Out of the frying pan into the fire

Plane was delayed and whilst we were waiting we got talking to a Swedish medic, she has been here with her family for 3 years. She lives in Tansen and could not believe it when we said we were there this time last year, as not many tourists go there. Synchronicity once again.
Back in Kathmandu, which is a bit of a relief as I was getting eaten by the moozi's And panicking because I have realised that I have not brought my emergency antibiotics, to take if my right arm gets attacked. I have also left my lemsip pills which I could also do with as my throat is on fire and my sinus's are killing me. This happens every time I come here. I just cant take the dust and pollution I guess.
Have bought a Tara Thanka this afternoon, Tara is goddess of healing and business, so I thought she was appropriate for my new start. I shall put her in my shed along with my glow in the dark Buddha. I am anxious to change the look of my shed, but only slightly, as I see a new beginning, so this is the perfect excuse to do my favourite thing and shop. I also want another Ganashe as he is the God of new beginnings, but as he is predominately Hindu I shall find him in India. And tonight at the Stupa another big celebration with the monks sharing out all the sweets. This time we donated some biscuits and then one of the monks who keeps nodding and smiling at me gave me some back. So we gave them to an old lady who just sits by the Stupa and chants all day long, never asking for anything. I thought she deserved some sweetness in her life so I hope she enjoys them.
Off tomorrow to the Tara school and hopefully to meet Ani, I have enjoyed her music so much during my SOL and it would be really good to tell her face to face

Once bitten twice shy

Its not funny cos its driving me mad- I have a mosquito bite. On the top of my right big toe. The Reiki Ravers amongst you will recall a similar bite which caused much hilarity on the long road back from Pokhara. Well this bugger is in exactly the same place !! Talk about lighting not stiking in the same place twice. It swelled up like an egg before bursting in the disgusting way these things do ugh!
Got up at 6.30 am this morning to take another walk into Lumbini. Decided to go early as yesterday we were beaten by the heat. It was a lovely walk and we spent 5 or so hours wandering around the various monasteries. The German monastery is by far the best and we got a whole room of monks chanting thrown in!! We stood and watched and listened to the multi toned Mantra's for quite a long time. It was really calming and peaceful. We were allowed a quick tour round and it was funny to see all the young monks- some were quite small, looking up and giggling as they watched us walk by. I couldnt resist a grin and a wink back. Just one moment of connection in eternity but very much enjoyed by me. Walking on I had the terrible feeling that I needed the toilet- this is not a good idea in these places, however if I was to continue the day I realised I would have to succumb to the ' public ' toilet.  Having prepared myself by putting on my face mask and taking some ' wet ones' with me I bravely sallied forth. On the way in I noticed a sign' long 10 rupees short 5 rupees'. Deciding I only needed a' short'  we had a moment of panic. Our smallest money was a 500 rupee !! Thankfully no one was on the door so I sculked in for a freebie. Oh the joys of having to squat whilst trying to keep your trouser legs off the floor and away from the flow !! Having sucessfully completed my mission, I came out and passed the baton to Dennis. Whilst he was enjoying the local facilities two dirty kids came up and demanded  5 rupees. OMG I thought how can I get out of this? They stood there with thier hands out so I gave them a wet one each and said back '5 rupees please'.  They then proceeded to copy me wiping their hands, the wet one was very dirty by the time they followed me onto thier faces, the boy screwing his nose up at the smell of the anti bac wet wipe !! I bet they have never been as clean as that since the day they were born. They continued to fleece me of wet wipes until Dennis reappeared.  There were a small selection of stalls and I couldnt resist a glow in the dark Buddha wall hanging. Perfect for the shed. Then onto the Buddha Garden which was much busier than yesterday, however I was able to get a good meditation whilst Dennis walked amongst a load of ladies from Sri Lanka, one of which gave him some nuts that were really hot !! What do we say about accepting sweets from strangers !! Suffice it to say he was eager to get back to where I was sitting for a good glug of water.   On the way back to the Rickshaw boys- we gave in because we were tired out and decided we enjoyed the experience yesterday. Tomorrow we head back for Kathmandu and a cooler climate. Hopefully no dreaded moozies !!

Emotion is taking me over

Walked to the Buddha garden this morning, it was really warm.  It is a beautiful calm place, the trees are weighed down by prayer flags. Monks and holy men sit under the trees, many of them Bodhi trees of course. We spent ages in the garden just sitting and watching the other pilgrims come and go. Pray and chant.  The peace of the place was tangible. After a while I decided to meditate. Whilst in my meditation tears started to flow down my cheeks. This was a complete suprise to me when it happened, but it does makes sense. I was releasing.  I never thought I would come here again. Those tears were an acknowledgement of what has happened and the relief that I am able to come back here to give thanks. An emotional release.
Funnily enough, last time we were here there were loads of pilgrims, we were able to take photo's of the actual birthplace and the ambience was perfect. Today we were practically the only ones looking at the spot and the guards would not allow us to take pictures. There were not so many pilgrims so the atmosphere whilst peaceful did not give off the power that we experienced last time. When we went to look at the temples many were closed, whereas last time we sat in on many of the practices. It was a bit the same in Kathmandu, the temples we spent time in last year were closed in preparation for Loshar. Now I am beginning to wonder if I got some special spiritual dispensation last time. Were doors opened for me to give me the spiritual strength I would need on my return home ? Was I given special treatment?. It certainly now feels like it.  Anyhow, as it approached 2pm the temperature soared. We had to give up, I had the strenght to carry on walking but the sun was so hot. The back of my neck is very red and I was getting concerned about my right arm. We didnt bring any sunscreen as its not been needed before. So we found a rickshaw station and paid £2 each for our own rickshaw to bring us the 2 miles back to our hotel, where after a bit of lunch we fell asleep for a good couple of hours. Tomorrow we shall return to finish our tour of the temples. But we shall leave at 7am or so, before it gets to hot.

Lumbini - Buddha's birthplace

Cant believe I was so pleased to arrive in Lumbini this afternoon. After Kathmandu it is so peaceful. The drive from the airport is amazing, through lush green fields full of crops and fat farm animals. Everyone and everything seems far more healthy.  The fresh air was brilliant, I couldnt believe how much cleaner it was. Heavily scented with some kind of crop or flowers, it was heavenly to take real deep breaths. Now I know why I have to wear a mask in Kathmandu otherwise I cant breathe after a few days. I really did appreciate the difference in air quality.

Our hotel the Buddha Maya Garden is as lovely as we remembered and the staff are very helpful. After a rest I walked down into the grounds and enjoyed a meditation in a pagoda with its own Buddha. The peace and quiet was wonderful. Just me, the Buddha and the rustle of the wind in the trees. A moment to give thanks to the Universe for getting me back here. An appreciation of all that I have in my life, when so many in the world have so little. Tomorrow we shall walk to the Buddha Gardern and queue with the hoards of pilgrims to witness the spot where he was born from his mothers armpit. Then we shall wander around the garden and listen to the many different chants from all nationalities, brought together from all over the world for one common goal.

What a night !!

What a night !! Fell asleep as soon as I got into bed, then at midnight firecrackers were set off everywhere. Then the local monestary started its celebrations at which point the street dogs started theirs. !! Not much sleep after that . We were up early this morning to go to the Monestary for celebration of Losher. When we arrived it was chaos. Loads of locals were all busy taking photos of the Abbot there. We were also included in a group shot of about  150 people. Im not sure if we will be spotted ! Everyone was wishing us Tashe Delek, including the Abbot after we received his blessing,  We then were led into another room where sweets and tea were waiting for us. Those of you that know me, know I hate tea. I couldnt refuse this however and when it came, it was Butter tea.  Ugh how disgusting! I had a very small sip to be polite, it was fatty and tasted of Butter, Tea and Salt. I could not take anymore even though Daniel said the trick was to think of it as soup. More like soap !!
Then a quick revisit to the Monkey Temple then off to Chhewangs sisters for lunch. We had typical Nepalese food, very nice & spicy, almost too much for Dennis. She made a lovely fresh tomatoe pickle that was hot hot hot.  Her children - who were really well behaved and spoke better English than me, then all performed for us. The eldest who is teenage got out her guitar and sang us a cranberries song.  She was very good . By the time we got back to the hotel we were both exhuasted and caught up on a bit of sleep. Then off to flavors where this post was started, but not finished. We had a powercut whilst I was doing this and so I am finishing in the hotel reception, it is 8.30 local time 2.30 UK time, Dennis is still in bed.  Flying to Lumbini ( Buddha's birthplace) this morning.

Tibetan New Year's Eve

The energy around the Stupa is brilliant !! I have a theory - that all the hopes and dreams of millions of locals  over the last thousand plus years has just expanded layer on layer until it is almost tangible. On the other hand our churches now seem very empty, the energy is only an echo of the past. You can still feel it if you really empty your mind. But this place is buzzing, like an electrical cable. Tonight there was a big ceremony as the monks blessed offerings of sweet things and then distributed them amongst the pilgrims, some of whom would have travelled for days to get here.  We watched the distribution which turned into a bit of a bun fight,  and at the end one of the monks reached out to Dennis to give him a packet of biscuits. Dennis thinking others needed them much more than him, tried to decline. I took them, with the monk making it clear they were really for Dennis. The reason I took them is that it is considered wrong not to accept a gift of kindness from the monks. Dennis then redistributed them to one of the local street children. So all was made good.  Earlier on this afternoon it was like Christmas Eve at home, all the locals rushing around last minute shopping. The gift of choice seems to be a pot of wheat. This is to represent flour and to bring plenty of it in over the coming year. We bought one as a gift as we have been invited to a Bon celebration early tomorrow morning, followed by a lunch at Chhewang's sisters. So as a gift we bought a pot of wheat, strange I know, its like being given a Poinsettia at Christmas. But I understand the sentiment of it, and we feel privileged to be invited into someone's home on such an important day. We are currently in a local restaurant - Flavors, being waited on by little people. We have had a lovely meal and look forward to tomorrow. Happy New Year from Bouda Stupa xxxx

Halfway There

Its 5 am our time and 8am in Doha. We had a good first flight and now waiting for flight to Kathmandu in about 1 hours time. We are knackered. I got about 10 mins on the plane and Dennis had about 20 mins just now. He has now got up and gone for a walk and missed the excitement about me connecting to the web and doing this, isnt technology amazing ?. The airport is really cosmopolitan with lots of Arab ladies in all thier gear looking very glam. I look like a sack of spuds !! Oh well, next time.  We just had a couple of coffee's that cost us £7, so not looking for a bar ( actually there isnt one- I think this is a dry country. Surrounded by Nepalese guys all looking very tired. But that will change when they call our flight as they suddenly get an adrenaline rush and push everyone out of the way in the stampede to board the plane !! I know I will be excited when I get to Kathmandu but right now I feel completely exhausted.......