You can check out but you can never leave. That's the general sentiment in this town. I got wrapped up in the comfort and familiarity of hanging out with the friends that I made here and the pleasantness of the Tibetan community. I planned on leaving this morning for Bir but then decided to extend just one more day.
I went back to the thanka shop first thing in the morning. I loved talking to this woman, she smiles and truly loves each one of the pieces in her collection. What an expert practioner of non-attachment to not horde them all for herself. She's a student and practitioner of Tantric Buddhism and taught me a lot about the various deities and themes in the pieces she showed me.
Marleen brought out her treasure trove of the better paintings which she keeps hidden away so that casual visitors don't touch them and they are protected from negative energies. I wish she didn't. I found a couple smaller thangkas that were outrageously priced but when I saw them they each respectively called out Suzanne/ Chris and Alberto/ Stuart. The one that screamed Arthur will wait in case I find one in even more perfect in Ladakh or Khatmandu. Anyway, his piece is how I see the man so it's not necessarily anything he needs to possess to remind himself to be. I chose brocades for my two pieces and they should be housed by the next morning.
I met up with the crew, sadly minus Stephan, but happily now with Vanessa for dinner at the Korean restaurant. Vanessa is traveling with the mysterious Nick who's feet I saw poking up, from under a sheet, on their bed when I knocked on their door. I had met them very briefly a couple of days earlier when I suggested my hotel to them. Nick immediately came down with a miserable amoebic infection which had him incapacitated for days.
Vanessa and Nick had been teaching in Korea for the last few years so we had her choose the dishes for us. She wrote the order in Korean and the waiter explained to us that the chef wasn't actually Korean. Not a good sign, but the food turned out to be amazing. I said my goodbyes after dinner but no one believed I was actually going anywhere so we said our see-you-laters.
I went back to the thanka shop first thing in the morning. I loved talking to this woman, she smiles and truly loves each one of the pieces in her collection. What an expert practioner of non-attachment to not horde them all for herself. She's a student and practitioner of Tantric Buddhism and taught me a lot about the various deities and themes in the pieces she showed me.
Marleen brought out her treasure trove of the better paintings which she keeps hidden away so that casual visitors don't touch them and they are protected from negative energies. I wish she didn't. I found a couple smaller thangkas that were outrageously priced but when I saw them they each respectively called out Suzanne/ Chris and Alberto/ Stuart. The one that screamed Arthur will wait in case I find one in even more perfect in Ladakh or Khatmandu. Anyway, his piece is how I see the man so it's not necessarily anything he needs to possess to remind himself to be. I chose brocades for my two pieces and they should be housed by the next morning.
I met up with the crew, sadly minus Stephan, but happily now with Vanessa for dinner at the Korean restaurant. Vanessa is traveling with the mysterious Nick who's feet I saw poking up, from under a sheet, on their bed when I knocked on their door. I had met them very briefly a couple of days earlier when I suggested my hotel to them. Nick immediately came down with a miserable amoebic infection which had him incapacitated for days.
Vanessa and Nick had been teaching in Korea for the last few years so we had her choose the dishes for us. She wrote the order in Korean and the waiter explained to us that the chef wasn't actually Korean. Not a good sign, but the food turned out to be amazing. I said my goodbyes after dinner but no one believed I was actually going anywhere so we said our see-you-laters.
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