His Holiness Finds Us

Our train arrives at 3am, on schedule. It's cold and dark but we are now with three others. We hang out and wait till 4 for our bus to arrive. We met a nice girl from France, Crystal, who now lives in the Cape. She's cool and tough so I feel comfortable being here. There are others too drinking chai from the all night cafe. The taxi drivers tell us there is no bus coming here, that we must go directly to the bus station. We think they are lying so wait till 4:30. When the bus doesn't arrive we decide to grab a car instead. It's faster and we can be alone. The ride is three hours long up into the mountains. Are driver is good but that doesn't make the road any smoother. Our heads are swinging back and forth and it lulls us into a temporary sleep deprived coma. The other two girls fall asleep. I try but am too uncomfortable. I'm a lght sleeper as it is and being tossed about makes it impossible. We arrive in Dharmsala around 8am. Most everything is closed but there are still many people up and about. We stay by the luggage while Crystal, who has been here before, scopes out the housing situation. Most places are full because of the talk by the Dali Lama. We came a day early to avoid this. We find a decent room for a good price with an amazing view of the Himalayans. We have a nice breakfast at the Green Hotel where everything is organic and good. We have eggs to get some energy and check out the town. We hear from a girl on the street that the Dali Lama is giving a talk today at noon. When we arrive at the main temple we can hear him talking over the loud speakers in the street. (video to come) We make our way in, camera in tow. As we approach the guards he stops me and says there are no camera allowed. We are searched after leaving one person outside with all of our cameras so there is no way we could have made it through even if it was hidden. We make it to the staairway where it is super crowded with people crunched in to catch a glimpse of His Holiness. What good karma we must have to be here. We can here him talking but can't see him yet. People laugh at his jokes and so do we even though we can't understand a word of the tibetan. He begins to lead a beautiful chant and all og the tibetans around us follow. We put our hands in prayer and close our eyes. I can feel the energy all around me, penetrating my heart. A little while later several guards clear the path down the stairs and slowly down the he comes. There are many tibetan monks all around him but you always know it's him by his glasses. He is smiling as always and stops to shake hands with people sitting on the floor in the front row. He walks right in front of us by the stairs about ten feet away. When he looks our way we wave. He smiles and looks away.When we leave the streets are filled with thousands of people. Everyone is so happy and friendly here. I think he has a powerful effect on most, even if they don't realize it at first. This is truly a blessing. Namaste~