Yesterday was a long day, we hiked roughly 13 miles from outside of Dehradun to the mountain village of Mussoorie, at around 6,000 feet. It was a beautiful hike, first following a prayer flag festooned river up, then winding through villages appearing out of the greenery, little children chasing after us, peeking through fences, their giggling giving them away. Mussoorie always seemed just around the next bend, as we climbed on, heading towards the distant dots on the horizon. Finally, we could clearly see white buildings jutting out of the steep hillside, or as Tashi put it, "hanging like a beehive" off the edge of the mountain. Arriving in Mussoorie we had a hasty snack on a balcony overlooking the vast valley we had just climbed, then piled onto a bus for a long windy ride down. The past week was spent outside of Dehradun, at the Songtsen Library and Center for Tibetan studies, learning the Ladakhi/Tibetan alphabet, and doing a short weeklong introduction to Buddism, all taught by the Drikung Kagyu monks of Songtsen. Songtsen is an amazing place to study, beautiful library housing vast scrolls and more modern Buddism books. Students all presented a short presentation on one of three topics: The Wheel of Life, The 8 Fold Path, and the 4 Noble Truths. Keep an eye on the Songtsen Library website, they were eager to post photographs of our group and our presentations on their website.
After an early morning (3am!) start, we caught the train from Dehradun to Delhi, and arrived around 11am this morning in Delhi. Students are checking internet and calling home now, and tomorrow we fly to Ladakh, our home for the rest of the semester. After the crush and crowds of Delhi, we're all looking forward to a little space in Ladakh!
-Amy
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