The Faces of my school project

Thanks to many of you, we have been able to support a few improvements to the school in a rural area of Dhading, a 3 hour drive and 2 hours of walking to reach. The government only pay teacher's salaries, nothing else. If there were not a structure, the children would spend their classes on the ground in the shade of some thin trees. What we have been able to help with is the toilets for the children, a flat playground area and some school supplies. From what I saw, this school needs to be re-built. It looks ready to collapse and is in need of proper education facilities. Krishna, the teacher, does an amazing job for the children in classes one to three. Approx 50 children walk as much as 1 hour each way to attend school, which all families support as they know it is their future - to be educated and learn English! Here are some photos for you to see a bit of what I saw.

Stay tuned for a new show in Spring - perhaps we can raise some more funds to help with this project.

On behalf of the students and families of Dhading, thanks again for all your support!

Neil

Begnas Tal

A small lake outside of Pokhara (a 30 min plane ride from Kathmandu) called Begnas Tal is a quiet place where I met up with Wanda and her culture tour group. They were mostly Canadians, and a lot of fun. We were witness to one of the oldest annual events in a village - cutting of rice. We also found a great place for our yoga practise.

One of the events we were there for was the opening of Ria's Reading room at a local school which Wanda has been instrumental in having this library built in her mother's name. We were showered with flowers, engaging smiles and entertainment of dancing. It was a very proud moment for Wanda and the other supporters.

Neil

Moussa!

Well, as you know, I was plagued in several places with mice and rats. Here is a picture of what they call moussa. I can deal with most critters, but these are ugly and carry diseases. Take a look.

N

Bhaktapur

Bhaktapur is a cleaner, older city with lots of Newari roots and old buildings. The rice harvest was in full swing in this city of ancient buildings and a history of making curd, pottery, thangka paintings and hand made Nepali paper.

Tamang Buddhists of the Langtang

The Langtang valley is the home of the Tamang people who are all Buddhist and originally came from Tibet. There are many chortans (graves), gompas (monasteries), mani walls (stones with Om Mani Padme Hum etched into the slate/stone) and in each home is a small shrine with a Thangka (wall hanging with a picture of the Buddha), bowls of water, butter lamps, prayer wheel, katas, pictures of the Dalai Lama, Rinpoche's, etc.

Outside on the trails in the Langtang one walks left around mani walls, water wheels turning the large prayer wheels and colorful Tibetan prayer flags in most high places. They are pleasant, industrious, cheerful people who live off the land, greeting everyone with either a Namaste or Tashi Delek. They make cheese and wonderful Tibetan bread. The gardens are full of saag (spinach), alu (potato), mula (radish), banda (cabbage), adhwa (ginger), lasun (garlic) and beans. This is harvest time and Tihar, which is another story later.

The weather is harsh but somehow they survive on barley, wheat, potatoes and nak cheese. (a nak is a female yak. Don't ever ask for yak cheese or they will laugh and enjoy a great joke at your expense!)
Om shanti Om.
Karmapa Chenno,
Neil

ps due to power shedding, one never knows when the power will be cut off so if these posts are a bit disconnected, you know why as numerous times I am halfway and out it goes! Also note you can leave comments on the blog, which I welcome. It lets me know how this blog reads at your end and any thoughts on what you read. thanks, N

Langtang valley

After a days drive from Kathmandu on the ugliest roads ever, over massive landslides repaired after monsoon, we arrived at 1930m in Dhunche. From there, my Sherpa guide Tenzie and I began our trek up from Syabru Besi to Lama Hotel and on to Langtang village at 3400m. The valley opened up into the most beautiful Himalaya panorama. This is Tamang people that live here. Buddhist, beautiful people. More on Buddhist Tamang on next blog.

The altitude was challenging, as we were gaining nearly 1000m a day. The max altitude was the holy lakes of Goseinkunda where many Hindus go to do their puja in August. This is amazing country reminiscent of other parts of Nepal.

Hope you get a feel from the photos.
Be well, and appreciate what you have,
Neil

Boudhanath

Dharma talks are held occasionally for Westerners. Today there was a talk in the Sheto (white) Gompa from Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. It was about 2 hours long and after the rigorous yoga sessions, a few more hours of sitting on a hard floor was kind of hard on the back. It was very interesting though. The Gompa is beautiful as you see in the pictures. I then went on to Kopan Monastery, but no dharma talks there as there is a very large retreat happening. From Kopan, though, you can see Boudha, the airport and much of the Kathmandu valley.

Impressions of Kathmandu to consider:

- the pollution - the dust and exhaust is bad - motorcyles, taxis, lorries, tuk-tuks

- the beggars - women, men, kids with stumps from some unknown cause begging for alms, the poverty overwhelming

- the aggressive SADHU's wanting to place a tikka on your forehead, don't look at them, ignore them or wave them away!

- the hash sellers, quietly offering a smoke!

- the crush of traffic - bikes, motorbikes, cars, people walking, trucks, army jeeps, etc.

- the sticky heat +28 in the day, 80-90% humidity

- the tiger balm sellers, chess sets, flutes, beads, mini violins, carvings all for barter on the street, BUT don't make eye contact or you are in for a sales pitch

- the police and military everywhere but not doing much, although traffic control is better than 2 years ago.

- the local talk about the plane crash 7 days ago - close to the time I was to fly to Lukla on my original itinerary to Imja Tse (good decision there!)

- the wonderful greeting NAMASTE, everyone offers with palms in prayer position - "the light within me greets the light within you"

- the plethora of little shops most about 8 feet wide by 12-20 foot deep chock ablock full of everything from incense, Thangkas, carvings, black market CD's, books, gray market North Face and Mountain Hardware clothing, pashmina shawls, and tons of jewellry, ghurka knives and well, plain old junk.

- polluted rivers, smell like sewers, filled with plastic bags, garbage, birds, people, dogs

Well, that is a small look into this interesting city. This will be my last post before heading into the Langtang on Monday for 2 weeks of trekking. I meet my guide tomorrow, need to pack, bank, etc. get ready. More later.

Namaste, Neil

The wonder of KATHMANDU

After nearly 36 hours of flying, I finally arrived in KTM at 9:30 at night Tuesday. I found this time that I could not watch the little screens as I kept falling asleep. The twelve hour layover in Hong Kong gave me an opportunity to take the train into downtown. HK reminds me of Bangkok. I walked around, ate Dim Sum and headed back to the airport. The smell of Kathmandu city hits you as soon as you step off the plane, heat, humidity, pollution! The crush of taxi drivers and porters anxious for your business provides an interesting greeting at the airport. Lok met me and took me to Hotel Tibet where I quickly fell asleep.

I have spent the past 2 days in yoga classes with Akhil Bhattacharya at Patanjali yoga centre. There were a fun couple from Spain (he is Spanish, she is Mexican!) Patanjali is the one Lyle invited me to visit 2 years ago. Akhil is a very outgoing Indian Yogi who delivered some great yoga sessions. My hips are aching, but it was great learning with the Eastern influence. I can't wait to bring some new things to my students back home. We were given lunch each day - rice, dahl, curry potato, goat weed, chapatis and a wonderful fruit in curd (home made yogurt) healthy and delicious.

Yesterday was my 3rd day in KTM and after yoga the Spanish couple and I walked back to Thamel and I headed out to Boudha, the Tibetan quarter with the huge stupa. Went to the Tibetan carpet showroom and now have a couple of beautiful meditation mats. Walked the kora, had some dinner and headed back to the hotel. My plan is to go to Kopan, the monastery on the edge of town. There may be some Dharma talks there.

Just want to say thanks to everyone for supporting me in this adventure, especially Gloria and my family.