Last Day in Kathmandu

(Leah and I recently returned from a three week trip to India and Nepal. This is the last of 16 daily posts I've done, sharing photos and journal notes I made as we traveled.)

Kathmandu, Nepal
July 19, 2014

I don't know that I'm willing to call this journey that Leah and I have been on the past three weeks "The Trip of a Lifetime." That sounds a little final, like there won't be other trips in our future.

It has, however, really been something, and I appreciate it so much that you've joined along, via these posts. I do hope you have enjoyed yourself.

Our last day in Kathmandu looked like this:
--We made one last trip to our hosts' neighborhood market, and the three pictures you see above were made in the alleyways along the way. All reflect the color and humanity to be found on the streets of the city, but I particularly like the top image because it seems joyous and hopeful, the way Kathmandu feels to me.
--We spent some time in our hosts' kitchen (see photos below) and, as our friend Saraswati cooked, I photographed the wonderful braid that hung down her back. We all laughed, shared food,  used my camera to shoot goofy "selfies," and enjoyed a few last hours of visiting.
--Our friends asked me to shoot a few "family pictures," and Leah and I were flattered to be included in some of those. Bhagawati (last image, on the left) and Saraswati dressed Leah up for the photos, then insisted that she take the outfit home as a gift.

We head for the Kathmandu airport in just a few hours. We should be back in Seattle by early afternoon Sunday.

Thanks again for reading!

Afloat?

(Leah and I recently returned from a three week trip to India and Nepal. This is the 15th of 16 daily posts I will do, sharing photos and journal notes I made as we traveled.)

Kathmandu, Nepal
July 19, 2014


Our Nepali hosts took us to Kathmandu's ancient and amazing Pashupati Temple today, our last full day of this trip, and, if there is a place on this planet where the Human Experience is more in-your-face, I am pretty sure I am not enough of a stoic to handle it.

As I walked around the temple grounds, I was part of a crowd of people so diverse -- beggars, the affluent, individuals who are faithful, and I'd guess some who are not -- that I couldn't help but think about that famous newsreel film clip of the crashing of the Hindenburg, where the announcer keeps exclaiming "Oh, the humanity! Oh, the humanity!"

The temple's recorded history dates back to the time of the birth of Christ, and today it  is sacred to Hindus, Buddhists, and others.  It is a place for prayer and meditation, for very public funerals and cremations -- smoke from the burning bodies hangs in the air over the temple -- as well as a market where visitors can shop for candles and flowers to leave at the temple as offerings, or buy gifts to take back home.

As always, I wanted to be a humble --and I hope respectful -- visitor and observer,  while trying my best to stay emotionally afloat and positive in that sea of humanity.

 

Coming Full Circle

(Leah and I recently returned from a three week trip to India and Nepal. This is the 14th of about 16 daily posts I will do, sharing photos and journal notes I made as we traveled.)

Kathmandu, Nepal
July 18, 2014

Leah and I traveled to Nepal in 2007, and it turned out to be a trip loaded with many "firsts."

--It was our first trip overseas.
--The trek we did to Kala Patar near the Mt. Everest Base Camp was the first time I'd experienced any problems with altitude sickness, even though I'd climbed most of the highest peaks in the Cascades, including eight times to the summit of Mt. Rainier.
--It was the first time Leah was no-contest stronger on a mountain trip than I was (the altitude sickness reduced me to a whimpering wreck.)
--That trip was the first time I met Tibetan refugees, or visited a Buddhist monastery.

Today our Nepali host (he was our guide in 2007) took Leah and me on a walking tour of the neighborhood where he lives in Kathmandu. The tour included the traditional, circular kora walk around Boudanath Stupa, a sacred site which, on our trip here seven years ago, was my first encounter with Tibetan Buddhism...but it sparked something that is a huge part of who I am today.

As we joined the pilgrims making the clockwise circle around the stupa seven years ago, I was very much a tourist.

Today I felt right at home.

Kathmandu from a Rooftop

(Leah and I recently returned from a three week trip to India and Nepal. This is the 13th of about 15 daily posts I will do, sharing photos and journal notes I made as we traveled.)

Kathmandu, Nepal
July 14, 2014

This is summer monsoon season in Nepal, which made our flight last night from India into this Himalayan city:
A: An Air Travel Adventure, and
B: Visually stunning.

The flight from Delhi to Kathmandu normally takes just a bit over an hour, but, last night, as our flight began its descent into Kathmandu, our pilot was informed that a heavy, monsoon-season rainstorm made a landing impossible. Our plane went back to India.

An hour or so later, the Kathmandu weather improved enough so that our plane could make a second attempt. I had a window seat, and my view of the sun, setting into the abating storm clouds,  was incredible.

We landed safely in Kathmandu. Leah and I made our way through a number of points of security officialdom to get our passports stamped and Nepal visas approved, then, happily  met up with our Nepali friends who, we learned, had been waiting at the Kathmandu airport for 5 hours for our arrival.

Our friends took us to their home where we had a wonderful reunion visit, after which everyone retired for the evening.

During the night, I awoke in a sweat, barely making it to the toilet in time to be sick.
(Leah had a bout with Delhi Belly a couple of days earlier, and now it was my turn.)

Today I still feel crummy, and am laying low at our friends' home, limited to "sightseeing" from the rooftop of their home in the "New City" neighborhood of Kathmandu.

I may not be feeling my best, but I'm well enough to be wowed by what I'm seeing of this amazing city.

Honoring Elders

(Leah and I recently returned from a three week trip to India and Nepal. This is the 12th of about 15 daily posts I will do, sharing photos and journal notes I made as we traveled.)

Leh, Ladakh (India)
Sunday, September 13, 2014

Two days ago, Leah and I -- and about 150,000 others who are here this week for the Kalachakra teachings -- took part in the celebration held to honor the 79th birthday of His Holiness, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. Because the Dalai Lama has a twinkle in his eye and a boyish, sometimes-mischievous laugh that seem to belong to someone much younger, I hear that plans are already underway for a party of major proportions when he turns 80.

Though I have photographed people of all ages during our time here, this surely seems to be a culture that honors its elders. Everywhere we went in Leh, there were older Ladakhis and Tibetans who were out, living active, involved lives. The  Kalachakra grounds were in a very remote area that required a lot of walking in the intense, high-desert heat. Nevertheless, it appeared to be a given that grandma or grandpa would join the younger family members on the pilgrimage to the teaching.

We depart Ladakh early tomorrow morning, and I will be sad to leave. I do, however, look forward to getting to a less remote place where telephone service is easier.  My mother is in her 80's,  and, except for the days that Leah and I have been on this trip,  I typically talk to Mom every day. I want to call her and tell her I have been thinking of her.

Hemis Festival

(Leah and I recently returned from a three week trip to India and Nepal. This is the 11th of about 13 daily posts I will do, sharing photos and journal notes I made as we traveled.)

Hemis Monastery, Ladakh
July 13, 2014

Today Leah and I hired a driver with a sturdy vehicle and nerves of steel to take us out the winding, bumpy, precipitous road that climbs high above the Indus River out to three secluded monasteries:  Shey, Thikse, and Hemis. Our ultimate destination was the annual Hemis Festival, an amazing and colorful spectacle of Tibetan Buddhist ceremonial dance.

Though we came to Ladakh primarily to attend the Kalachakra teaching by the Dalai Lama, we found that the teaching schedule was such that we could squeeze in the trip to Hemis, and we jumped at the opportunity.