relatives (as I suppose they are) he wants to get away from and he would like to obtain a scholarship, for which being published would help his application. A wave of apprehension sweeps over him when other young Tibetans come near him.
It was interesting to hear his story, from being bullied for wetting the bed to his previous experiences of visiting Delhi and Bangalore, which as a member of an ethnic minority, were indeed a struggle.
We'll meet again tomorrow.

....

Today is FA Cup Final day.
I'll get a Times of India later and head to the library and read all day.
Yesterday I failed miserably with the Sudoko, and lost patience with it.
The crossword was tough too.
Plus the answers to the other puzzles were printed on the same page so I couldn't help but notice them inadvertently, never mind.
I'll try again today.

Also, I found a local cinema, so may watch a film tomorrow.

Rovers have stuck 15 on the transfer list; can't believe that! 

Deportment

Thursday 13th May 2010

10pm

My single room at the monastery

India

This morning I woke up and did my laundry around 7am which had all dried by 7pm. I enjoy hand washing my clothes even if many stains don't really come out. At least the clothes smell fresh. Everyone should hand wash things when they come to India.

Washing things by hand sounds like, and has looked in the past, something hard and a real chore; these tasks bring with them a certain therapy though.

I drank some tea in the dining room here afterwards, well while my laundry was soaking in soapy water, and met a German girl who has been here 6 weeks doing some translation work and a Japanese guy who recently arrived to begin an internship in Bangalore for IBM.

Afterwards I went to buy a paper, but had to settle for the inferior Hindustani Times, as all the copies of the Times of India had gone; what kind of newspaper doesn't have a crossword or cartoon page??? A rubbish one. So now I've arranged to have a copy of the Times of India put aside for me each morning.

I paid the 15Rs I owed to the coffee shop. They were surprised/grateful!

Then I plodded down to the Tibetan Government Complex's library and registered to use their reading room for one month and spent the rest of the day there, form around 11am to 4.30pm. It only costs 50Rs to access their resources.

I got stuck into a couple of books I'd come across in Lumbini and read them. I have question marks about the depth of the material they have available.

I ate a nice piece of Tibetan bread on the way to the library.

The government complex is 20 minutes walk down a hill, so it proves a sweaty but healthy climb back up to the town.

I hope to get lots of reading and learning done. The more I can pick up and comprehend the better. I want to understand everything I can about Buddhist doctrine and philosophy and find a practical application for it, as well as just enjoying reading.

At lunch in the canteen the government complex I had a cheese chapati and a milk tea.

I've seen courses in Tai Chi advertised.

I didn't get to meet the Indian guys for dinner, if I bump onto one of them I'll tell them truth, that A: I didn't really comfortable or really want to eat with them, and B: I was to tired to walk to their village and walking back from the library.

Instead I bought 12 momos, steamed (veg and potato) and ate them back at the monastery in my room. I cut open and dissected each of them individually. Yum. I ate some biscuits and sweets afterwards and I am now on the last chapter of The Last Mughal.

I may buy something from the Bookworm book store that I browsed in earlier.

So a relatively quiet day compared to the Triund hike but still I got plenty of exercise.

The dining room here is manned constantly by the cook. When I returned today I went inside for a cup of tea but not before he questioned me with his eyes and rose to his feet as I entered. He can relax. It would be easier for him if there were communal washing up facilities but alas he must deal with everything himself.

Tomorrow I'll meet Tensing, the Tibetan guy, at 10am for a tea. We may go and play table tennis after I've seen his latest writing. Otherwise I may head to the library again or a small local museum that has a photo exhibition going on.

Spent some time looking at the bus options from here for when I decide to move on.

Some aspects of Buddhist teaching regarding 'the self' need a lot of attention before I can come to terms with them, however tonight after reading back over my notes things seem clearer than they previously felt.

I don't see any Tibetans begging. The community here is very strong people seem to support each other well. 

I haven't gone outside at night yet to specifically admire them but you can see a lot of stars in the sky here. 

Tonight is very windy and there were a couple of short sharp showers earlier. 

...a new hobby, paint by numbers

In the beginning there were numbers...

Then god created the sky...

...then came the mountains and a strange animal...

....water

A hippo...nearly finished

keep going...

...after one month it's finally done...

Now it can take pride if place next to my fathers own composition...

Esther's Narrative

Wednesday 12th May 2010

10.35pm

My single room, Dip Tse Chok Ling Monastery, McLeod Ganj

India

So  the descent down the mountain was far less sweaty than the ascent. There was no rain but a huge rain cloud hovered above the mountain and the rumble of thunder could be heard for hours.

I met an Indian writer as I went down, he like many others was heading up in the opposite direction and was sweat profusely. He said he was in McLeod Ganj to correct his book, about Indians living abroad and had already published one book called 'Real America'. He was from somewhere near Delhi. I'm afraid I've forgotten his name though. He seemed a nice guy.

When I got to the bottom to Dharamkot I went back to McLeod Ganj via another small village called Bagsu. which is a quiet place with a small number of tourists and travellers, it's about 2km from McLeod Ganj. I was accosted by an Indian man however who took a liking to my football shirt, and after hearing I was an English teacher who taught in Korea dragged/ushered/tricked me into his jewelry shop for a cup of tea. He said he also had lived in South Korea...but this later turned out to be a 10 days business trip. So we talked amiably for a while about his business which I expressed some interest in and he asked me about me. Then I was handcuffed into dinner with his friend...who had a cousin in Ilfracombe of all places.

They didn't care to ask me if I would like to have dinner with them, simply decided for me that since I probably hadn't made plans yet for the following night then I should automatically be happy to join them. 

This is the same as the Indian selling technique. 

They don't perceive if you want something or not (or appear not to perceive), they just put it in your face and tell you the price regardless of the fact that you may not actually give give a damn or be remotely interested. 

So now I'm in the position I sometimes got into in South Korea when a student who I didn't really have much to share with socially or a common interest might corner me. I'll make a last minute decision whether or not to meet them tomorrow, sometime tomorrow afternoon. Part of me thinks it'll be a good idea, part of my however really doesn't want to. 

My thighs and shoulders ached by the time I got to the bottom. 

In McLeod I couldn't get a paper, but got a copy of the weekly 'Himachal this week' and 'Contact' a magazine which covers local issues and gives lots of contact information for groups and people in the local area. 

I stopped by the LHA Volunteer Association, but being able to be here only a short time meant I was no use to them. 

Then I bumped into Tensing, the guy I helped out a few days before, so with some time to fill we went to a cafe and for an hour or so I helped correct more of his poems and basically taught for an hour and got to know him better. 

I'll meet him again on Friday morning. 

Afterwards I got a tea and some toast in a cafe. The price was 45Rs but I had 30 in change or a 1000 note, so the cashier took the 30. I'll go back with the extra 15 tomorrow. 

The tea was 20Rs, fine. The menu said 10Rs for honey toast (two slices) I was charged 10Rs per slice and 5Rs for the honey, but the menu didn't explain that at all...now I feel dubious about paying the other 15Rs....hmmmm.

I bought 12 steamed momos, some biscuits, toothpaste and Pepsi then came back here to the monastery, complete with its young resident monks and ate in my room, read on the communal balcony and read some more in my room. 

...today's hiking was good exercise. 

As I tried to get a paper in McLeod I discovered I can only get them from 8am to 11am. Meanwhile behind the shop that sells them is another a joining shop that is 150 years old that I was able to look around. Many of the cabinets and shelves were indeed 150 years old and the place doesn't function as a shop any more, now a kind of open museum. 

Sadly some shelves stocked contemporary goods for the newspaper to drag out when needed. A little of the mystical element disappeared because of this. Other parts of the shop contained newspapers from the 1950s that could be read; there were many old and dusty interesting packages and signage going much further back than the 1950s too it seemed. An interesting place and I wondered how it had survived with all the pandemonium of the village outside. 

...I should wash some clothes tomorrow and go to the government complex.

I think I'll stick around here, register with the library and perhaps sign up for the philosophy class. 

I saw adverts for Tai Chi too which is very appealing to me as well. 

I've done most of the tourist things here now so to do a couple of the activities would be a good idea I think. 

Lets see what comes along. 

There are nearly 300 steps to climbs from the monastery where I am staying to road. I roughly counted them  coming back today.