I feel like I have been on quite a journey since I last wrote. I am also on a computer that is set to french, so I cannot write with contractions because the shift key creates a strange looking letter...this only adds to the colorful experiences I have had thus far.

We arrived in Tso Pema (Rewalsar) in Himachal Pradesh state on Friday morning. We left the hell realm of Delhi on Thursday night and it was quite a day preceding our departure.

Karma and I want to wear traditional clothes from his region of Tibet when we get married, so we decided to have them made while we were in Delhi in the Tibetan Colony. He has a friend that makes them there and is from his region, so he actually knows what we would want. The only thing is, he does not know that Karma is disrobing and getting married and he would surely tell folks back home (which would definitely get back to his family prematurely). SO, Karma's friend (a monk from his monastery), Sang Rap, happened to be in Delhi and is also from Karma region and he graciously volunteered to go on this adventure with me. Sang Rap did not know about us previously, but he knew me from when I studied Tibetan at his monastery before and was not phased in the least by our relationship.

It was definitely over 100 degrees when we met Lobsang, the tailor, at his little shop in the alleys of the Tibetan Colony around 3 p.m. He had clearly been napping and showed up in his p.j. pants and a t-shirt. He is a young guy with a rocker-style mullet, an unlikely character at face value to make traditional Kham-region dress, but I digress.

First of all, neither of them speak much English, nor did they see the need to slow things down for my sake (it is only MY wedding dress, haha), so I hung on for dear life and went for the ride. We went to 4 fabric shops before settling on the material for both Karma and my chupas (the name of the dress style) and the fabric for the shirts we wear under them. They repeatedly made fun of how tall I am and actually had to use two measuring tapes together in order to do my fitting. But all ended well and I think they are going to look great. I am picking them up on my way through Delhi back to the States. This process took several hours in the hot, humid, dusty air and I seriously thought I was not going to make it.

Karma and I went to the bus station after that, without tickets, and were immediately told everything was sold out...but I never believe anything of that sort at first. So, I marched up to the counter and within 15 minutes found myself sitting in the air conditioned ticket booth with the agent while he looked online for tickets for us (while there was a line of people at his window). Being a young American woman sometimes has its perks...

We took an air conditioned bus from 8:25 p.m. and headed north, arriving in Mandi at 7 a.m. Friday morning. From there we had to take a local bus, which as a 6 foot person is less than comfortable. By the time we were 15 minutes into the hour-long ride, the bus was standing room only and we had 4 people in our little seat (I barely fit alone) and my legs were tucked under the seat behind me because my hip-knee ratio was longer from my seat to the back of the one in front of me. Then, to add to the already hectic equation, a 8 year old(ish) boy was handed over the crowd superman style, holding his mouth, ready to unleash his morning breakfast. The road is VERY curvy. A vision of him spewing all over Karma, me and my back pack flashed before my eyes, but I somehow managed to open the window, grab him from the crowd and get his head outside before that actually happened. He handled it like a champ and we gave him some of our water afterwards, insisting that he stay in the little crevice between me and the window, just in case. It proved to be an excellent idea... My ankles, however, have never been so swollen in my life from the way they were positioned for that hour and it took over 24 hours for them to look normal again.

Upon our arrival, we found an excellent guest house with a great view and settled right in. We are right next to the big lake and small statue of Guru Padmasambhava and can see the HUGE statue of him on the hill. He is the Indian sage that took Buddhism from India to Tibet, so he is revered in Tibetan Buddhism.
There was a huge thunderstorm our first night here, but the weather has been superb since, warm, breezy, clean mountain air....I really do not want to go for a few days. Tomorrow we are planning to wake up early and hike up the mountain to the caves where Guru Padmasambhava meditated. It is such a beautiful, quiet place to be after Delhi.

Karma and I have really enjoyed our time together and, I swear, I have never laughed so hard in my life. We have not watched TV, but have indulged in people watching from our room and it is much more enjoyable. Karma is also a great impersonator and it is especially comical when he imitates American figures because he does not know English well enough to actually say what they would say, just mumble how he perceives them to speak. Obama and Michael Jackson are particularly awesome.

Today we actually had electricity and running water (both were off yesterday), so it was nice to shower and have the fan on in our room...ah the little things that you appreciate when traveling in India.

I hope all is well on the west side of this beautiful world. xoxo