Wow. sorry I haven't updated this in so long but given the general lack of potable water, let alone internet cafes, it's been a bit difficult. We have arrived in Dharamsala, center for the Tibetan government-in-exile and host to a wide diversity of people: Tibetans, of course, local hill people, Indians, Kashmir Indians and tourists, of which a large number are Israeli interestingly. This place, despite being on top of a mountain, is a hopping little place. Granted there are only 5 streets, but each of them is packed with shops and restaurants. The streets are dirty, where people literally throw there trash every morning so sweepers can clean it up. Not to mention the gutters that line both sides of each street carrying waste water etc, not unlike a medieval town. In fact there are some weird similiarities that make me laugh when I think of recreations and realize there are places that aren't that different now from those towns in europe during the middle ages in terms of sanitation. Food on the streets, beggars with leprosy (which apparently you can't get unless they touch you for like 10 years or something, though I'm still a little nervous) The mountains, we are at about 7,000 ft, create a temperate climate, thank god.

In Bangkok, this is flashback to catch up, I went out for the day with a group of nine of us. We went out to the street and caught the #39 bus, paying 5 baht to ride (about 10 cents) We rode for about an hour and a half along with many local thai people, all of whom gave us interested glances. We got off at a giant circle plaza with an obelisk in the middle and asked for directions. We discovered we were still too far so we hoped another bus and got off after another half hour right along the main river that runs through bangkok. A city of 10 million people - the place is simply enormous and spread out. I couldn't wrap my head around it. We visited a thervada buddhist monastery with a giant statue of a reclining Buddha. I was overhwelmed by the size, the beauty and the reverance that so many thai people displayed coming there on a random sunday. I donated money and received incense, a candle, a lotus flower and gold flakes. I kneeled and offered them in prayer...it was amazing. The gold flakes were put on the mini statues of the buddha, for what purpose I don't know. I've never heard of such a practice before. Anyway what I have come to really respect about Thai culture is how respectful they are of each person and their space. No one in thailand touches each other, even shaking hands is replaced by placing the hands together and taking a slight bow. It's beautiful. You'll see what I mean when I talk about India. Anyway after the temple we tried to make it to Cosan rd. kind of a traveller's marketplace but never got there. We did walk through several open air markets, filled with some produce I recognized and some I had no ideas about. Then there were the fried insects. mmmmm - yeah not so much for me. I didn't try any, the view was good enough for me. We walked around the royal palace a little and realized we had to get back to the hotel for our flight, so we convinced this random guy for 150 baht per person to take us all the way out there. There are 44 baht to the dollar. It was quite a nice ride, we were all exhausted and ate at the hotel restaurant, which despite it being in a hotel catering to westerners, made Thai Sookdee look like McDonald's. We packed and I almost forgot my plane tickets and traveller's cheques in the room but luckily they checked the rooms before we left and found them. (miracle of God)

Got to the airport and were told we had to pay an airport tax in cash which was crazy cuz most of us had spent all our baht. Went through passport stuff and found some postcards to mail. As we waited for our flight, the majority of the people were indian and they all stared. It was the beginning of a much larger trend that I still can't get out of my head as incredibly rude. As they stood in line and we sat on the floor they just stared and stared, even when you stare back (And this is true even now) they just keep staring at you incessantly. It's like they have no shame. Honestly I'm not that impressed with Indian culture, no offense to anyone who likes it. We arrived in Delhi and you could tell already this was a poorer country, the airport was falling apart. We met pam and mano, our assistant directors and made it to the bus, which initially seemed rather ghetto but ended up being the best vehicle on the indian roads sadly. We stayed the night in Delhi at a very nice hotel actually, wood panelled and a full breakfast buffet with fruit etc. It was good. Unfortunately I was very hungry by lunch and we stopped on the side of the road - our first truly local cuisine. It tasted amazing, though subsequently we were fed about the same 4 dishes every meal - a tandoor chicken, a green sauce, some kind of bean sauce, a red spicy dish and yogurt of some kind - always with naan and rice and water. After lunch my stomach began a two day long tumultuous churning that made me feel incredibly sick. The combination of foreign food, long travelling and a hot bus were factors of death for my poor american stomach. That night just made it even worse as we were fed more of the same and just as my stomach had calmed down the first new food riled it up again, threatening to explode. I rested and took some stuff and by the morning felt almost better again. That night after the first day of bus ride, we stayed in Pinjore at an old palace. Sounds cool right? yes except the rooms sucked. The place was as hot and humid as blazes, the air conditioners didn't work, toilets didn't flush, shower had no curtain and Indians stared at you. I was ready to quit. The next day we drove more and I was seriously questioning whether I could handle living here. Fortunately for me, we started to climb into hillier country and by 5pm we had driven up to Mcleod Ganj, the town on the hill above Dharamsala where everything Tibetan is. The last part was the steepest and at points it was a little scary. My sunglasses managed to break, I guess because they were hot and old. (oakley's no less) Now I've lost my nalgene, which is great. Anyway we are now staying at the Hotel Tibet, which is amazing compared to the last place. The town is cool, the rooms are fully furnished with furniture that isn't crappy and half-broken, the bathrooms are great and I've adopted Tibetan food with relish. After 4 meals of feeling incredibly sick, I was ready for anything different. I think I must have been born Tibetan in a previous life or something, because I have absolutely no problem with Tibetan food. it's great. the momo, or dumplings, are my staple, as is the lemon ginger honey tea and the tsampa, or barley porridge with banana and honey.

I have visited the monastery close by and spun the prayer wheels and watched the monks debate. One of our assignments was we were given a name in Tibetan and we had to ask people to learn about what it is and does. So we had to find it first and then get information. Mine and Slyvia's was the Central Tibetan Administration, Government-in-exile, which was cool. We found the department of information and international relations, so we got all kinds of info on it. It was great. Then we talked to a local tibetan today about life here. He said Tibetans like to listen to a lot of Hindi music and dating is a lot freer now than before. The mountains are beautiful though it is the end of the monsoon season, so the cloud cover is still quite thick, though there is is no rain which is good. The clouds also keep it cool which I appreciate very much after our bus ride of death.

We have several assignments due now, and we have to pick the place where we want to volunteer for 3-5 hrs a week. We meet our host family on saturday, which I'm looking forward to with trepidation and excitement. I'm just now going to send another set of postcards but seeing how far I had to travel to get here, they might take a while to get back. I have yet to try any butter tea though it is high on my priority list. I also want my host family to help outfit me with tibetan clothing. The tibetan women with their traditional dress are beautiful. It's so cool. I love it here, though I miss having close friends and family to talk to, since everyone on this trip has only known me for a week.

I can't believe it, only a week.