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2003-07-02 / 07-04 - Leh (Day 78-80)

The morning of the 2nd I hear that the Dalai Lama was giving a four-day session of teachings and prayers at the Buddhist meditation center only 8km from Leh and this was his second day. As it was still early, I pack up and head off to see one of the great men of our age. Heading down the main road I'm routed off onto a dirt side road through the desert by the military who apparently had closed the main road. I had no idea where this road was going and as it went further and further out into the desert, I became quite concerned that I would miss what was already pretty fuzzy directions on how to get to the center. Whereas the road to Leh had been wonderful pavement, I was soon out into the deep dust which I'd ridden through on the way to Leh. With a car or two in front of me, it was soon a pretty dirty affair. However, apparently ALL the traffic on the main road was just assumed to be going to see the Dalai Lama as the road ended up leading directly into the rear of the meditation center which was packed with hundreds of busses. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't the thousands of colored umbrellas which filled a huge field I saw after parking and walking down to the center. It was clear that not only everyone from Leh but all of the surrounding villages had shown up for this event. The people were all very gaily dressed with the women and men in "Gonchas" with colorful head dress.

There was a section reserved for foreigners at the very front, but I decided to walk through the crowd as the faces and the setting was simply too interesting, and the lama was speaking in Tibetan anyway so not a lot for me to get out of the speeches. You can get a feel from the scene in the photos from the event.


On the 3rd, I wanted to get a look around Hemis monastery before the big festival beginning on the 9th fills it with onlookers. Setting off late with the hopes of missing the Dalai Lama traffic, I was clearly clueless on how long it would take for people to clear out as an hour after he was supposed to have finished, the busses still were packed with people clinging to the doors and safety ladders on the back as the busses were filled to double their capacity. I was still routed back through the desert and then into the traffic jam of people leaving. Finally making it back out to the main road I ran the first of several gauntlets of children with buckets of water dousing the people hanging on the busses and with their car windows open. As the sun was out and the weather warm, it was probably pretty pleasant for most though with the camera I wasn't as happy when I also got doused a couple of times.

Continuing on the way to Hemis, I shouldn't have been surprised to find the place completely deserted, not a soul in site. While the main gates were open, everything else was locked up - obviously all of the monks were down pressing the flesh with the Dalai Lama and no one was here. Wandering around this deserted building with a history going back over a thousand years all by myself was somewhat mystical in itself as was looking down from the top of the roof into the courtyard where I will spend the 9th and 10th which will probably be filled to capacity with people but now was empty with dust devils blowing through it.

As I was leaving, there happened to be one monk returning and he let me in to the main chambers so I did get my look around. One of the village boys flagged me down and I'm starting to get very used to the concept that if you have a spare seat, someone will hitch a ride and I shuttle him to the next town, past the several kilometer long walls of "mani" stones carved and flashing in the sun.

On the 4th I return to see the Dalai Lama and walk around the crowd and then riding up into the village of Soloo which was also completely deserted. Riding through the entire village I only saw one lone woman and a work crew of a few guys on the road - otherwise the whole place was a ghost town with all the villagers down seeing the lama.

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