Dear Friends
Our last two days in Kathmandu were, I guess predictably, filled with
somewhat domestic activity.
Sunday April 15 after moving to the Hotel Manaslu, we went shopping with
Donna and Karma in Thamel, the tourist district in old town KTM. I
was looking for a women's cut trekking shirt, but was unsuccessful even with
Donna's enthusiastic encouragement. We must have gone into half a
dozen "trekking gear" shops to find women's shirts in only the most
hideous colors, and that I am, at size 14, "too big." Then it was
"would you like to look at a men's small size, madam?" No,
actually :-)
Our other shopping task was a return trip to the New Tibet Bookstore, a
treasure house of books about things Buddhist and everything you might want to
know about Nepal. Karma had suggested that I might enjoy BORN IN
TIBET, the autobiography of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a member of the Kagyupa
School of Buddhism in Tibet who was the teacher of one of my favorite western
Buddhist teachers, the American nun, Pema Chodron. Donna went in
search of the name of a bird she had seen at our last trekking lodge, but the
bird books were all wrapped in protective plastic.
On into Thamel we bravely went through the crowded, narrow, shop-lined, and
vendor-rich streets for lunch in the quiet courtyard of the Kathmandu Guest
House. I had been thinking about the Aloo dum Baranasi I had there before the
trek, as well as lusting after their Illy Cafe Cappuccino. After a
relaxing lunch we strolled back to the Hotel, stopping to marvel at the
"bat and egret trees" along the street next to the New Royal Palace.
I know you
can't (and that may be a good thing) actually see the happy Fruit bats (AKA
"Flying Foxes") and white egrets in my image, but you can see that it
was a beautiful day with unusually clear air.
Watching the bats lolling in the branches attached by one
"wingernail" and being caressed by the day's gentle breezes was great
entertainment after the hustle and bustle of Thamel.
Back at the
hotel Donna and Karma packed and we all got ready for a marvelous dinner at Jawane's.
April 16 was
Donna and Karma’s departure day.
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| Karma and Donna about to embark in a TOYOTA CAMRY (gigantic and commodious compared to the usual sardine can Suzukis we rode around in a lot :-) for the KTM airport. Jawane greeted them with khadhas, so they look more distinguished and honored than usual. |
After saying
goodbye to Donna and Karma, we set out on a delicious destination-less walk
into old town KTM. We wandered through
narrow streets dodging motorcycles and busy shoppers past shrines (Ganesh is
very popular) and pagodas, vegetable vendors, scores of dental offices that
advertised themselves with a sign that looked like a set of false teeth (not
very auspicious, I thought) and stumbled into a small plaza with a stupa that
looked like the big ones at Boudhanath and Swayambhudnath and a very prosperous
looking monastery. Seeing this
spectacular spot brought up the question, "Where the heck ARE
we?" A consultation with out Lonely
Planet pages told us we were at the Kathesimbu stupa, "the most popular Tibetan
pilgrimage site in the old town . . . a copy dating from around 1650 of the
great Swayambhudnath complex . . . "
Well, wandering into the presence of this lovely stupa seemed to give
symmetry to our trip, framing both the first and last days with stupas topped
with the Buddha's all-seeing eyes.
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| Kathesimbu Stupa |
Another fact
revealed by our consulting the Lonely Planet maps was that we were near, you
guessed it, the Kathmandu Guest House courtyard restaurant where we could have
lunch, pictured below.
That's Aloo
dum Baranasi on the plate and in the brass dish next to the rice. Dick is having a repeat of the Dal Maharani
he enjoyed the day before. And, of course, we had those Illy coffee drinks as
well. The Aloo and the Cafe Americana
with hot milk on the side both cost the equivalent of $2.50.
 |
| Dick enjoys another lunch at the Kathmandu Guest House courtyard |
Back to the
hotel to for the evening to finish packing and to read-- BORN IN TIBET was a
real page turner for me as my curiosity about Tibetan Buddhism had been piqued
by our teachings with Drupon Rinpoche and Dick was similarly fascinated by a
book Donna had been reading, A FORTUNE TELLER TOLD ME, a book of travels in
Asia by the Der Spiegel correspondent Tiziano Terzani.
A light
dinner of Luna Bars and Clif bars was enjoyed Chez Nous, proving conclusively
that we were truly ready to go home tomorrow.
Namaste, Marian
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