Nepal

I arrived here almost one week ago now and am happy to say, I'm glad! It has a nice feel to it and so far, am having a great time taking it all in.

I am staying in a Tibetan refugee area just outside of kathmandu called, Bodhnath, or Boudha near the Boudha stupa (hemispherical Buddhist religious structure). This stupa is apparently the largest stupa in Nepal and one of the largest in the world. It's an amazing place as one can come here and see Tibetan life vibrant, successful and virutally unfettered. Its a fairly clean place and actually mostly paved with either slate or brick - wow, what a luxury to not have to walk in dirt or mud!

Since I have a Canadian acquaintance here that I met in France, I have been able to take advantage of locating activities that are not necessarily obvious to the average traveller. One example of this is attending Buddhism classes at a local monastery here called, Ka-Nying Sheldrup Ling Gompa through Rangjung Yeshe Institute for Buddhist Studies which is also the location of Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche (http://www.rangjung.com/authors/chokyi_nyima_rinpoche.htm) who founded the organization. So far I have been able to sit in on a Scriptures & Buddhist Philosphy classes for a week, all of which are quite interesting and deep! it is not uncommon to listen to lectures by various highly attained monks and teachers. Always seems like something is happening and life is never boring or dull.

The weather has finally cleared up from the monsoon season and I believe, we should have warm to hot clear days with cool evenings. it is said that this is the best time of year to come to nepal. (forgive the typing - terrible keyboards)