Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Stefanie's Travel Journal
Today was my last full day in McLeod Ganj. It was pretty mellow and gave me lots of time to think. Mostly I thought that I'm tired of India and looking forward to coming home.
I woke to the sounds of chanting monks again which was nice. I do like the location of my hotel. Its not a great hotel, the staff are surly, they don't clean the rooms (although they clean the lobby pretty much non-stop), the entire bathroom is the shower which causes a bit of a mess and the bed (which is hard as a rock but that doesn't bother me) and towels have a strange odor I'm trying not to figure out. But the view from my room is great and I'm a stones throw from the temple so I wake to chanting monks each day around 7am and I love it.
I went for my short run to the church again and then after I came back I decided to walk the kora around the Tsuglagkhang Monastery. It was a lovely walk and I saw great views of the Kanga Valley, mani stones laid out to Buddha and facing Tibet, a monument from the Tibetan Former Prisoner of War group, the home of the Dalai Lama, and additional monk residences and halls.
And I got hit on by a monk. I had read that this happened every now and then as there had been some problems with Western women trying to 'break' a monk or monks who really didn't want to be monks taking advantage of the location and all the tourists. But it was still very surprising and disturbing. I was walking the kora, focusing on the prayer wheels and listening to my iPod, absorbed in my own thoughts when I was beckoned by a young monk. I thought that maybe he wanted some help with English as this happened frequently in Tibet so I dutifully followed him into the building he was standing in front of. By the time I took my shoes off and walked in he was sitting on a mat on the floor and gestured me to sit next to him and so I did. Before I could think what was happenind he was sitting practically in my lap and asking me in broken English to massage his body. After we got the English cleared up and I stood and refused then he tried to get me to help him with English but by then I was outside putting my shoes back on.
I have heard that there are problems with the Tibetan community here. It is a refugee community after all. Marcus told me there is a problem with alcoholism amongst the refugees like there is with the Native Americans at home. And I've read that the community has had trouble maintaining its traditions in this new society and although it usually gets along with its host, there are occassional problems as many Indians feel the Tibetans get too much attention. But despite a few bad eggs (like my monk friend who obviously needs a few less lessons from Indian men and a few more from his temple) I'd gladly take Tibetans over Indians any day.
The Indian men have got to be the most cocky, rude, judegemental, and chauvanistic men I've encountered. I've been in a lot of countries now and I'm used to dealing with women doing more of the work or having less freedom than men or being considered dirty by religions or being considered sex symbols or getting whistled at or oggled. And I can handle all that. But Indian men have a unique ability to be rude and crass all at once without an ounce of concern or appreciation for women - they never move if they are in your way, they walk in front of you while you are taking a picture, they blatantly ignore you when you are waiting to ask a question or order and they also manage to look at you with a look of disdain as if they know that you are easy and dirty and worthless but they want to look at you or talk rudely to you and they can so they will. They talk rudely without inhibition and non-stop. I've taken to wearing my earphones everywhere so it looks like my iPod is on and that minimizes the comments a little. I haven't been victim to any groping yet but that's because I've been super careful and a bit lucky. But I heard that if you complain about any groping everyone will say 'well don't let it happen again then" to you! And I learned that the reason Indian women wear those pretty scarves all the time is to keep the men from looking at their breasts. Its not enough to wear clothing that covers you from head to toe, you need to wear extra clothes to hide your shape. And its not that I mind the looking. I could easily handle an Italian, Brazilian, or American man checking you out, its the added look of disdain and rude and scary way they look as if to say you are dirt and I could do what I wanted to you if I wanted and no authority would complain. Absolutely infuriating how rude they are when walking by you on the street. OK. enough of that topic.
After lunch I went for a walk to the town of Bhagsu which is only a few kilometers away. The town was uninteresting (but is probably a good option if you want a cheaper room than Mcleod Ganj since it is very close and an easy walk but without the name recognition) but I headed out to find the waterfall I'd heard of. The men and the flies along the walk were annoying (the flies are almost as annoying as the men here but not quite) but the walk was steep and nice. The waterfall and the surrounding area were nice but I've seen much more beautiful waterfalls in CA, Hawaii, or even recently around the Tibet/Nepal border. And the atmosphere at the waterfall was detracted from by the group of boys who wouldn't move for anyone else to take photos and acted like they owned the place. But I climbed off the path a bit and found a rock to sit on high above everyone else and had a great place to sit and watch the valley and think and listen to music undisturbed.
Well that was about it for my last day in McLeod Ganj. I walked all over town, mailed postcards, read my book and made my travel plans for tomorrow.
I will head out by taxi around 4pm for the three hour ride to Pathankot. My train doesn't leave until 11:55pm but the roads are not good so I want to be in Pathankot before dark. So I'll kill some time in Pathankot and then enjoy my overnight train to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. I'll arrive in Agra around 1pm on Friday. I plan to see the Taj right when it opens on Saturday morning because it is said to be best before anyone else is there. So I'l be up and at the gate at 6am!
I'll tell you all about it.
- comments