Delhi-Leh GoAir G8-193 flight on 12th Dec - fantastic views

Fantastic views during the Delhi-Leh G8-193 GoAir flight by AirBus A320 on Dec the 12th. Another beautiful flight on this route for me! It was cloudy most of the way above the Himalayas with occasional views of snowy peaks. Finally it got relatively clear above Ladakh. Superb vistas: Tso Kar lake, Rupshu, Moray Plains, a section of the Manali-Leh road, boundless mountains of Ladakh. The Indus Valley, Matho village with its monastery and Stok village with the palace. Leh and the runway of the airport.
Having the two flights to Lukla behind me this year and a few flight to Leh, I must admit, that landing in Leh is not much less (if at all) exiting than landing at the famous Lukla. And the views are marvellous! Quite better than during the Lukla flight, for me.

 

Portraits of the Tibetan protesters in Dharamsala (again)

I went for the Big Kora in Dharamsala the other day again and stopped in front of the touching board of striking portraits of the self-immolation Tibetan protesters (see my earlier post too). Some of them were just 16 years old!!!

 

Photos by R.Kucharski taken Dec the 8th, 2014 in Dharamsala, India.

Big kora in Dharamsala

     Kora means 'circumambulation' in the Tibetan language. Kora is one of the main practices in Tibetan Buddhism performed daily by many. The ritual is performed by going around a place considered sacred or holy. It might be a small chorten (stupa) in the fields near to a village, a bigger stupa containing important Buddhist relics (like Sanchi Stupa, Bodnath Stupa in Kathmandu or Stupa in Sarnath), Mount Kailash in Tibet, Potala Palace in Lhasa or - finally - the Dalai Lama's house in exile in McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala, India.
 
There is the big kora and small kora in McLeod Ganj. If you go for a small one, you just go around temples at Namgyal Monastery (Tsuglagkhang and Kalachakra Temples) - so called Dalai Lama's Temple. If you go for the big kora, it means you walk around the hill with the Dalai Lama's residence atop. It is a beautiful 20-40 minutes walk across a kind of park or a forest with hundreds of prayer flags and dozens of prayer wheels. There always are some practitioners doing kora too.

 

 

There is a statue on the way. It used to be one man's statue in 2004 when I was there for the first time. His name was Thubten Ngodub. In 1998 he set himself on fire in Delhi protesting the police trying to stop the Tibetan hunger strike against Chinese rule in Tibet. He died a few days later in the hospital.
 
There is another man's statue on the monument today too. A 27 years old Jamphel Yeshi self-immolated on 26th March 2012 in central Delhi to protest the Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to India.

 

 

There is also a board which you pass on the way doing the big Kora. There are 120 portraits of mainly young Tibetans who self-immolated in the protest in recent years. In the few recent years this desperate protests intensified and they still go on!

 

 

It's quite impossible to fully comprehend or imagine the level of despair of the people protesting in this way. Easy to imagine there are tragic reasons behind that.

* * * * *
 

   I can't forget one of my clients who was with me on a trip to India. We started in Delhi, went to Amritsar and then arrived at McLeod Ganj. That was autumn of 2012, the self-immolation protests going on for a few months already. There was a striking banner with portraits of self-immolated martyrs. We were standing in front of it and I was saying some basics about the recent history of Tibet and the ongoing protests. And then one lady from my group commented saying something like: "If someone is insane then does things like that".

 

* * * * *
 

   There is another story too. It was a freezing evening in Warsaw of winter 2012/2013. Tibetns living in Poland organized a protest to commemorate the self-immolated Tibetans near to Kolumna Zygmunta in central Warsaw. Khalsang - one of the Tibetans - had a speech and I was handing out leaflets prepared by the Tibetans. One of the passers-by asked me what was that.
- "Information about current events in Tibet" - I said.
- "And what happens there?" - she asked.
- "People are being murdered there," - I answered.
- "Our people?" - she asked making me puzzled.
- "Tibetans," - I said and added something like: - "Tibetans are being oppressed and murdered by the authorities there."
- "OK then," - she said something like that handing me the leaflet back. - "Then I'm not interested. Cause, you know," - she added - "our people, the Catholics, they are being killed everywhere..."
That day the protesters marched to the Chinese Embassy in Warsaw. They set coffin-like boxes with images of the martyrs in front of the Embassy building and lit candles.

* * * * *
 

Tibetans say you should say or think "may all sentient beings be happy, may all sentient beings avoid suffering". And many Tibetans and other Buddhist practitioners do so while performing kora.

* * * * *
 

See also:

• "Tibetan self-immolation activist in India dies", BBC News India, 28/03/2012
• "Tibetan Protester Jamphel Yeshi Dies After Setting Himself On Fire In India", The Huffington Post, 28/03/2012 (Caution: this article contains very disturbing pictures showing Jamphel Yeshi running in flames!)
• "List of political self-immolations" at Wikipedia.org - striking increase in 2010s!
• "1998 Tibetan Self Immolation by Thupten Ngodup to Expose China's Brutality in Tibet", a video at youtube.com - striking images!
• "Funeral of Tibetan suicide protester", BBC News, 1/05/1998
• "Tibet, Tibet: A Personal History Of A Lost Land", HarperCollins, 2003 - fantastic book about Tibet by Patrick French, which includes story of Thupten Ngodup (The Polish language edition of this book is available.)
• My 2004/2005 photos of the Kora in Dharamsala

Back in McLeod Ganj

Arrived on Monday. Will stay here about 10 days.

Never stop sightseeing India - Delhi

Short time in Delhi this time. A nice day spent on visiting and talking about known but still full of things to discover places. Humayun's Tomb and sites around it and Nizamuddin Dargah. For my photos of various places of India check Indian gallery at my website.
 

Humayun's Tomb in Delhi. 2014.11.30 15:40 IST

Beware of Touts

My favourite information board in India! New Delhi Station (NDLS). This board is a kind of legend for me! See my old post on the topic at my website. 2014.11.30 12:28 IST

Back in Delhi

Teashop at Paharganj in Delhi. 2014.11.29 23:45 IST

Khala Patar and Gokyo Ri Everst trek

I was lucky to lead another trekking trip to Everest area in November. It was organized by Klub Podróży Horyzonty and it was full Everest trek this time with visits to the famous viewpoint Kala Pathar and Gokyo Ri. There are is a selection of photos below. Fore more visit my website. Some photos are also available at my FaceBook page.
 

Dhaulagiri (8167m) as seen from Boeing 373-800 aircraft on the SpiceJet SG-41 DEL-KTM flight.

Kathmandu-Lukla flight on board of Goma Air LET L410 aircraft. Nepal.

Kusum Kangaru (6367m) as seen from the way between Lukla and Pheriche. Solukhumbu, Nepal.

Thamserku (6608m). Sagarmatha National Park, Nepal.

Kongde Ri. Solukhumbu

Kongde Ri. Solukhumbu, Nepal.

The Imja Khola Valley. Shomare settlement at the bottom and the ridge of Nuptse with the top of Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) as well Lhotse high above the valley.

Chorten dedicated to the Heroes of Lhotse ("Kukuczka Chorten"). Lhotse South Face. Solukhumbu, Nepal.

Makalu at Sunset. Solukhumbu, Nepal.

Lhotse - a sunset view from Dingboche.

Dingboche - a view down the valley just after sunset. Solukhumbu.

On the way to Lobuche. Sagarmatha National Park, Nepal.

Nuptse (7861m) at sunset as seen from Lobuche.

Pumo Ri (7165m) and Kala Pathar (5550m). Solukhumbu, Nepal.

The Khumbu Glacier.

Everest seen from the way to Kala Pathar. Solukhumbu, Nepal.

Kangtenga seen from the Dhud Koshi valley. Sagarmatha National Park, Solukhumbu.

Kangtenga and Thamserku peaks with Phortse village below - view from the Dhud Koshi valley.

Cholatse (6440m) and Taboche (6367m) peaks. Sagarmatha National Park.

Gokyo. Sagarmatha National Park, Solukhumbu.

Sagarmatha (Mount Everest / Chomolungma) and Lhotse as seen at dawn from Gokyo Ri.

The runway of Syangboche Airport (IATA: SYH). Altitude 3780 m , length: 400m. Near to Khumjung and Namche Bazar, Sagarmatha National Park, Solukhumbu, Nepal.

Sita Air aircraft ready to take off. The runway of Lukla Airport.

Potter's Square. Bhaktapur, Nepal.