Sunday, January 30, 2011
Photos for Ordination, bus and Kathmandu
An ordination a loooong bus trip and Kathmandu
Today was the last day of work for me with the archaeological team. Scrubbed a few more pieces of old pots this morning then finished off sharing a farewell cuppa with four of the team at the local tea shop accompanied by some cake I had brought along from the centre. I was hoping to score a lift in their bus to Kathmandu – have planned a trip there to deliver some documents, including my one-year visa application. I’m not sure how long I will end up staying but the current visa I have expires mid February – it’s nearly been 3 months I will have been in Nepal – time has flown by and in some ways I’m only just settling into life here.
My days are fairly leisurely in a meditation centre sort of way. This morning I woke up at 2 am and sat up to meditate for a couple of hours before then doing some lying practice. As often happens in this position I dropped off after some time and work up at 6,30 just in time to get over to the dining room for breakfast – buffulo yogurt with apple, home made wholemeal bread with buffalo cheese and tea. This is my regular morning fare but occasionally I get special treatment from the Burmese ‘nieces’ and a bowl of Mohinga or Kow Shwey (fish soup/coconut broth) appears at my place at the dining table. I’m not sure what I’ve done to deserve this and many other little treats but it is very pleasant. I also seem to be able to do what I like – come and go, stay in my room and meditate or do yoga, go to Kathmandu etc etc.
In the few days before heading to Kathmandu there was an ordination ceremony at the Burmese temple. A Burmese Australian man from Coffs Harbour – on a pilgrimage to the Buddhist sites in India and Nepal - took robes temporarily, and also a Burmese woman pilgrim became a nun. The monk’s ceremony was much more elaborate and formal, with monks coming from India to make up the required numbers - while the nun had her head shaved, slipped into her robes and that was it (I missed that bit as I was on my bike chasing up the water filter man who had just arrived in Lumbini from Kathmandu by bus and was lost.) After the ceremony it was photo time –many still and video cameras were in action an Westerners are such a novelty. I think thee are more photos of me floating around in strangers cameras than there are in all the family albums. Then I was invited to stay on for lunch where I had a chat with the Aussie monk and with a Finnish woman Taria who was the guest of some people attending. She was taken for my sister - had pale skin, blue eyes, light hair, comparable facial features – relative to Nepalis - and was around the same age (do all Westerners look the same?!!!!)
Have I am now in Kathmandu - been here for four nights – and leaving tomorrow morning back to Lumbini. It’s been good to have a bit of time to myself as well as do some useful tasks for the centre. I took a “mini” bus to Kanthmandu and was assured - twice - that it would take 8 hours max. that it would leave at 7 am (“arrive by 6.30”) and that there would be only two passenger stops and a lunch break. Mmm – a bit of an interesting interpretation of the situation. The “mini” bus (as compared to a “micro” bus which wouldn’t come to Lumbini as I was only purchasing one ticket) was an old rattler with many seats but these only made for very short and skinny people. I was packed in with a large Argentinian tourist although there were many empty seats at this stage. We finally headed off about 7.30 – fortunately I had decided that 6.45 was early enough to arrive . We then proceeded to Kathmandu – yes there were two big stops at bus depots, but also stops at any place along the road where there were potential passengers, and a stop for lunch and two tea stops. There were two bus “conductors” – young guys who hung out the door of the bus attempting to entice people to come to Kathmandu with us. We were a mixed bunch – me the only Western woman, the Argentinian, two South African guys, families of holidaying Nepalis returning home, various locals hitching a short leg of the trip and three Indian Sadhus with tridents (Shaivites)– one who refused to sit down for the whole journey. This was quite an accomplishment as the trip actually took 11 hours (admittedly that included the stops). I had a really pleasant Nepali woman sitting next to me for most of the time– the man moved - who could speak a little English and shared a few snacks. There was also a sweet young girl about 13, with her mum, who chatted with me at lunch to practice her English – a favourite subject at school. The road was pretty narrow once we headed up into the hills from the plains, and it is the main route between India and Kathmandu – so plenty of traffic. For quite a time we looked from the bus down into the Trisuli River – a steep drop off the edge of the road – where a number of vehicles are known to have dropped off
The bus finally ended up at the city bus park after dark around 6pm and then I had another 30 minutes in a taxi to get to my guest house – food and bed – heaven. The trip was something not to be repeated again too soon but it was interesting to see the country in this way – usually I go to Lumbini by plane – which is how I’m returning even though it’s a lot more costly ($109 compared with 430 rupees for the bus – about $6.30).
The main reasons for the trip were to deliver visa applications and to meet up with a lawyer who is working on a brief for the protection of the Lumbini environment. I spent three hours in his office the day after landing In Kathmandu discussing the issue and presenting him and 2 colleagues with a range of hard copy documents and downloading more into his computer from a portable hard drive I had brought from Lumbini. He kindly got his staff to cook lunch – a traditional Nepali meal, which I don’t get to eat that often.
I then had a long walk from his office into Thamel the main tourist area of Kathmandu to buy myself a few new clothes. Having packed so many extra “needs “ in my pack from Oz I realised that I didn’t have so much to wear. Clothes shopping is really not my forte –so I ended up with a few things that I’m not sure I really will use courtesy of two vey smooth sales men – but will wait and see.
The next day I had two meditation centres to visit. The first stop was Venerable Nyanaponika’s monastery, a Nepali monk I had met in Oz 26 years ago when he accompanied the senior monk and meditation teacher Sayadaw U Pandita as his translator. This centre was where the Venerable Mahacara – the monk who had had pneumonia was staying. He was flying back to Malaysia that day and I had a few things to pas on to him before he left. It was great to see him so recovered - he was effusive with his thanks, to me and all others who had some part in supporting him during his illness. He really was pretty lucky to be alive. Then off to another centre to drop off the three visa applications - one mine – that have to do the rounds of three Government ministries before final approval. My tourist visa expires on Feb 15 and it’s unlikely the new visa will be ready by then. I have been assured I won’t be thrown into prison for overstaying my visa – hope this is right! I met a journalist in a tea shop the other day who invited me to visit the women’s prison to see how appalling the conditions were – an invitation I considered taking up but in the end it didn’t work out.
Next chore was chasing up a spirometer. I think I can safely say that a new one does not exist anywhere within Nepal, because I’m sure I went to every medical supply store in the capital, also dropped into two local hospitals and asked medical staff and rang a few other suppliers. This piece of equipment is needed in Lumbini to conduct some tests on school children to see if their lung function has been affected by pollution – (the longer version of what this is about I will leave for another time).
So with the main chores accomplished I have been lying in – have had internet access in my room so can sit up in bed and check emails, indulged in a few treats – found fresh strawberries in a street stall in central Kathmandu 2 days ago - a luxury I was hoping to repeat and share with Lumbini-ites but not another strawberry to be seen since then, a cappuccino and bread and butter pudding in a roof top café overlooking Boudhanath stupa, breakfast in the garden in the sun at the guest house and some hot showers!!!!!! My first hot shower for 6 weeks was the morning after the bus trip (and yes, I have washed in the interim but out of a bucket).
Today I took a taxi (actually 2 – as the first one broke down half way) to Patan, a World Heritage Listed area in greater Kathmandu, took a look at the museum and walked around the old section where there are some beautiful old buildings. Now I am sitting upon my bed my last night on the loose before the flight in the morning. It’s been hectics and pleasant but enough for the while. If other adventures are to be had I will hope to head up into the hills rather than to the city. But in the meantime there are busy times ahead as the centre is getting ready for and then having Sayadaw U Pandita visiting from Burma for a few weeks. Then soon after that Sayadaw Vivekananda is off for two months on his annual teaching tour. Not sure how this will be for me and what I will do over this time.
Another thing I have been doing here is having a bit of a look at Oz real estate on the internet. It was a bit of an unnerving experience I have to say - I realise I am no closer to knowing what to do – perhaps even less so as it has been out of my mind for the last few months. But I’ll have to sort it out sooner than later I reckon – Lil needs a home and so do I – at least as a base to take off from and might be good for others in the family to use too. Send good real estate vibes to me and I’ll trust that when I get back it will all be fine.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Photos of the red rocket and odd assortment
A new bike and a dramatic and crazy ambulance ride et al.
Since the last blog life has presented a few interesting diversions – of which I am still recovering. But no I didn’t have a bike accident requiring hospitalisation. But have to admit to a slight prang when christening the red rocket – yes, finally managed to get to Bhairahawa without too much shopping taking up all the room in the taxi, courtesy of a couple of yogis going to the airport - so I shared their taxi continued on into town and made the purchase. BJ (Birjesh)– the regular taxi driver - and I went to the bike shop and bought a flash red bike with black mudguards wide types and one shock absorber – thought they could be useful on the rough dirt roads around the Lumbini monastic area – also a nifty wire basket and bell from Singapore. Finished the deal with a glass of tea then loaded the bike onto the roof of the taxi van and took it back ‘home’ to the centre. I had to wait until after breakfast the next day to try it out – apart from a quick test run from the shop into the wilds of Bhairahawa traffic with motorbikes, trucks, buses, cars, rickshaws and other bikes to negotiate, which needless to say I didn’t venture too far into. There is such a wide variety of vehicles on the roads - from bullock carts to modern 4 wheel drives and everything imaginable in between. So it wasn’t until next morning I get to have my first real ride in the quieter Lumbini precincts – great! Then just as I was heading back on the last few hundred metres to the centre’s driveway two men on bikes approached from the opposite direction on their way to work. It just happened that we were crossing paths at the narrowest part of the track, which is very sandy, and with one man weaving from side to side best guessing which way I would take we misjudged each other and crashed – me ingloriously and embarrassingly falling off and landing in the dirt with bike on top in front of a group of workmen who were warming themselves by a roadside fire. With as much dignity as possible – very little - I extricated myself from bike with a bit of help, remounted and took off – fortunately with only my pride wounded. But since then a few rattles have imposed themselves on my biking experience – a rearranged mudguard I guess. But the bike has been great fun and very handy to ride up to the Maya Devi temple to do my volunteer bit for the archaeological team – paying 5rps (7 cents) to park it.
This ‘work’ hasn’t been too onerous to say the least – I just stand outside the entrance to the temple and talk to any one who speaks English and is interested enough to want to know what’s going on – not that many! I end up having all sort of conversations totally unrelated to the work but get to meet some interesting people. On the first day I met a small tour group of Aussies led by two people - Sharon and Glen - who live in India part of the year and know Sharon D. (they saw her very recently in Dharamsala). Also speak to lots of Nepalis, many who are travelling over the current winter school holidays – young students, families – and who want to have their photo taken with me – the exotic foreigner. The other day I had a chat with a swami from India who showed me photos of himself in various yoga postures and invited me to visit him in Bodhagaya – not sure if I’m that keen or if he would be if I really turned up.
Life got a bit more dramatic a few days ago, when an old monk from Malaysia became very unwell. I suggested to S & S that he should see a doctor suspecting pneumonia was a possibility. Very very fortunately a meditator who had just arrived the evening before was a doctor – there is no local full time doctor in Lumbini. She examined him in the morning and said he needed to be in hospital. He had to be lifted on a blanket by all the centre’s workmen into a taxi and Isa and I then accompanied him to a hospital in Bhairahawa. But with no ICU beds available and his condition deteriorating it was decided to put him in an ambulance to the next hospital with and ICU bed – 2 hours away. So with oxygen attached to keep him going, Isa and climbed into the back of the ambulance with him, holding him in the stretcher – no belts, many windy roads and ambulance driver an ex-trukkie. And with siren blaring, which is generally ignored by all, we weaved our way to Bharatpur hospital. By this time it was late arvo – I had only eaten at 6.30am, isa had gastro having just arrived from India and the monk needed intubation to keep him breathing. We were helped by so many great people – including the doctors, one who lent us money to pay for medicines, the ambulance driver who took us in the ambulance to a hotel then drove us out in it to have some dinner and back to our room – all in all a very surreal day.
I had gone out with just what I was standing in and 1500rps of my own money in my pocket (and $300 from the centre, which nobody wanted). Fortunately Isa had a little more but not by much. So we bought toothbrushes and toothpaste, slept at a local hotel, had a cold shower in the morning and headed back towards the hospital - changing the dollars and recharging the centre’s mobile phone – which had run out of credit – on the way. So a little unexpected holiday to the Chitwan area – and it was actually a lovely drive through some very scenic country, which I could see out the ambulance window when not pushing the pillow back under the monk’s head or trying to re-manoeuvre him back onto the stretcher after he was rearranged when the driver veered away from oncoming trucks.
S & S turned up the next afternoon to rescue us and a friend from Kathmandu came down to look after the monk (who remains in the ICU and although now extubated is still very unwell) – and we headed back to Lumbini arriving about 10pm of the second day. Needless to say Isa and I were very tired so now 2 days later have a slight cold and have spent the day in my room reading, meditating, imbibing assorted potions that have been provided by various people. Feel pretty good apart from aching back from sitting on my bed leaning over the computer – so will stop here. (Photos of ambulance and ICU to come later – Isa had her camera - not me.)
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Photos from the little fish
A little fish in a big and somewhat turbulent pond/friends from oz.
A couple of days ago I attended a UNESCO workshop organised to discuss various aspects of the Lumbini World Heritage site – the area around the Maha Devi Temple - the site of the Buddha’s birth and obviously a very significant place for devout Buddhists. Some of those attending included members of the Lumbini Development Trust (LDT) the Government management body headed by the Vice Chairman - a young and somewhat ‘strong minded’ Maoist/Tibetan monk, a German UNESCO rep. based in Nepal with his local staff, a Japanese professor of architecture and 2 colleagues, an English professor of archaeology and UNESCO consultant with his team, Dr Cuppers a German scholar & curator of the Buddhist archives in Lumbini, the LDT Nepali archaeologist and historian, a rep from the World Bank, a rep from the Japanese embassy in Nepal, a consulting engineer/environmentalist, Sayalay, Sayadaw and me. Two days of interesting presentations were held at a local hotel – the Buddha Maya Gardens – and there were some heated moments courtesy of the Vice Chair. There was also central heating and copious amounts of food – another good reason to attend. By comparison, here I am now – a few days later - sitting up in bed at 2 pm with blanket and sleeping bag over me wearing two jackets and hat (some yogis are suffering a lot from the cold – I’m fine). The weather is decidedly wintry with heavy damp mists in the morning and no sign of sun all day. I bravely stripped off at 5pm yesterday for a bucket bath – hair was getting pretty greasy and lank – with a damp towel to dry off with; and this was relatively luxurious - because it is not always possible to have the electricity working long enough at the right time of day to heat up the water in my bucket with a giant HW heating element (not to be seen in oz, perhaps because they break a safety standard or ten. I learnt the hard way on another trip - only needed once - when putting my hand into the bucket to check the water temperature and getting zapped!) We now have 11 hours electricity-free at present and there’s no real knowing when to expect it to come on and go off – despite official info. The hydro electricity supply diminishes at this time of year due to reduced water flow and turbines seem to blow up now and then, which adds to the cuts. The centre has three inverters, which means that some lights and essential items can mostly keep working.
Anyway, after that slight diversion, the first day of the workshop had individual sessions on the environment, the Master Plan for Lumbini, religious and historical textual evidence for Lumbini as the Buddha’s birth-place, archaeological work in the past and presently to be undertaken and Sayalay’s presentation about visitor’s perceptions of the heritage area. Some of these were very drawn out as academics don’t always seem to be able to contain themselves – and the scheduled times were long passed - and lunch late. Sayalay used quite a few of the photos I had taken on Christmas day - a couple that I have already posted. The photo with the t-short slogan – “We Will Save the Future” – a lucky shot and my favourite of the lot, of which the irony was well appreciated. So some of my photos may appear in a UNESCO report with all the other papers – probably to sit on a shelf in obscure offices in remote parts of the world.
I found the archaeology presentations – there was one on both days – the most interesting. It seems that in close proximity to the temple are the remains of the oldest known village in Asia – and some tests will be done on this area. Also samples will be taken of soil layers in the temple adjacent to the birthplace area itself that will enable accurate dating and provide info about human activities at that time. This is of major significance in such a revered site and the excavation work and ifindings could cause some concern to devotees - so volunteers are needed to explain to visitors what is happening. I am probably going to put some time in doing this – got the ok from Sayadaw - so will be a small part in this work, which goes for a month. Plan to buy the bike next week so I can ride down to the temple area – was already planning this purchase to get out and about more when I feel restless – now have an added incentive.
I met some interesting people and chatted to several locals at the workshop including the two library custodians – and as it does the conversation turned to coffee and I, while suffering a cup of instant with lunch, expressed my preference for the real thing. The next day a packet of ‘real’ organic Nepalese coffee arrived at the centre’s gate courtesy of Dr. Cuppers – delivered by one of his staff. So now I can indulge when the coffee cravings arise – not that this happens very often – have been consoling myself with masala chia or nepali tea, milk tea with cardamon. I can make this at the centre myself – which I have to say, modesty aside, is the best I’ve tasted – but there is a very pleasant cup to be had at the stall near the temple area, and, if I can get down in the morning, is a great accompaniment to fresh made puris and subaji (fried flat bread and spiced chick pea/vegetable mix). Have now been inspired to go and make a cuppa – so will finish of here for now- Namaste,
Tea made and drunk and while heading to the kitchen ran into a new arrival – a young friend from Melbourne who I met at BMIMC. We had a long chat catching up with each others news and that of other mutual friends It’s really lovely to have this personal connection with people from home. Although I don’t feel any obvious homesickness I do enjoy having a chat with someone who shares that oz commonality. Another Sydney friend Danny arrived here a few days ago – and so we went out for a talk and walked around a few of the closer temples. I took him to my favourite, the Manang temple – a small an fairly unassuming place compared to most of the grand temples in the area. It has a lovely peaceful garden and a small gompa with some lovely decorative paintings on the walls and ceiling. So now there are four Aussies here plus me and one more to arrive in the next day or so – that will be it for sometime. So will have to rely on chatting to the staff, the locals and maybe the English archaeology team if I end up doing the work.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Some well intentioned but slightly mis-seated young Nepalis
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)