The walkers continued north at a leisurely pace -- strolling less than
ten miles a day, enjoying tropical beach scenery and conversing with locals.
Larry Gerstein left us to help out the north walkers, but not before Radio
Free Asia conducted a round table discussion by phone with Pema, Namgyal,
Yeshi, and Ani Pachen. The walk has now been featured on the radio through
RFA, Voice of America and Voice of Tibet (all three of which broadcast
into Tibet itself). In general, these few days saw a great increase in
media attention -- the walk was featured in a wonderful article in the
North Country Times and on the front page of the Orange County
Register, as well as in smaller local papers. Because of this coverage,
our reputation now generally preceeds us, and as conversations are sparked
in the local area a common response is, "Oh, you're the walkers for Tibet!"
rather than the previously more familiar "You're doing what??"
On Saturday night, a program was held at the Carlsbad Senior Center which
featured the documentary, The Stolen Child, which describes the
Panchen Lama controversy and includes interviews with several Nobel Peace
Prize Laureates. Over eighty people from all over the region were in attendence.
The next day, the group was joined by many locals including Ven. Tenzin
Dhonden, and we walked down to the beautiful Oceanside pier. Later that
evening, the group enjoyed a wonderful catered feast of momos (both vegetarian
and meat) as well as other yummy Tibetan dishes. These were thoughtfully
cooked by Kelsang of San Diego Friends of Tibet and they were so good
that Karma filled his plate three times. The night was topped off by a
dance party in the sanctuary of the Church of Religious Science, which
has a great sound system.
Monday was a good day for surfing. After sleeping in, the group spent
this day off at the beach near Swami's Park, a nice private little spot
named for the Swami Yogananda's Center for Self-Realization next door.
The modest waves of this apparently little-surfed beach proved challenging
enough for those of us taking our first surf lessons. William of the Church
of Religious Science was kind enough to offer his boards. After swallowing
a lot of salt water, we moved to the Neighborhood Congregational Church
in Laguna Beach. That evening, Peggy fell onto her wrist while exiting
her van and unfortunately suffered a broken bone. However, she bravely
has chosen to continue the walk with her purple cast. Peggy is our latest
walker injured in the line of duty.
We were then fed two Tibetan dinners in a row by the monk/gourmet chef Tenzin Dhonden. After savoring Tuesday evening's feast, a program was held at the Church of Religious Science. Perhaps it was something about the sanctuary as opposed to the usual college lecture hall, but the talks seemed especially well-delivered and empassioned. Pema and Palden-la had the audience tearful and riveted for over an hour, and the question-and-answer session could have gone on well into the night.
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Tibet Independence Movement
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e-mail: rangzen@aol.com
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