Slacking in Nepal
Hello again,
I apologize for taking so long to write my latest update. I haven’t been too busy or anything … basically I have just been being really really lazy – and enjoying it very much.
It was only after I arrived in that I truly realized how exhausted I was from my 6 months in India. Arriving in Kathmandu (or more correctly in the Thamel area of where all the travelers are) immediately felt like a relief. There is lots of great western food and, best of all, piles of other travellers to hang-out with. I have also had the luck of making some really nice Nepali friends. I am spending much more money here than I was in India but as I now see the end of my trip looming (now I have an actual end date) this doesn’t seem to bother me too much … OK, OK let’s be honest: me being me it DOES bother me … just not “too” much.
The meditation retreat I went to at Kopan monastery (just outside of Kathmandu) was very interesting. It is wonderfully run and I highly recommend it. The food was great (mmmm ... homemade peanut butter) and they are very well organized. It was as much or more a learning experience than a serious opportunity for meditation. Our main teacher – Ani Karin – is originally from Sweden but has been a Buddhist nun since coming to Nepal in the early 1970s. I figure that, given the time of her arrival and some other things she said, she had been a total hippy and had lived a colourful life. She has an interesting sense of humour and because of her background was able to explain things in a way we were able, most of the time to, understand if not accept.
For me it was not a particularly religious or spiritual experience. I did, however, learn a great deal about the Tibetan form of Buddhism (Mahayana). For me it is an overly religious and complicated version of the Buddha’s teachings but I very much enjoyed learning more. There was a lot of information I would have liked to have had prior to my trip to Tibet a few years ago.
The highlight of the retreat was the group of people I met. There were about 40 people from a wide variety of foreign countries. There were, of course, a fair number of what I now refer to as “Happy Clappies” (desperate spiritual searchers who gleefully and entirely without discrimination accept whatever they are told) as well as wackos (you know who you are …) but for the most part it was a great group of interesting and open minded people.
I have been to only a few places since arriving but none are were more than a few hours from Kathmandu. Patan is a lovely place and almost a suburb of . I went there for the day a few weeks ago. Nepali architecture is lovely and quite distinct. Patan also has one of the best museums I have been to in Asia. It is beautifully set up and very professionally curated. They did an excellent job of explaining various themes and images in both Hindu and Buddhist iconography.
Also very interesting was Pashupathinath where I had the fascinating/revolting experience of watching human cremations. We were able to watch them prepare and then completely immolate several corpses. I know that this is a weird thing to have gone to see but I have to admit I was fascinated. I have lots of photographs as it is allowed there as long as you are discrete – thank heavens for my great zoom lens – but I will not post them here in case it offends or upsets someone.
The last week or so I have been taking Thanka painting classes (a traditional Tibetan style). I met some Nepali people almost as soon as I arrived here and one of them owns/manages (it is hard to know as many people I met here tend to have a vague grasp of truth) a Thanka store where they run classes for foreigners to learn how to paint in this style. He offered me free classes and I just couldn’t refuse (free!!!). It turns out I probably should have refused as there is no real class just an indifferent and surly young employee who appears only about 10 minutes a day to take over your painting and who is unable to explain or properly demonstrate anything. I am as clueless about how to paint in the correct style as I was when I started. Oh well, it kept me amused and out of the shops for a few days at least.
The plan now is to start moving about a bit and see more of Nepal. All of my friends from the meditation retreat have moved on so I am starting to get itchy feet again. Right now I am not completely sure where I will go next – probably to the East for a few days, then back to Kathmandu, then to the West and eventually, by July 20th (when my Nepali visa expires), back to India.
Love to all.
K
