Today was a big travel day, driving from Amritsar to Dharamsala.

It’s only a four and a half hour drive, but it’s as though you move from one country to another. Dharmsala is in a far northern state of India, close to the foothills of the Himalayas, and yet it has a strong Tibetan influence; not surprising given it’s so close to the border.

This is where His Holiness the Dalai Lama fled in exile after Tibet was invaded by China. We are now staying only a few hundred meters from His temple, and in fact He’s in residence at the moment. He’s giving a series of public teachings – and Jennifer and I hope to attend one tomorrow. If we can get in…

We’re here for the next few days to check that this part of the tour will run smoothly. We’ve already checked out the hotel we’ll be staying in – a new hotel open only three months. It’s  beautiful, the best one in the district, and again right near the Dalai Lama temple.

Just a quick update on Steve:

He’s back on his walker today, poor bugger, and in pain again. The medicos think he might have picked up a bone infection, and he’ll have tests next week to determine whether that’s the case or not.

But nearly three months now since his operation, he still can’t walk, he still is in pain, and still the doctors can’t determine what’s the root cause. They’re systematically ruling out what’s NOT causing his problem, and in doing this they’re hoping they can progressively narrow it down to what IS causing his pain.

It’s unbelievable. I’ve never heard of a situation like this before. And Steve has some of the country’s best physicians on this. Let’s hope they determine what’s wrong really fast.

I didn’t take any photos today. Well, I took two, only two but they’re both horrible. I always show you the best possible shots I take each day, so perhaps I should show you one of the two horrible shots I took today. It’s the most horrible of the two…

(note the power pole coming out of his head?)