Yesterday afternoon was my shopping adventure to Bhairahawa – a bit of a highlight in the midst of general inactivity and quietness at the centre. So after lunch I headed off in the taxi – a small transit van – with Moe Thu and Nwe Mu and driver, Birjish. I had had the idea to buy a bit of tinsel to put on the serving table or some other small Christmas decoration but this was a bit of a radical idea apparently so to satisfy the desire for a bit of Christmas I bought 3 big boxes of chocolates for the yogis - one box is shaped like a Christmas tree – very subtle but still not sure if it will cause a ripple or two. There are some underlying currents here that can catch the unwary by surprise – a bit like a rip under a seemingly calm and inviting sea. Will have to see if I can keep my head above water – either that or give up swimming! (And I did see a few fake Christmas trees on display outside one shop - oh well.)
Anyway, had great fun out - much more entertaining than a visit to Coles Katoomba – although perhaps it’s the novelty factor. I got my new pillow – it’s so comfortable compared to the compressed cotton wadding one that is standard at the centre. Then another stop for mens’s socks, for a meditator who arrived with only one pair, and a separate shop for ladies socks for me a few doors up. Then envelopes up the road. In each of these Moe Thu insisted on loudly and abruptly throwing out some embarrassingly low counter offer when the price was mentioned, which was usually tolerated with good humour but in the pillow shop got the cold shoulder - all part of the entertainment. It hardly seemed worth hassling over 10 rupess for a 70 rupee ($1) pair of socks. I got to practice a bit of my very limited Nepali, which was reciprocated with friendly graciousness. After some purchases at the grocery store (no bargaining - fixed prices) I asked the driver to take us to one of the local sweet and tea shops – a bit of a local institution, which I had visited in the past - where I treated us all to Nepali tea, Indian sweets and samosas.
The last stop was the subaji (sp?) (vegetable) market – where Moe Thu’s bargaining got really fierce to the amusement of the stall holders, as well just the sight of we three foreigners – two Burmese who speak enough Hindi to get by, and one Westerner, who speaks virtually none. We all had tanaka (a Burmese “cosmetic” made from a paste of water and ground sandalwood that turns yellow on the skin) on our faces, which added to our novelty value. The market had a great selection of locally grown vegetables laid out on plastic sheeting on the ground and we spent a good hour there sourcing the best quality and best deals.
All up we spent about 3 and a half hours in Bhairahawa – so with the 40 minute drive either way it was getting late in the day and as we drove back we watched a giant red sun set and the full moon rise.
The next morning I had been pre warned that we would be off to the full moon get together of all the local sangha with and chanting from the various traditions (maximum 8 minutes please). At breakfast Saydaw called me over and mentioned he and Sayalay would not be attending and could I please make the announements for all the groups if a certain Dr Kuypers was not there. “What!” I replied. Then shrugged and said ok. I mulled over this while eating my breakfast – didn’t know Dr Kuypers, the sangha didn’t know me, was it suitable for a very casually dressed foreign women to be the MC for the sangha’s monthly chanting event. Oh well – I just hoped Dr Kuypers would be there. And he was - thank you Buddha, God or anyone else who may have had anything to do with it.
Moe Thu, New Myu and I walked down to the Sacred garden area through the early morning mist and into the Nepalese temple for a 7 am start. It was an interesting morning - 7 groups chanted – Japanese, Theravadans as a whole, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, Tibetan and the two Chinese nuns. I have to say the Tibetan chanting got my vote for musicality – it was very beautiful – a large group of young monks and nuns with various harmonies blending together in that deeply resonant tone typical of the Tibetan traditions. And there was an interesting use of drums and gongs and bowing by some of the other sangha groups. After the chanting we were all served crispy fried sweets with salty butter tea (can’t quite get used to the taste so gulped it down quickly - only to be offered some more!).
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