Annapurna Circuit Day 15 -- Dalai Lama

If you want to enhance your credibility in these Buddhist villages, carry around a book by the Dalai Lama. His picture is everywhere and the people adore him. I have been reading My Land and My People. Memoirs of the Dalai Lama, which he wrote in 1962, when he was just 27 years old. It is very interesting, and I like it better than his later books.

I was holding the book on one side of the street when a beautiful Tibetan woman beckoned me to cross the street and join her. Quite chuffed, I crossed the street and she took the book from my hands. She flipped through the pages, examined the photos, and asked:

"Good book?"

"Yes, very good."

Then she touched the book to the top of her head, said a quick prayer, and added, "He is my God."

"Yes, a very good man."

Then she spit on the pavement and invited me into her shop to buy souvenirs, and that was the end of our romance.