Clement Town

On the southern end of Dehradun, is a Tibetan colony called Clement Town. It's off of the number 5 vikram, or you can take your scooter (if you have one). Which is what I did. Well, okay, Matthew drove and I rode on the back of the scooter, but still... much faster than the vikram.

There's a monastery and a very large Stupa. In fact, it's called "The World Peace Stupa".

You're not allowed to take pictures inside so you'll have to be content with seeing the outside.
And this sign.



And this sign.



And then there were the tacky touristy shops.

Complete with cafe where you could order a cold coffee "Americano" style. I didn't. I'm always suspicious of any food labeled "American style".

But the Indian and Tibetan barristas were very nice and made me an iced green tea.


You can't really see it, but this sign forbids the eating of peanuts. I don't know why.
Maybe to keep you from feeding this little guy?



We also walked up to this other stupa where His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama came and spoke a few weeks ago.




Matthew, Osamu, and Beamish went. I didn't. Partly because I got to see him when he came to campus two years ago. And as cool as that was, he was speaking English and I barely understood him. He was speaking Tibetan at this appearance so I knew I REALLY wasn't going to understand him. And I've already seen him. And you can't take pictures.


But here's some pictures outside of the stupa. These are prayer wheels. You spin them and the prayer flies out into the universe.



These prayer flags hung outside someone's house in the town area are supposed to serve a similar purpose.

 This is a mural of some place in Tibet. It looks lovely. Makes me want to visit.

These chalk drawings were everywhere. I think they're called Mandalas, and I think the monks draw them.

And of course we had a nice Tibetan lunch. 

Matthew had some sort of vegetarian noodle soup.

I had what can only be described as empanadas stuffed with moma filling. Tasty, but very greasy.

Then we headed back to the hostel before our evening class. Have I mentioned how awesome it is to have a scooter? Because, it's awesome. I feel like I should come up with a better name for it than "the beast". If you think of a better name, leave me a message in the comments section.