Tibetan Settlement

We are now inland in Madakeri. Today we went to a Tibetan settlement, which was really amazing. There are 2 main monastaries and about 5000 monks in total. It was so peaceful and inspiring. We talked to a monk (only our age) and he said a lot of families send their children to India from Tibet (through this dangerous mountain pass) so they can be trained at the Buddhist monastaries. There are mostly men and boys, but a few women too. We saw the little boys (so cute in their little robes) practicing their chanting and drumming. We also read that a lot of Tibetan monks are frustrated with the Dalai Lama because they want him to be more of a political leader for Tibet versus just a Buddhist leader. For example, they critize him in comparison to Gandhi, who fought alongside his people (protesting, jail time etc.) whereas the Dalai Lama is more involved in the religious side of Buddhism. I thought it was very interesting. Tomorrow we are going further down to Kerala to a wildlife sanctuary where there are elephants!! We are super excited!!

I don't know if you can read this or not, but it says how the new Dalai Lama was taken with his family admittedly by the Chinese government and they still have no idea where he is.