Around the Chhorten

Buddhists in Boudha practice khorwa, walking clockwise around the chhorten saying mantras or turning prayer wheels. There are 'rush hours' morning and evening when many people of all ages are circling the chhorten.

Amongst this holy bustle of people there are also those selling, begging, mixing cement, or emptying the contents of their nasal passages into the little gutter around the chhorten.

This set of photographs shows the view around the chhorten as seen from the chhorten. I was surprised at how close the shops, hotels and gompas were. Before visiting Boudha I had always imagined the chhorten set in acres of parkland. This view from google shows the scene from above.

Civilised Shopping

There are many opportunities for shopping around Boudha if you are looking for Buddhist practice equipment, brocade or clothing.

Shopping is a civilised affair. Often the shopkeeper or assistant will invite you to take tea whle you choose whatever you would like to buy. Shopping is somewhat slower than we are used to in the west, but it is also more relaxing if you take the time to settle in to the experience.

Shop assistants often go out of their way to make sure that you can get whatever you want and add their own personal touches to their creations. They are keen to ensure that their customers are happy.

We were particularly impressed with Dharmendra in Lumbini handicrafts. He's a young man who speaks four languages - and we heard him holding conversations in three different languages at once. He was always pleased to see us and would spend a great deal of time with us as we chose things to buy or while he restrung tengars.

Another favourite of ours was Pemtse Palmo who runs the Norzin Traditional Dress and Rug Shop. We had a number of undershirts and shamthabs made as well as two Tibetan ladies' chubas. We were always pleased with the results of her tailoring.

As well as these there were also many shops selling practice equipment (bells, drums, and so on), including the now infamous 'Temple of Doom' which always has a number of good things, usually at a high price.

It is expected that there will be a certain amount of bargaining for goods. Sometimes, if you are good at bargaining the price can drop by as much as 50%.

Our next trip to Tesco will undoubtedly come as quite a shock.

24 Hours from Boudha

The journey from the Happy Valley Guest House to our house in Cardiff takes less than 24 hours, door-to-door, via Delhi, Vienna, London, Chepstow and Newport. It's good to know that we are only 24 hours from Boudha.

Kyabjé Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche came to the hotel to see Ngak'chang Rinpoche who had been unwell. We were fortunate to see them as they took tea together in the hotel lobby. It was good to meet Kyabjé Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche one more time this visit.

Thursday was a day of goodbyes. We had made a great many friends in Kathmandu and visited some of them to say goodbye.

We met with Dharmendra who works at Lumbini Handicrafts. He was always friendly, helpful and cheerful whenever we visited his shop, and was happy to spend a lot of time re-stringing tengars (malas) for people.

We visited Ama-la at the Double Dorjee restaurant and gave her a small present. She presented us with Katags (white scarves) as is traditional amongst Tibetans.

We went to see Palmo our favourite tailor. She visited us later at the hotel and presented Katags to her customers.

In the evening we orderd momos from the Double Dorjee. Ama-la came over specially to make sure that the Tibetan bread was delivered warm and to say goodbye to Ngak'chang Rinpoche.

We had spent the last few days packing. At least Nor'dzin had been working some magic to persuade cases to hold far more than I would have thought possible. So we were all ready to go when the taxis came at 9 in the evening.

Eight of us were travelling together on the first leg of this journey (from Kathamandu to Vienna) so there were three taxis booked to take all the people and luggage. It's a fairly short drive (over typycally bumpy roads) to the airport. The airport is just visible behind the stupa from the roof of the Happy Valley Guest House.

These days most international airports are brightly-lit friendly places, well signed and comfortable with many shops and restaurants. However Detroit (Michigan) isn't and neither is Tribhuvan.

We arrived at the airport three hours before the flight was due, and we needed all of that time to check in. The bag scanning process was quick but checking in took ages. We also had to pay a 1700 rupee (£15) tax to leave the country and change our remaining rupees into dollars (they don't give pounds) for which we received somewhat less than the proper value.

After the baggage was checked in (ours all the way to London) we then went through the hand baggage search. It wasn't obvious where to go, but fortunately we had more experienced travellers to follow. Even the most innocuous hand luggage was turned upside down and we were left repacking our bags whilst queueing for passport control. The baggage check was made more tortuous by being asked incomprehensible questions about what we had bought. For future trips we'll pack little in hand luggage and make it really easy to search (and repack).

Eventually we walked though into the departure 'lounge' which was large, gloomy and full. For those who had to use them, the toilet facilities were somewhat 'primitive'. A supply of 'wet-wipes' is very useful in these situations. If your carry-on luggage has a hard case it can also serve as a seat.

The contrast beetween our experience in departing from the airport and in spending time in and around Boudha is huge. Generally the Nepali and Tibetan people are friendly, happy and honest. (You can also usually find a decent toilet when you need one).

Eventually the Austrian Airlines aircraft was ready for us and we entered an entirely different world. The aircraft that flies in from Vienna is immediately cleaned, refueled and turned round to fly back again. I had no idea that this could be done so quickly. The staff were frienly and helpful and we soon found our seats and stowed our luggage.

We took off at around 00:30 hours on Friday morning (Nepal time). The return flight went via Delhi for a change of crew and to take on food and fuel. No passengers got on or off.

Although there were eight of us on the plane, we weren't seated together, so it was not possible to have time to talk. A shame as there was no time for goodbyes in Vienna either. Some people did manage to sleep which is useful when you take off at midnight and then spend the next eight hours chasing the darkness around the world.

We were slightly late into Vienna and had to run from the gate where the Kathmandu plane arrived to the gate from which the London plane would leave. We spend at most 10 minutes in Vienna airport. I had thought to buy some Viennese chocolates for the people at work but there was simply no time. I'll get them in Cardiff instead.

We made the departure gate with minutes to spare. The plane had been somewhat delayed because of bad weather in europe. We hoped that the luggage would be transferred successfully (a flight attend and assured us that it was quicker to transfer luggage than people).

The flight to London took off an hour late, butwent without problems. We were pleased (and a little surprised) to see our luggage lurching along the conveyor belt and piled it onto a trolley for a short trip though customs.

Although we were an hour late we still had enouugh time to get to the bus station for the 10:35 to Cardiff. At Cardiff we heaved our luggage into a taxi and were home in 15 minutes.

It was good to be home with the boys, storm damage, and Christmas decorations.

And it's good to know that we're only 24 hours from Boudha.

Thamel

On Monday we braved a second expedition to Thamel - a busy area of Kathmandu with many shops. Thamel would not be such a bad place if it were not for the traffic and the beggars. Many of the shops are very interesting.

The main reason for the visit was to go to the embroiders. The pollution was terrible during the taxi ride to Thamel and in Thamel itself - the constant smell of diesel that stings your throat and eyes and gives you a headache. In comparison, the area around the stupa in Boudha is a haven. Here there is no traffic other than the occasional motorbike, so the air is that little bit cleaner.

Anyway we arrived at the embroiderers without mishap and only gasping slightly from the fumes. The skill of these embroidery workers is extraordinary. You give them an image and they copy it freehand directly on the sewing machine at great speed. This shop seems to be especially skilled. They sell many embroidered T-shirts some of which have dubious slogans for the tourist market. One had an image of the Simpsons - barely recognisable, as Homer was not very big, Marge had pink hair and Bart looked more like Dennis the Menace with a catapult. None of them had yellow skin.

We had lunch at Northfield Cafe - a tourist restaurant that does rather good pizza. We visited the Pilgrims Bookshop. As well as books this shop has a little restaurant and various small shops within it selling numerous tourist items. They were all quite expensive, but the staff are most pleasant and polite. They also print Asian versions of Western books so that they can be available at prices affordable in Nepal, India and Pakistan.

We bought a couple of delightful tiger shaped carpets, but not very much else, and were glad to go 'home'. After an 150 rupee taxi ride, we returned to the relative peace of Boudha with relief.

Photographs from Yang-le-shod and Nagi Gompa

I have uploaded the photographs from our visit to Yang-le-shod to Flickr. You can see them in the Nepal - Yang-le-shod set.

The photographs from Nagi Gompa are in the Nepal - Nagi Gompa set.

Nagi Gompa expedition

The day started early as we had a long way to go and needed to be sure that we were down the mountain before dark. We had breakfast at 7 a.m. in a restaurant where many Tibetans eat. It was very cold and quite foggy.

We started with a half hour taxi ride to Narangthang - a village on the outskirts of Kathmandu. The latter part of the ride was most interesting, taking us through the older part of the city where some of the residences are quite large and impressive. Then we began a walk. At first it was quite easy along a dirt road, but then we suddenly turned off up a steep track. Our guide for the day was a Tibetan porter called Amdo. We climbed for about 2 hours to his home - a small metal roofed shack surrounded by prayer flags and perched on the edge of the mountain. Here we had cha before setting off on the final part of the climb up to Nagi Gompa.

The gompa (Tibetan Buddhist temple usually with a monastery attached to it with resident monks and nuns) was very beautiful, with many fine paintings on the walls and 5 large, fine statues of Buddhist yidams (meditational awareness beings - sometimes referred to as deities). We enjoyed looking at the gompa and spent a little time practising together as well.

We then climbed back down to Amdo's place for lunch. He had cooked an excellent buff thukpa - buffalo soup with vegetables and noodles. Three nuns live near him and they fussed around us making sure we had something to sit on and clean mugs for our butter tea. After a short rest we set off to walk to Tarabir - a Nepalese village about two hours walk from Amdo's place. First we climbed back up to the army road and then headed off in the opposite direction to Nagi Gompa. Our expedition leader had told us that this part of the walk would be flat. However most of us were not used to an altitude of 3,500 metres, we had already had quite a hard 2 hour climb, and we had not long eaten lunch, so 'flat' felt rather uphill to us. It was also rather hot in the early afternoon sun. We struggled for a while, but gradually the path did level out from the slight incline and the going got easier.

It was delightful to visit a Nepalese village and meet the local people. They appear comfortably off and well dressed and we were happy to see that they did not seem to be especially poor or their lives hard. These people walk up and down the hillside almost daily and do not have access to the facilities we take for granted. They were welcoming and extremely friendly. One lady who knew our expedition leader and guide well gave us each a glass of rakshi - a brew made from fermented millet. It looks like a clear liquid and tastes a little like sake. We were glad of the chance to sit for a little while as we those of unused to altitude (and also not so fit) were feeling a little worn out, but we were also conscious that it would take another three hours to walk down the mountain and it was already well into the afternoon.

Surprisingly the rakshi revived us somewhat and we all felt much better afterwards. Amdo had decided to take us back a different route to usual which was longer but easier. We wove our way along the edge of the tiers of the terraced fields, meeting many more friendly Nepalese, as well as goats, cows, chickens and dogs. We also saw a wild parrot. We had to cross over one ridge to get to the valley beyond. We were all walking quite well now, but decided we could not risk taking a rest until we had crossed the ridge ahead as the sun was getting low in the sky. We crossed the ridge and took a short break at a rest house, sharing water and chocolate.

Then began the steep and difficult descent back to the dirt road. Our leader and Amdo told us that they usually ran down this part of the track, but this was completely impossible for some of our party, so the descent was rather slow. However we arrived at the bottom eventually and before the sun set, though it was dark by the time we got back to Narangthang. It was not possible to find a taxi so we had to take a bus into a part of Kathmandu where we would be able to find one. 'Bus' is the name given to a people carrier, designed to transport about seven or eight people. At one point our 'bus' was carrying 22 people including one baby. Everyone is so cheerful and good natured about the squash that it doesn't seem to matter and the journey really was quite fun - especially when our expedition leader Bar-che said "Namaste" to the baby and he immediately put his hands into the prayer position and replied "Namaste" in a tiny high voice to the delight of all passengers. This baby had been handed through the window to Bar-che before his mother had managed to get on the bus but after the bus had already started to move.

We then found three taxis to take us back to Boudha Gate. It was rush hour - an indescribably chaotic medley of cars, trucks, motorbikes, bicycles, buses of various sizes and pedestrians all crossing each others paths, overtaking, undertaking, stopping, starting - and everyone blowing their horn. Remarkably we arrived back at Boudha Gate without incident very ready for our dinner and our beds.

Yang-le-shod

Yang-le-shod is a short taxi ride from the centre of Kathmandu. After this it is a climb up many steps and through a complex of monastery buildings. This is a site of pilgrimage to visit two caves - the Vajrayogini cave and Padmasambhava cave.

The Vajrayogini cave is very small and a little tricky to access. The Padmasambhava cave is a little larger - big enough for 3 or 4 people. The Padmasambhava cave is famous for a handprint in the rock outside which is said to be an impression of Padmasambhava's hand. Visiting on a Saturday meant that it was very busy with a lot of visitors so it was not possible to spend any time in the cave practising.

We did not stay long and climbed back down the steps to walk back to the village. Yang-le-shod (Parphing in Nepalese) is not a wealthy area and does not have many restaurants or facilities for tourists. We stopped at a tiny place - almost like a garage - and had cha and steamed momos. The momos were the cheapest that could be found, but also tasty and most excellent. It was entertaining for the local people having us sitting by the side of the street, opposite the magnificent Padmasambhava statue (see photo) eating and drinking.

We then wandered down to the part of the village that is off the tarmac road, and just a dirt track. Here we found an excellent fabric shop and bought some red cotton at a ridiculous price.