Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama (2R) gestures on his arrival at Tawang monastery in the northwestern corner of Arunachal Pradesh state on November 8, 2009. The Dalai Lama visited a remote Tibetan monastery in northeast India at the start of a trip that has infuriated China, which claims the surrounding Himalayan region as its own. Thousands of Buddhists gave the Tibetan spiritual leader a rousing welcome as he arrived at the Tawang monastery, perched at 3,500 metres (11,400 feet) in Arunachal Pradesh state.