Namaste Nepal

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  Kathmandu, Nepal
Friday, October 3, 2008

Namaste to all!

In Nepal this is the greeting and its literal translation is "I salute the God/Goddess within you," which I really like and got quite used to saying my last two weeks in Nepal. One of my main desires of going to the ancient land of Nepal (beyond trekking) was to connect with the Tibetan Community that has found peaceful exile in their neighboring land and a place where they can continue to practice their spirituality. I certainly connected with this while at the meditation retreat and even found glimpses of it my last three days in the crowded shopping streets of Thamel.

I reluctantly left the Monastery on Monday and ventured out into the "real world" of Kathmandu for a few days. Tashe the wonderful monk that went with me to the hospital gave me a white Kata silk scarf as I was leaving which in the Tibetan Buddhist culture is a blessing and demonstrates a wish for harmony with all and good health. It was so sweet and part of me wanted to bring Tashe home with me. Everyone at Kopan was so kind and all of us that did the meditation retreat really feel like a spiritual community, even if we don't all ascribe to every Buddhist teaching. After sharing a meditation retreat experience with a group you get quite close. Especially if you are "that girl" meaning the girl that fell! Anyway, it was a truly wonderful experience even with the fall and I do hope to return to Kopan someday, such a beautiful place.

I spent one of my final days in Kathmandu exploring the beautiful Tibetan Buddhist Stupa in Bodhnath, just a short drive outside of city proper. This is possibly the largest Stupa in Nepal and beautiful. Prayers flags waving at every corner, diligent pilgrims navigating the Stupa (always clockwise) as they recite mantras and spin the prayers wheels that surround the space. Stupas are built to honor past Lamas, followers of Tibetan Buddhist teaching believe they house the relics left behind by these Lamas and great teachers. Most Buddhist practice cremation and relics are discovered amongst the remains post cremation. While in many ways it is difficult to believe that bones, pearls or any other relics could survive the intense heat during a cremation there are many people who have seen it with their own eyes and were equally as stunted. I do believe that if you spend your entire life (as so many of these great Lamas have) praying and working to end the suffering all around, it must do something different to your insides, both in terms of their soul and mind and their physical make up.

I spent my last day in Nepal at another smaller area out side the tourist center of Thamel called Patan. I got a good taste of the intense traffic and pure numbers of people in the city on the taxi ride there. It must have taken over an hour to get there in bumper to bumper traffic and horns honking every second. If there is one thing I have learned the last two years in Asia it is that time is irrelevant and I think I have adopted this feeling in many situations. However, in the heat of the day in the polluted and much too crowded streets of Kathmandu I was so happy to finally arrive to the quiet area of Patan.

Patan is an old Newari Town and still maintains much of its ancient architecture and design. The Newari people are one of the many ethnic groups that make up Nepal and were the original designers of the small interlocking squares and shops that encircle the temples and royal palaces of most towns in the country. I enjoyed getting lost in the quaint back streets of Patan where I saw more of the local life, as men sat on the steps of their shops wearing their traditional Nepali hats, Hindu women in their beautiful bright colored Saris and all of the adorable children playing in the streets with a backdrop of the shutter windows and beautiful Newari architecture.

Almost all towns in Kathmandu have what is called a Durbar Square. This has historically been the town center and typically surrounds the Royal Palace and holds the religious center of a town. Patan's beautiful Durbar Square remains this way, most Newaris are Hindus and the square is comprised of three beautiful ancient Hindu Temples including Krishna Temple built in 1723. They have renovated the Royal Place that these temples face into a wonderful museum full of ancient Buddhist and Hindu artifacts and I enjoyed the afternoon touring the museum and watching the buzzing daily life and commerce in the square.

My back his healing very well and I am nearly 100% better. While I am still sad to have missed out on trekking, in the long run my spiritual journey I intended in Nepal was indeed a success and I look forward to returning to Nepal to connect with the mountains.

I arrived safely to Bangkok last night and fly home on Sunday. In many ways this journey and last two plus years feels like a dream and it can't be real that I am coming home. But indeed I am, and while I am excited beyond words to se my family and friends (that means each of you) and I must admit I am looking forward to some of the western comforts of home. A part of me will forever feel at home in the chaotic streets of an Asian Capitol City or the peaceful quiet of a rural farm and true community in the mountains of this region. There is something very raw and real about all of these countries I have been privileged enough to spend time in. I have a deep feeling that my travels and time on this side of the world will always play a major role in the way I live my life, whether in the much too sterile USA or when I return to Asia someday (soon I hope!).

I will try to write a final entry with some other reflections before my flight on Sunday.

Love and Namaste to each of you,

Sherry

Post your own travel photos for friends and family Pictures

Beautiful Stupa in Boddah	Bodanath	Boy and Prayers Flags	Buddah Eyes at Boddah Stupa
Buddah Eyes at Stupa	Buddah Eyes at Stupa 2	Buddah Statue in Patan	Durbar Square Patan
Eyes of the Stupa	Flags and Stupa	Hindu Image in Patan	Hindu Statue in front of Musuem in Patan
I loved the prayer flags	Local Hindus in Patan Durbar Square	Long Prayers flags in Boddah	Love the prayers flags
Masks for sale in Patan Durbar Square	Me and the Stupa	Monk outside entrance to Stupa	Monk walking around Stupa
Nepali Man in Patan	Patan Durbare Square Building	Peace Bell at Stupa	Prayer Flags at Stupa
Prayer Flags in Boddah	Prayer Flags once again	Prayer Flags waving	Prayer Wheels in Boddah
Shops around Stupa in Boddah	Streets of Patan	Stupa and prayers flags	Stupa in Boddah
Tara Statue in Patan	Temple at Patan Durbar Square	Tibetan Goods for Sale	Tibetan Women at Stupa in Boddah
Tibetan Women Walking the Stupa	Top of Stupa in Bodhnath	Vendors in Patan	Vendors in Patan Durbar Square
Waving Prayers Flags

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