Tibet or India? (Nov 9)

More exploring today.

After breakfast we just kind of wandered around. We haven't managed to located the Dalai Lama's residence yet but I'm sure, if he was home, there would be alot more pilgrims in town.

There are several temples in Dharmasala and there seems to be more Tibetans than Indians here. They have cooperatives set up for when refugees arrive from Tibet to give them a trade - I guess that's why there are so many shops selling Tibetan souvenirs. There are also a ton of monks walking about.

I really like it here.

We checked out a few different hotels in the area but we have decided to stay where we are. It's a bit more than we want to pay but it's clean and comfortable (it actually has chamber maids... you don't understand, this is the first we've seen) and a portion of the proceeds go to a trust to support Tibetan orphans.

We've also located a couple of yoga places and have decided to take a class today with Vijay at the Universal Yoga Centre. The room is a large, empty warehouse type place with cement floors. They put down tarps and mats to cut some of the chill from the floor and they have two space heaters going to warm the place up. Vijay has been practicing for over 35 years according to his pamphlet and he donates 35% of his profits to the Tibetan school. The class was fairly full - around 20 people. Since it is low season, not all of the studios are operating.
Vijay has 4 student teachers as well, demonstrating and adjusting. It was a 2 hour hatha class and it felt awesome!

At one point during class we were in supta padangustasana and I could hear Brad talking to someone. Vijay was standing over him asking him where we were from, where and what we generally practice, etc... Brad may even have taken yoga classes with one of his students the last time he was in India!

After class we were pretty hungry. We stopped at a place called the Chocolate Log (yes, that's really it's name). It didn't have regular meals, just desserts. We had a tea and a piece of cake to give us enough energy to climb back up to the main square.

We stopped in at the hotel for some warm clothes and decided on Nick's Italian Kitchen for dinner. Brad had pizza and I had the spinach and cheese ravioli. The pizza was really good and the ravioli seemed to be made with wonton wrappers but it was quite tasty.

The theatre down the road was playing What the Bleep Do We Know so we decided to go see it. It was only 30 rupees a ticket - best deal for a movie I've ever seen! We stood outside waiting to go into the movie talking to a guy from Washington state, a girl from the west coast of Canada, a girl from Calgary and a girl from somewhere in the southern US recounting our various travel tales.
The theatre was 10 or 11 rows of 2x2 bus seats bolted to the floor and a 52 inch big screen TV. Major home theatre! For those of you who haven't seen this particular movie, I highly recommend it. I will make you think but be careful.. it may give you a brain cramp!