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.

The Happy Valley

I've created some sets of photographs on flickr:

Boudha - views around the Stupa

Happy Valley - our hotel

Double Dorjee - a favourite restaurant

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.

This Flight Tonight

The flight with Austrian from Vienna to Kathmandu was excellent. Check-in was trivial (we already had our seat numbers) and a small problem with missing tickets was cleared up quickly. We met Ja-zer and Matthias at the airport.

We were well looked after throughout the flight with meals and frequent drinks.

The seat-backs had screens which could show news and films and also forward and downward camera views as well as a map view of the flight. This was one of my favourite features. We were able to see the mountainous regions of Pakistan as we passed over them.

Unfortunately the camera views were switched off for landing, so we missed the excitement of the nightime approach into Kathmandu.

Passport control and baggage claim were easy. Austrian had done exactly as they'd promised and the luggage rolled off the carousel as expected.

We were met at the airport by Barche who had organised two taxis to the Happy Valley hotel. We were driven through rough backstreet roads which seemed more like building sites than traffic routes. As it was dark it was difficult to get a feeling of what Kathmandu was really like.

We eventually arrived at the hotel, which has it's own locked compound and security.

A room had been reserved for us. It was quite smart, twin-bedded, carpeted with en-suite bathroom. (We had stayed in a far worse guesthouse in Oxford of all places). As it was late we got unpacked and went to bed. We agreed to meet everyone for breakfast at the Double Dorjee next morning.