Tuesday, 30 July 2013

Day 4 – Seeing his Holiness the Dalai Lama



Today has been extremely busy! We set out (quite) early this morning to walk into town to join the hundreds of locals who had gathered to witness the arrival of the Dalai Lama into Leh. We had hoped to present him with the contingent necker as it is customary to give scarves, but unfortunately he drove past with his window up. A local policeman recommended that we go to the SPP station, where we might be able to find someone to pass it on for us. We decided to go after lunch, and made our way back to the hostel for a bit of a rest after all the excitement of the morning.
When we returned to the SPP we spoke to another policeman. He suggested the best thing to do would be to deliver the necker ourselves, to his house in Leh. We were really surprised and very excited at the prospect of visiting the Dalai Lamas house, so we wrote a letter and put together a gift including our continent necker and badge, and a box of Yorkshire Tea. We also included a postcard in a stamped addressed envelope for him to return to us! We’ll let you know how successful we are in delivering the gift later.
This afternoon we had the chance to have a look around Leh and visit a few shops (what else?), where we discovered that James W is a keen shopper and barterer. Dave C however needs some practice! After a short stop back at the hostel, we set out for our first walk of the trip, up to the Stupa: a shrine at the top of a hill with gorgeous views out over Leh and surrounded by mountains.
We made it back for dinner and our Lake Louise test. We’ve had a few more poorlies but we suspect it might be due to the sun rather than altitude or the food. Hats and suncream religiously from now on! We do seem to be acclimatising quite well in general though, hopefully we’ll all be fit and ready for the trek on Thursday.
Time for bed now,
Lots of love,
Sarah and Emily xxx

p.s. Sarah says “Hi everyone at home, having lots of fun and staying safe. Missing you. Couldn’t find a simcard hence why I haven’t contacted but you should have been looking at the blog anyway so that doesn’t  matter! See you all soon. Lots of love xxx”
p.p.s Emily says “Hello! I am having such a good time and love India so much! Thinking of you all, hope you’re all well. Love xx”

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