[With a New Traveller - India]

20th June: After 1 hour of drearily waiting to clear immigration in New Deli international airport a lady prods me to look up- and to my surprise Shael is already waiting for me behind the clearance desks. With big smiles and minutes later big hugs we meet again after so many months of planning and then waiting. ;-)

We ended up staying 1 extra night in Deli as it was not as unbearable as we had expected, so we did a little sight seeing of the Red Fort. We were lucky we were told, as a week before the temperature was the highest ever on record, reaching a scorching 49 degrees. I cant imagine how insane the city must have been then..

A bumpy, jaw jolting, bum bouncing 12 hour bus ride to Dharmasala, as the air-conditioned Volvo bus (which is just a bus you would expect in the west) was full, which meant we had to catch a 'super deluxe bus' which is anything like the name suggests..

As my previous experience in Dharmasala, it was very easy for us to settle here. Enjoying the nature, the circling eagles, the mist crawling over the mountains and the fresh breezes originating from the mountain peak backdrops. Monsoon has also very much started and does it rain here!…spectacular lightning and thunderclaps with solid earth smacking rain drops. The sun doesnt get to shine directly through much either but when it does, pow, the Indian sun reminds me that it is indeed the middle of summer.

Speaking of nature...I woke up once in the middle of the night to goto the toilet. Just as I had lifted my head from the bed I saw what must have been either a huge domestic cat or a snow leopard of sort stretched out over our kitchen bench, checking out what we had in the way of food. Just as my brain started to appreciate what it was seeing while the silent words of "what the fook..." were being formed, the beast silently, stealthily disappeared back out of our open balcony door. It had such a dark strong body with yellow piercing eyes that met mine...it seemed such a brief yet magical moment. (Since then we having been leaving out a token bowl of milk for our feline friend but till now we havent seen it since :)

On the 7th of July the Dalai Lama gave a free one week teachings on Buddhism. I must say it was really difficult to follow. Tibetan monks have a tendency to take 5 minutes to describe a point us westerners would do in one sentence. So yeah, it was rather dry and a bit dull for me. But when I was in Tibet and in the Dalai Lamas old bedroom in Lhasa, I felt so strongly drawn to see him then- so really I just came to be in his presence. Regardless of the mood I might have been in, every time I saw him walk past with his good humoured smile I couldnt help but smile in my heart and on my face along with him.

It has been a comfortable 3 and a bit weeks here now, enough time for Shael to settle in India and with each other. Feels like we are ready to travel and face, (or is that explore?) some real India now...

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