Boudha

It's remarkable how quickly you can feel at home in a strange place.

We went down to the Double Dorjee restaurant for breakfast. The restaurant is run by a smiling Tibetan lady. The food is very good and very cheap (at least for westerners) a meal for two can cost 300 Nepalese rupees - less than three pounds.

As soon as I sat down in the restaurant I felt completely at home. It reminded me so much of my few weeks with Tibetans in India. Everyone was cheerful and relaxed. I had Tibetan tea (which few other people seem to like), Tibetan bread and scrambled eggs.

After breakfast we went for our first walk around the Stupa.

People walk around the stupa morning and evening saying mantras. The Stupa is surrounded by shops and so there is a mixture of religion and commerce the whole time. As we were in robes, I had thought that we would atrract very little attention, but our particular style of robes seemed to create quite a lot of interest.

Boudha (Bodnath) is like a city within a city. It is now surrounded by Kathmandu, but in comparison it is very quiet. Occasionally there are cars and motorcycles around but mostly people walk or cycle.

If you'd like to see more information from this pilgrimage, you can read Ngakma Shardrol's blog also.