Yesterday was a bit grey - one of those slow days ... most businesses are closed here Monday and by 4:00 was pouring.

Undeterred, I decided to head out about 5:00 ... bought an umbrella for 60 rupees ($1.50) and went in search of the heart of Monday night. (Flicr photo) I stopped for Chai first (when in doubt drink Chai!) and headed for a hole in the wall place called the Sunrise cafe - which led to great conversations with some Korean girls, two Indian guys and a french man, including advice to go to Khana Nirvana Community Cafe on Temple Road for an open stage later on.

Then it was off to an Indian Restaurant that I've become fond of that serves a great veggie Thali - where I ended up in conversation with four monks. One of them, Thupten who had escaped to India from Tibet three years ago, suggested we go together to the Norbulinka Insitute tomorrow ... so I agreed to meet him in the square at 10:00 the next day ...

Full of Indian food i headed off to Khana Nirvana .. got the last seat in the place, right at the front, and started chatting wioth Sean and his Dad, Duke, seated next to me ... from Portage la Prairie! The evening was fantastic .. Traditional Tibetan music, Indian music, blues, Isreali songs ... and a more international and enjoyable evening would be hard to imagine!

So today it was off to the Norbulinka Instituteabout an hour away from McLeod Ganj on two busses. The Institute was set up by the Dalai Lama to help preserve Tibets artistic and cultural heritage. An amazing place - all kinds of workshops doing everything from Thanka paintings, sculpture, wood carving to weaving and doll making. After that it was off on another short bus ride to Gyuto Tantric University and it's large temple, the home of the Karmapa
The temple was closed, but Thupten found a yooung monk with the keys who let us in.

Then it was back to Dharmasala for a spot of lunch, a little shopping for domestic items for the apartment and home for a nap!

I finally got some pictures off my camera ... so I'll put them up tomorrow.