Day 78: Nov 21: Gorgeous, Glorious Day.

Today we woke up to an incredible scene. It was sunny, not a cloud in the sky, dry, and we had crystal clear views of mountains we hadn't come close to seeing yesterday. What a treat. We even had breakfast on the roof accompanied by a laaarge pot of delicious chai measly as we watched hawks float by again and again and gusts of wind blow snow off of the distant peaks. Too many details? We don't care. Its all true. Its even slightly chilly, just the way Alicia likes it. Oh why do we have to go back to Delhi tonight!?

We decided to spend the morning exploring a little more of the countryside. The answer was to hike to Dal Lake, which was small and 'sacred' yet very very brown. The incredible Himalayan landscape behind it more than made up for the filthy lake. We just don't understand why people are ok with destroying/polluting sacred environments (here, the Nile, the fort in Jaislamer...the list is extensive!).

Next we visited the Children's Village up and around the corner. It just so happened that the a democratic conference on future of Tibet had been called while we were there, and was being held in the village! His Holiness wasn't there, but it was cool to stumble upon such an important event. It's called the Children's Village because it's where Tibetan refugee kids are boarded and allowed to be educated about their own culture (and not the Chinese culture) as well as learn important traditions (such as weaving) which will eventually be a source of income for them.

We walked back down the hill, ended up accidentally taking a short cut that passed by a big old church in the middle of nowhere (aptly named St. John's of the Wilderness) built by the British with neat colored windows, and were soon in need of a snack to carry us over to an early dinner. We checked out of hotel and ate baked goods with yet another delicious pot of tea on the roof. Here we got our last glimpses of the tallest of the visible range beyond the foothills.

We still wanted to grab a couple things (mostly just Karla looking for a shawl and knitted booties for the cold train rides) before checking out the monastery down a heap of winding steps on the edge of town. It's the Tsechokling Gompa, a monastery built to replace the original gompa destroyed in the 1987 Chinese Cultural Revolution. The temple was amazing: colorful and vibrant. It was also incredibly peaceful there (not too surprising). We both thought about how nice it was for the monks to be there unbothered by the Chinese. They also had posted an interesting statement on a bulletin board that discussed the desired independence of the Tibetans not as their own country but as an autonomous state that allows cultural and spiritual freedom.

Linner consisted of momo soup (pasta wrapped around spinach in a vegetable noodle soup. Scrumptious!) We realized why the Tibetans are so good at making soup once we stepped outside into the freezing weather afterwards (Alicia thinks it was only mildly chilly).

We powerwalked back to the hotel to grab our stuff. Scott happened to be leaving on the same bus and so walked with us to find where it was parked.

The bus ride was miserable. Not quite as bad as our first overnight train in the AC, but up there in terribleness. It was extremely extremely cold and drafty (Alicia's window wouldn't even shut properly), the seats would shift, and the bus rattled so badly that we thought it was going to fall apart. It didn't help that the breaks were squeaky (and no shocks), we were going down hill for a good four hours, and the road was littered with pot holes. Despite all this, we arrived in Delhi on time (or only half an hour late) and in one piece.
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