Food and questions

So I've had a lot ofquestions about food. So far we have mostly had Indian food, so I'll share a bit about that for now. For breakfast we usually just have fruit, usually bananas because they are very sweet, and they have them still on the stalks, they just rip them off right there when you buy them; but we also have oranges and pomegranates sometimes too. Grapes, apples, etc are around, but we are discouraged from eating them because they were probably washed with the water, which would thus give us the bacteria anyway. We were given a piece of guava from our train mates yesterday too. Fresh guava is great! So we eat things with a peel. Sometimes we get rolls at the bakery, or eat biscuits (kind of like cookies, the only similar thing I can think of are they are kidn of like graham crackers?). We’ve had eggs and this bread thing, kind of like a pancake only way greasy- hence we only had it once, too much for our stomachs. So that’s breakfast.

For lunch and dinner we usually have similar things. In Indian restaurants we eat rice or various breads (paraotta, roti, nan, etc- parota is my favorite) with the different gravies, which are just like things from the Bombay House. They all have different things in them, such as potatoes, cauliflower, peas, carrots, spinach, meats (which we try to stay away from because meats often aren’t cooked well enough), coconut, and other similar things. My favorite so far was this coconut (kurma here) dish- it was wonderful! Some are great, some WAY too spicy (even when we ask for no spice, its still way hot). Tibetan food though, is a lot like Chinese food- lots of fried rices and chow mein type dishes. My favorite thing is the momos- Kind of like a pasta type shell thing with either meat or vegs in them (Tibetans love beef- so that’s usually what they make). They are wonderful! I’m going to try to learn how to make them I think… That is something I would really miss. We filter our water and drink that- never drinking water from anything but our bottles or bottles we buy. Filtering water makes it safe, but doesn't help the taste. We drink usually a soda a day too- because its one of the only cold things we drink ever. They also have these drinks called lassi- a milk/curd type drink. It is sweet and actually really good. For the malaria pills everyone else is drinking they have to eat curd every day, so we usually get those b/c they are WAY better than curd by itself (which they often eat with rice- and unless you add sugar, the curd really isn’t that enjoyable… at least not to our mouths). They actually do have chocolate, although it is different. Actually, sodas are slightly different too. They are the same "brands" but they must be slightly different mixtures because they do taste different. But we all love the munch bars- which are a lot like kit kats, just not quite as good of chocolate. But they def hit the spot. And many of the baked goods are pretty good too. One cookie thing tastes a lot like a lemon cookie from the states.

So there is food for you. Also I've been asked questions about Tibet. I'll give brief answers fior now. The situation is so complex from all angles... so bare with me here. Did Tibet start out as part of China? Well that depends on who you talk to. As a historian we always joke about how history is only the story of the winners- the losers' stories are usually destroyed or tainted by the victor. With the current China/Tibet situation there is no winner yet, hence the "history" is not completely decided yet. Culturally, religiously, and by language, the Tibetans were their own people before Mao came to power. He went into Tibet and claimed it as part of the "old CHina" that he was trying to restore right after taking over in 1949. He made an agreement with the Dalai Lama (who was a child then, and is still the cuurent Dalai Lama), called the seventeen point agreement (I'm sure you can look this up on wikipedia, though I haven't tried). IN it he claimed Tibet would stay religiously free and be autonomous essential. But in 1959 things were bad enough that the Dalia Lama and tens of thousands of Tibetans fled for their lives. They fled to India, and since then have been in various settlements INdia set up for them here. We were in Bylakuppe in the south and now will be in Dharamasala, the capitol of the Tibetan government in exile. So in the end, CHina claims Tibet has always been a part of China and Tibet says no we have not.

As for the Dalai Lama, he is only important to Tibetan Buddhism. Buddhism has so many different sects... which at the end of this trip we are visiting Bodh Gaya (sp?), where all the major sects are. ONce there I will share some of the differences. But the Dalai Lama is only big in Tibetan Buddhism, at least a sfar as I understand right now. But he is an amazing man! HE's doing all kinds of things and is huge all over the world.

Sorry all of this is scatter-brained and not completely helpful. At the end of this I will have a big paper to write... and then I'll be able to answer all of your questions completely accurately :) THanks for reading guys and thanks for the questions! Keep firing away!