Day trek to a monastery

Hello from Washington DC. I am in the States for a NASPA Board meeting this week. The travel resulted in some delay in getting another post on this blog, but hopefully better later than not at all! 
Enjoying cold weather, and time with Tim before my meetings start. I will have to download his photos from Colonial Williamsburg and from Jamestown, and share those on this site as well.  But for now, more about Nepal!

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We crammed a lot into a week in Nepal.

We feel we had a good mix of activities during that week.
To add on at least a second or even a third week would allow substantial trekking (such as any of the Annapurna treks), as well as visiting Pokhara, and getting closer to the Himalayas so that you can see the amazing snow-capped peaks, including Mt. Everest. (After our drive from Kathmandu to Chitwan National Park, I would fly from Kathmandu to Pokhara ... just an fyi should you visit Nepal yourself, and a note to myself, in case Tim and I are fortunate enough to visit a second time.)

One of our days, we trekked a couple of hours both ways, with a destination of the Thrangu Tashi Yangtse monastery. 

Tibetan Buddhist, Lonely Planet's guide to Nepal (9th edition, July 2012) says it's "one of the three most important Buddhist pilgrimage sites in Nepal" (the others being Swayambhunath, or the Monkey Temple, and Bodhnath, which I'll share photos of in another post). "The site is sacred due to the inspiring legend about the Buddha, who, when in a previous life as a prince, encountered a tigress that was close to death from starvation and unable to feed her cubs. In an act of compassion he allowed the hungry tigress to consume him, a deed that transported him to the higher realms of existence." (p. 175)

Here are some photos of the colorful complex.

There was a variety of artwork, in addition to the colorful buildings themselves. Much of it portrays Buddha. 

Prayer flags are abundant in Nepal, and this monastery was no exception ...

One in particular was a bit too Stephen King's "It" for our tastes:

Okay, quickly back to less creepy images ...

The hike itself was wonderful as well. Our guide was Kamal (see my post on people of Nepal for a photo of Kamal and Tim), a lovely young man studying at university. We learned a lot from him about the Nepalese culture (Tim asked great questions about the caste system, for example), education, and the area we were hiking through because that is where he grew up and his family still farms.  On the way back from the monastery, we met his father who was herding their goats.

The scenery was breathtaking. (And especially after many months of beautiful but beige Abu Dhabi, green hills and blue skies and clouds were a welcome sight.)

The path we were on took as alongside homes and farms.

The yellow in the field is mustard. In this area they grow wheat, rice, mustard, primarily.  They use their eaves, roofs and tin shed covers for drying corn and other foods.

As part of our day, it was arranged for us to stop for coffee at a Nepalese farm house before heading to the monastery. On the return, the trek included lunch at the same house. 'Twas yummy! And such a special treat to enjoy this home-cooked meal.

There's cauliflower, potatoes, egg, rice, a Nepalese bread, cabbage.  Had we wanted to, we could eat in the style of Nepalese, with our right hand and no utensils. Hard to break the habit of eating with a fork :-)

It was hard to pick just a few photos to share, in writing about this trek. Between Tim and Hannah and I, we have SO many photos (of the entire trip, let alone of this one day). So if you want to see more, when I'm back in January, just say the word and I'll show you as many as you're willing to look at!  

Tim is also posting a lot of photos at www.tmgimagery.com