What a relief!

At the moment I'm in the house of Tibetan refugee Pasang Dorjee in Dharamsala, India which is in the foot hills of the Himalayas.  We arrived in this town yesterday evening . ..and what a relief!  It is really gorgeous here and the air is so much more clean and crisp compared to where we have been so far in India.  It's quieter and so much more peaceful. . .it's so nice to be in a place with so much more vegetation. ..surrounded by beautiful nature which I have been craving prior to coming here.  Here is a view from our hotel balcony:

Prior to coming here we spent a couple days in Ludhiana where the textile merchants have a big market.  Anahata did some buying for her shawl business which helps to support Pasang's family.  We went through hundreds of beautiful samples of stoles and shawls.  It was fun and also somewhat overwhelming!

While we are here in Dharamsala we are making sure that everything is set for this portion of the pilgrimage.  Pilgrims start arriving Monday and the pilgrimage officially starts on Wed.  So Anahata and I along with Pasang make our 11 hour journey back to Delhi tomorrow!