Tibetan Monastery

The Kullu Valley has a sizeable Tibetan community. It is not uncommon to see monks cloaked in dark red robes walking the streets. The Himalayas are home to people of Hindu, Muslim, and Buddhist religions. Part of the joy of my trip has been to see how the people live in the valley. Therefore, I was very pleased to have the opportunity to visit a Tibetan Monastery and boarding school.

The gates to the monastery.

The boarding school was for boys and girls.

There were seperate dormitories for the Lamas or young boys in training to become monks.

To reach the temple you must first remove your shoes and walk up several stairs.

The temple is painted in an array of bright  colors. There are scenes painted on the exterior walls of the temple depicting nature and stories about Buddha. It was a real visual treat for the eyes.

I was so excited to see the mandala painting !

The inside of the temple inspired just as much awe as the exterior.

There was a large and colorful shrine devoted to Buddha at the back of the temple. The temple was very large and spacious and could accommodate many people who wished to pray.

It was a wonderful space to stop and take a moment of reflection.

Happy Halloween HDS!!!

I am sorry it has been a little while since my last post, but I had some internet difficulties and I was without reception (truly cut- off from the world).

In keeping with the theme of all things spooky here are some images from my trip that reminded me of my favorite holiday - HALLOWEEN!

The locals make these scarecrows and place them at the top of apple trees in the orchard to keep the blackbirds from eating all the apples.

I discovered this stick bug while I was counting leaves on an apple tree branch. It's part of the praying mantis family and eats other bugs. It was about three inches long.

These very large yellow and black spiders  were busy spinning webs between the apple trees in the orchards that we were working in. We had to take extra precaution that we didn't walk into their large webs, or even worse, have one of those spiders fall on our heads while we were counting leaves!

And last, but not least ... That big spider that visited my room twice! 

The pictures really don't do this spider justice. It was about 5 inches in diameter and the body was about 3 inches long by  2 inches wide. Amazing and totally freaky to have hanging out in my room.

I hope that everyone has a frightfully fun day and that the HDS students get lots of candy!

See you Monday,

Mrs. Yagar

Krishna Temple

Yesterday, we started our day with an early morning hike up into the mountains to see a Krishna Hindu temple. We met some four legged companions who helped guide the way up the steep hillside.

The moon was still high in the sky when we began our walk.

Signs of Autumn were in the apple orchards.

We had difficulty reading the signs and had to turn around and back-track to find the temple.

Our guide dog eventually led us to the temple doors.

The same family has been caring for this temple for centuries. When we arrived we  saw three generations of the family preparing the temple for the day.

The family lives right next to the temple and keeps it clean, and gives blessings to those who visit it.

The temple had two parts: 

A smaller wood and stone temple sat in the front:

There was a a planter for basil in front of the temple.

Behind it stood a much taller and older stone temple that dates back more than 5000 years to the time before the Mughals invaded India. The stone carvings depicted a more ancient form of Hinduism.

Stone carvings on temple:

Everyone in our group recieved a blessing to start our day!

Namaste

Tibetan Village

Yesterday, after a long hot day working in the field we took an amazing walk down to the banks of the Beas river. The river is large and cuts through the Kullu Valley. On the banks of the river is a Tibetan settlement. The Tibetan people fled the oppression of the Chinese government and took refuge in India. There settlement was established in 1972. The Dali Lama lived in a monastery about 2 1/2 hours away from the Kullu Valley.

The people were very friendly and stopped to take pictures with us. They even opened up there homes so that we could use their bathrooms!

Scenes from the Tibetan village:

Tibetan prayer flags are strung all around the village and blow gracefully in the wind.

Snoop Dog's song Young, Wild, and Free was blasting out this window.

Tibetan home

Tibetan villagers

There was also a wonderful Buddhist temple that sat at the entrance to the village. We watched elderly Tibetan women pray at the temple.

Tibetan Grafitti

Bees and Butterflies

Here is a sampling of some of the amazing pollinating insects that I have seen in the apple orchards: