I am here. (not my picture-- dont have my cable with me.)
Apparently 50 years ago it was all fields surrounding this place-- now it is very urban.
There is supposed to be a relic of the historical Buddha here, and the structure itself has been in this place for at least 1000 years.
It is surrounded with cafes, dharma shops selling all sorts of goods, music stores, tourists, pilgrims, and monestaries trying to get you inside then extract a "donation."
I was walking around looking out towards the shops, and this little nun poked me on the shoulder then pointed towards the stupa. I took it as a little reminder.
It's a mixed bag-- without all the commercialism, its possible this place would not have upkeep--
Looking it towards the stupa, or looking out towards the shopping seems almost too symbolic.
I keep on dreaming that I'm back in America for two days and then I have to leave again.
I added some descriptions to pictures that were already there.
New ones to come soon.

Safe

Hello!
Im at Jamgon Kongtrul's Monestery in Nepal, completely safe, with five minutes on a very slow internet connection.
When we heard about the attacks, it felt about as distant as you did back in the US-- Lava was very unaffected.
The drive to the border was amazing-- tea plantations, palm trees, waterfalls, mountains-- beautiful. Oh yeah, and and so many monkeys. I still get such a kick out of that.
Crossing into Nepal was funny-- it was a bridge over a river with horse carts and bicycal rickshaws and people walking as well as cars just going back and forth. Our taxi driver actually drove us across because he didn't know we needed to register.
On the Indian side, a man hand wrote our info into a ledger book (not even a form) in a little concrete house with lizards on the wall.
We took a short flight to Kathmandou and we could see the entire Himalaya range, including Mt. Everest, from the window.
Anyone who has a sense of mystery and exoticism about "Kathmandou" should know that it's overpopulated, congested, and polluted. I'm still excited to explore, though.
The monastery is on a large hill, surrounded at the bottem my houses and farmland. Up here, though, there's a lot of space, and a lot of little monks running around.
One of the shrine rooms contains the stupa with the body on the previous Jamgon Kongtrul (you can't actually see the body though) and practicing meditation in there is very amazing.
This is my second day here and the first with internet access.
I'll try to upload some more pictures when I can find a faster connection.
Safe and sound (except a bit of uneasiness about being in a place where all I can really do is look at my mind . . .)
Sending love to home,
Harry

Message From Harry, Written by Ken Einhorn

Harry asked me to send the following message:  I am far away from the Terror attacks happening in Mumbai (about 2500 kms).  I am safe in Lava with the lamas and my travelling companions and we will pray for  those suffering from the attacks in Mumbai.  I will update my blog as soon as I'm near an internet connection.  

Harry will be travelling to Nepal on Friday--I spoke to him this morning and all is well.

Sitting in an internet gafe in Sikkim with a little more time.

I'll start back a few days ago.

Lava is a very cool place, and very high up in the mountains. The sights are beautiful here and in the places I will be mentioning below. Very mountainous, but also very green and lush. I feel lucky to be able to see this part of the world.

The first day at the monestary we met Jamgon Kongtrul, received a blessing, and teachings.

The next day was a buddhist holy day (based on the lunar calender), so the day was full of ceremony . First, there was the eye opening ceremony. This happens when the statues in a monestary have been completed, the last feature being the painting of the eyes. The statues are covered with a large cloth, and amidst chanting and horn blowing, the cloth is taken away to reveal the faces. It was very moving.

Then, there was a long-life blessing, which many people from the surrounding area visited as well.

After lunch, we got to see some monks right before they were shut in for their 3 year retreat, a very important time in the Kagyu tradition. It was touching.

After, there was a dinner hosted by Jamgon Kongtrul. There is kind of a celebrety vibe going on around him, especially with a few pilgrims from Hong Kong taking TONS of pictures. It makes me a little uncomfortable to take my own. But, as another travellor put it, that's the way they approach this, just as I have my own.

After another day of teaching, we went down into Kalingpong, a larger city on the side of a mountain that used to be a major stop on the trade route between India and Tibet, to see Jamgon Kongtrul's social projects. We saw an impeccably clean school for lower-caste and underprivilaged children, an eye hospital, and a combination old-age home/orphanage. Without going into too much detail, the mood of these places was uplifted, positive, and refreshing. They seemed very blessed, and the people seemed very happy. I was touched.

The next day was teachings in the morning, and then off to Sikkim with a couble from Alberta and my German friend, Dirk. We arrived in Gangtok, a surprizingly affluent, well organized, friendly, and clean place. This area is very progressive, with signs about organic growing and environmental awareness everywhere. We slep and visited Rumtek, which was both spiritually moving a depressing. It was a bit touristy and a bit run down. I felt the absense of the Karmapa (the head of the Kagyu school). However, I got to practice in the room where the 16th Karmapa's (the previous incarnation, the one who first left tibet and built Rumtek) ashes are held. It was very powerful, especially when the group of Italian tourists left and another group of the same pilgrims from China entered and started throwing themselves on the floor in prostration.

On our was out, we had the good luck of running into a very young lama who was meeting the people from china. Since we knew them, they invited us to come along. I'll describe this more in the pictures.

After lunch, we went to another Monestery, Lingdum, which was very new and very well kept. THis was especially exciting because it is a branch of the Tibetan monestery complex which housed Trungpa Rinpoche, my parents root teacher and through them, my own. It was very cool to see his and his son's picture all the way over here.

After we returned, I went out to look for some comics to get Jamgon Kongtrul for his birthday (I wound up buying him 2 tintin books) and I ran into Bardor Tulku and his wife, a Lama and his wife I was supposed to meet in Delhi! I just ran into them! Of course I was more excited to see them then they were to see me, but then again, that's a sign of their job.

That evening, we had tea with another Lama, Ringu tulku. It was very friendly and comfortable, and I didn't feel as nervous as I usuall do when meeting a teacher.

Today is free. I'm planning on going to a Hindi play being put on at a Drama festival in town, and exploring a bit. I might not get a chance to update for a while, as tomorrow it's back to Lava after watching a Mahakala Dance at rumtek, then a flight to Kathmandu to spend some time at Jamgon Kongtrul's main monestary, Pullarhari, and exploring Nepal.

If you've made it this far, a small request.

If you can, take a moment and think,

"For the good of all being, may the Karmapa travel freely and take his seat at Rumtek"

Feeling far away-- comment if you can I like reading them!

Signing off with love.

Quick post

Hello friends!
Oh boy have I seen some things.
I've spent the last few days in Lava, a mountain town with a very interesting mix of Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, and Christian, as well as ethnically Tibetan, Nepali, Indian, and I'm sure other religions.
The program at the monestery has been very busy and amazing. The young Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche is definately not an ordinary 13 year old, whether you believe in reincarnation or not.
Right now I'm in Sikkim, a very wealthy annexed state that you need permission to get into. It is very clean. Tomorrow we are visiting HH Karmapa's monestery, Rumtek, which the present incarnation has yes to receive permission to enter.
Sorry this is rushed, the cafe is closing in about 10 minutes. A more detailed update and pictures will be coming soon.
I've been thinking of friends a lot and wishing I could share these experiences--riding narrow raods through the mountain jungle, taking the train past thach roof villiages, seeing the "eye opening" ceremony at the monestery... I'm on the other side of the world and friends and family are in my thoughts.
More to come soon,
Signing off with love,
Harry

Last Day, Lodi Gardens

India pictures 004, originally uploaded by h.einhorn.

I feel better now after I ate some tasty sweet and sour chicken. It's possibly that I've been too careful with my food, and haven't been eating enough. Wouldn't you know it.
Caught an auto to the Lodi Gardens in Central Delhi-- a very nice area-- seems to be very wealthy.
Of coarse the ride over was a harrowing ordeal , but that's kind of expected by now.
I was trying to take it easy, do some reading and get some peace and quiet, instead the above happened.
The Mughals sure liked their tombs.
See more pictures here.

I catch a train to the mountains at 6:40 AM tomorrow.

I will miss the exitement but not the constant haggling, ignoring beggars, and telling people "no thanks"

Namaste.

India pictures 026

India pictures 026, originally uploaded by h.einhorn.

Yay I figured out how to post pictures!

Lunch and a tomb

This morning I woke up with big plans to go to the National Museum.
I ate breakfast and upon standing up, began to feel very queasy. I had to go back up to my room and lie down. It's about two hours later. I'm pretty sure this is standard-- I don't feel sick in my bones, but today I'm taking it easy.
Yesterday, I had lunch with Akram Khan, a tabla player, and his family. It was wonderful. I saw a part of Delhi that tourists do not go to and I got to spend some time with his four young kids-- three girls and a boy, talking about movies and cartoons. They go to an English school so conversation was easy. I almost feel embarassed that so many people here know English and I barely know any Hindi.
The food was delicious-- Mutton, rice, chickpeas, bread. Yum.
They are a muslim family, but I found it very interesting that they also talked about Hindu gods and mythology with much respect and reverance-- I'd love to learn more about the mix of these two religions here. One of the little girls asked me what the the symbols of Buddhism were, and I said I don't know, there are a lot. After that, she piped in and told me "A wheel and a lotus!" Owned.
When I come back to Delhi, we're going to plan a day of sight seeing with Akram's wife and kids. I'm looking forward to it.
I had a little trouble getting a cab back to my place, which is always harrowing since I'm used to five or six men jostling to give me a ride.

Later, I went to Humayan's Tomb (thanks for the tip, MZ!)-- a large tomb complex for Mughal leaders. I'll put a link to pictures at the end of this post.
It was incredibly beautiful. Breathtaking. And it made me lonely. I found myself narrating what I would write about it on my blog and taking a lot of pictures as I was there. Seeing beautiful things with someone else allows you validate the experience-- to turn to someone else and say, yes, this is amazing, and yes, we are here. Seeing it alone, I missed having someone to bounce ideas and reactions off of.
I tried to not take so many pictures and narrate my blog in my head, but it was difficult.
I wondered as I was there if that was connected somewhat to those Mughal rulers building their giant tombs-- to awknowledge that yes, we were here, and we know beauty. So others can see.

Tomorrow I take a 26 hour train ride north to the monestary in Lava, West Bengal where I'll be attending a program for eight days. I'm not sure what my access to the internet will be like, but I'm reasonably sure it will be more spotty so this might be my last post for a little bit.

The internet has been very comforting. The cafe is pleasantly neutral and I can look at the huffington post and talk to people on gchat. I will miss it.

More pictures here.
They continue to the next page.

Some additional thoughts--
There's a group of young students here at the end of their gap-year India trip. They are very sweet, and seem very young. It really makes me appreciate doing this trip at this point in my life after working for it for a while.
People often ask me where I'm from. I say the US. A lot of the time the conversation doesn't progress due to language barriar, and I say "Obama!" and there's this exchange of joy. Everyone here knows who he is and respect him. It's very heartening, like the feeling of hope of him being elected has spread throughout the world.
The recent news story is that Obama called Pakistan before India, but he finally talked to the prime minister for ten minutes. No international crisis.

More pictures

New pics posted on Flickr.
Check them out here.
About to eat some lunch with musician friends of ours. Should be nice to sit down and relax with some friendly faces.

ok-- this seems to be the quickest option for seeing pics--
this is only half so far--
a link to my new flickr site---
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32394658@N04/
Click here

Ahhhhhhhhhhh

New Delhi is very intense. My boogers are black.
I saw a Monkey and an Elephant today!
And I got scammed. Don't want to go into the details, but i will say my ears are clean, my shoes are treated, and some poor guy (is he really poor?) Has relatively a lot of money now.
It was an expensive lesson, but lesson learnt.
It's hard because I don't want to be paranoid, but I've come to realize if people come up to you, which is a lot, most of they time they want your money.
My ears are really clean though.
And I saw a movie-- it was very pretty.
Still trying to figure out how to post pictures.
Oh yeah-- I also saw the most giantest sundial ever.
And a hindu temple / storytime playland. Seriously. Like, little kids running through fake caves and slides with gods all over the place with a huge terra cotta and marble temple looming in the background.
A word popped into my head to describe this place-- cockamamy.
Looking forward to the clean mountain air.

Lepors, stray dogs, and smog. New Delhi-- Day 1

It's 9:30 in the morning, my second day here.

New Delhi Airport looks like any other airport-- very clean and reasonably orderly.

I started to know something was very different when I walked out the gate and there were crowds of people trying to get my attention for a taxi. The guesthouse I was staying at arrnaged for a pickup, so I found the young man wearing a hot pink jacket and holding up my name and out we went.

It's dark (I left I night and India is 10 1/2 hours ahead, so I missed a whole day!), but I can still see the smog. A stray dog runs out from a pile of motorcycles as we're trudging to the taxi. We try to talk, but I can't understand him, so we just smile and nod.

I get into the front seat and we jerk onto the street.

THERE ARE NO TRAFFIC LAWS HERE. It is crazy. People swerving in and out, honking, gesturing with their hands-- my taxi shares the road with bicaclists, motorcycles, large cars holding tons of people, auto-rickshaws, and cow drawn carriages. Yes. Cow drawn. Whenever we stop, bicycles, cars, vehicles of all kinds pile into every empty corner. I aam amazed there is no accident. Harrowing, but thrilling.

I get to my guest house-- I'm staying in Manju-ka-tilla, where many Tibetain refugees live. It's right next to the highway. The streets are narrow-- to cars here. The enterence is down an alley, I walk in, check in, and go to sleep.

Next morning (yesterday)-- there's a really good restaurant, so I eat breakfast with a buddhist scholar from the Netherlands who is here for a conference. It's the end of his trip. He tells me he doesn't care for Delhi-- too much pollution, it makes him dizzy. As he says this a wave of dizzyness passes over me.

I finish and decide to go outside. The first thing I see are two teenage boys waving their miss-shaped limps in my face saying "friend? friend?" I walk down the street- crowded and noisy. Stray dogs. More-- are they lepors?-- it's hot, smoggy, and noisy. Moks and lamas share the streets with vendors and beggars. I'm out for a half hour and I go back to my room to cry for ten minutes. I call our Indian friends, Purbayan and Jaya, who live in Kolkata, and whom I'll be meeting up with later, and they make me feel better. I pull myself together, go back out and get a taxi from a long line of people trying to get my fare, and ask him to take me to the Red Fort.

The drive is as harrowing as the last time. The Red Fort is a sprawling palace complex built by the last Mughal emmperor-- the grounds are huge, with many marble buildings, dried up fountains, crumbling walkways, chipmunks, parrots, and crows. The crowd is mostly Indian, some western travellors. I get a lot of stares, being alone. Several times, young men asked me to sit by them-- they say a few words to me in English and then just laugh.

On my way out of a museum, a young man is sitting with a large group of people. He says hi, and introduces me to his entire family. Inexplicably, he wants to take a picture with my camera. Alright-- snap-- several shots later, he says goodbye and walks away.

I'm hungry for companionship so I shimmy up to a western guy who looks like he's alone. He is, so we decide to go off to the mosque across the street.

We wander into the bazzaar-- it's everything you would expect and also completely unexpected. Crowded narrow streets-- scooters careening through honking at pedestrians. The streets are lined with store fronts-- really mre holes in the wall-- first they are all selling fireworks, then they all seem to sell sari materials. I saw another cow (score!). Finally, we make is to the mosque. It is huge and impressive. We have to take our shoes off and pay an extra fee to bring our cameras. It looks like a red version of the taj mahal. People still pray here, so it is closed in the evenings. After taking it in, it's back to the packed alleys of old delhi. After getting slightly lost, we emerge on the other side at the train station. Me and my friend part ways-- he needs to find the metro (which is apparently surprizingly clean?), so I find a cop and ask him the best place to hail a cab. He smiles, tells me he's eating, then gestures for me to sit outside. OK..I sit and wait, then just hail a rickshaw to take me back.

Another harrowing drive back. I have to take an overpass to get across the street, and there are about five or six beggars with scales (??). I'm back in Manju-ka-tilla, but in a different area. I seem to have stubled upon a group of small temples. I step inside one and there's a monk chanting. I find my way back to my guesthouse. It's 3:30. I lie down and don't get up (except to buy some bottled water-- no drinking from the tap here) till 4AM the next day. It's 9:30 now. I'm about to venture to Connaught Circus-- a central part of Delhi with..shopping? I'm acutally not sure.

This is a bit rushed, I know, but I want to get it down so I can remember as well. I'll start posting pictures once I figure out how.

Much love to the US.

--Harry