Nepal – day 3: walking along Namobuddha road

Today I realized I came home from my Nepal trip three weeks ago. A number of people have complimented me on the photo’s I have posted so far, and asked when I was going to post the rest. I have to tell you: I have discovered a little hesitant to do so. Every time I post the next the next instalment of images it brings me closer to completing this project. The fact is, the memory of the trip is so sweet, I don’t want it to be over.

< previous Nepal report | walking around the monastery >

Slowly I am waking up to the fact that the trip has touched me deeper than I had realized. And as mich as I think as I think about it, I cannot put my finger on the reason why… it’s really odd! A friend asked me this week what I thought of Nepal. I wrote: Nepal is poor, dirty, chaotic, noisy, shocking — and I have a strong desire to go back! In fact, when I am on the cross-trainer at the gym, I imagine myself climbing the hill to Namo Buddha again. Which is odd, because it was a really heavy walk.

I can tell you one reason why I loved it so much: I found the people absolutely beautiful. Take the woman in the image at the top of this post. There is no make-up. There is no cosmetic surgery. No attempt to be more than who she is. Yet I find there is such a beauty; it almost brings tears to me eyes. I can look at a photo like that for quite a while.

Let me tell you about the morning of day three. We were staying at Namo Buddha, one of the holiest places in Buddhism. It is a large temple, as well as education centre for young monks (age 8 and up). We rose with the monks and attended their chanting in the temple. Unfortunately we were not allowed to photograph this. Too bad, because rather experiencing this as a religious experience, I was just so entertained by the young monks trying to chant, while goofing off, exchanging sweets, yawning, hiding snacks from the supervisor, and just being boys. Quite funny. After breakfast we walked down to the village for an exploration of the area. These photo’s are from that trip.

I took loads of photo’s, but rather than overwhelm you with images, I just want to show you a few of my favourite. As always, you can click to see them larger.