Avalokiteshvara is the Bodhissatva of compassion, and has 1000 heads, arms and feet, and a big white umbrella. She sits outside the office of the Head Llama of Ladakh, in Leh's Sankar Gompa, a monastary only 5 minutes' walk from our guesthouse.

After an early morning visit to the gompa, with Mad Ken the Aussie Pharmacist and Mira the Danish Czeck (who takes photos of all the Indian toilets she encounters), it seemed the Head Llama was not in residence. This was a shame, as I have a few questions that he might be able to help with. Such as...

• If we are to believe in reincarnation, and humans are way up the tree, how come there are so many of us all of a sudden?
• What do Buddhists mean when they say life is everywhere, including in rocks and stones (and are they prepared to revise that view based on a modern understanding of biology, so we can actually speak the same language)
• If science, as a way of understanding the Universe, is a flawed and wasted effort because all info has been collected by senses and processed by brains, how do you dismiss the idea of a controlled experiment, in which both experimental arms are processed by the same senses and brains but might give different results?
• How do you live in the moment when the moment is out of date by the time your brain gets signals from your senses?
• How do you live in the moment and not fuck up your future, especially when you're a) 18, b) drunk, or c) naturally impulsive, hopelessly impressionable, and have a mortgage?
• Is it OK to kill mosquitos?
• Is it OK to kill pathogenic bacteria?
• Where on the scale are Delhi taxi drivers and travel agents, and is it OK to kill them too?
• How come you priest types have all the money?
• etc

So we went for breakfast.

Then I walked up to the Shanti Stupa, a big monument on a hill at the edge of town, as this had been recommended to me as a test of trek-readiness. I was pleased to do it without stopping! But I'm not letting it go to my head, as now (2 hours later) I feel completely knackered.