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Dear friends, This is the beginning of the text of our Flute Journeys Newsletter No. 2 Little Tibet about Zanskar and Ladakh in the Himalayas, North India. You can enjoy the trip with us more intensely by listening to the cassette Journeys in Little Tibet chanting monks, children's and women's songs, folk music, the marriage party and musical meetings with Judith

7 July: The crazy bus driver MUST overtake any vehicle in front. And it is a one-lane road along the abyss of a deep river canyon!

8 July: Manali (2045m) is a lively city where we feel comfortable, despite the bustle, stench, heat and dust. Hindus, Sikhs, Tibetans, Saddhus, mountain peoples, beggars, (Indian) tourists, monks, Moslems, white hippies, shoe polishers, palm readers, herb doctors and yogis walk, sit, lie, ride, stand.

Down the road is "Shiva Fun World" - a fair for children and a 'hit-the-bull's-eye' tent. "Here is the biggest fun in your life!"

9 July: This evening we take Mukash - a shy young street hawker - and a friend to our hotel to play. A lovely evening, ending with a tasty meal on the balcony. We receive a bamboo flute.

11 July: We leave early for Hadimba Temple for recordings (SideA: 2) and to feel the earth energy. In the drifting fog is a magical view of high spruces that disappear in the mist and reappear in patches.

We climb 200m to Shashur, our first Tibetan Buddhist Gompa (cloister)! Chörtens (see foto above) and a lovely mani wall (piles of prayer stones) announce the way. The most important Mantra (a ritual invocation) OM MANI PADME HUM -- The Jewel in the Heart of the Lotus -- is chiseled onto each of the smooth flat stones.

14 July: To the Kardang Gompa. The lamas are chanting prayers behind a closed door. The regular drum beat makes me think of American Indian rituals. (SideA:3). The temple walls are covered with murals depicting the life story of Milarepa, a great Buddhist teacher. In mediation and all of his actions he keeps his right hand cupped around his ear, listening to the words of the Buddha.

We continue climbing up in the cold mist. Deep under us we hear a herder singing his heart out. As soon as he sees us approaching he stops singing, alas, and with gestures he welcomes us by his little fire. I play a melancholy melody and the herder gives an example of the high raw local flute music on my new bamboo flute.

16 July: Ngawang, the hotel manager brings us to meet Haridas, an old musician and village smith. He has made his own copper flute. At 86 years, he is the oldest man in the village. He sits - black nails, gray blankets around him - on the roof of his house with a splendid view over the valley.

Ngawang orders a liter of chang (barley beer) for him. Haridas drinks, devotedly pours beer in his flute and begins to play and sing about Buddha and the Hindu gods, the earth, the river, us, and all the people in the village, in the world, all the animals and the heavens. (SideA: 4a,b,c). He won't sing a morning song, as it is afternoon. When I take my flute out to play along with him I have to baptize it with beer!

17 July: Darcha. Our trek begins. Dorje, our horseman, is always laughing with us. With his cap and shawl and torn sneakers he is like a neglected Boy Scout. Our stout young guide is Suresh Kumar from Manali.

18 July: Colorful prayer flags hang across the broad split in the rock to protect the tiny rickety bridge from destruction by evil forces. Fifty meters below the surging water charges wildly through the canyon.