Everest through a tinted window.

Contrary to my first impression when i arrived, there are some major differences between Kathmandu and Delhi.

Kathmandu is a little calmer - the lifestyle is more laid back and the people are more smiley. 

smiley Nepali girlie and me :)

It seems developed but has more of a rural feel than Delhi. It's bright, and surrounded by Himalayan foothills.  People wear characteristic Nepali hats. In some ways, it reminds me of my time in Peru more than my time in Delhi. The other big difference is that the standard of living is, well, more of a standard. I have yet to see a slum like the ones that pepper the residential areas where i live. I imagine this helps to eliminate some possible resentment among neighbors, but i have no proof of that. 

I have really enjoyed it here so far. 
We are here in the Tibetan area of Kathmandu, where many families from Tibet live as refugees. Consequently, there's a lot of Buddhism that goes on which is mixed with the prevalent Hinduism which characterizes the nation and binds the culture closely with Indian culture.

My second day here, Leah took me around the city and we saw a place called Pashupati. It is a hugely famous Hindu temple, and it's the official cremation site of Nepal. It's a temple sprawled out on top of a hill reaching over a river - not beautiful or stately as temples often are, but instead with pieces of 'holy' architecture sprinkled out over the area depicting the gods, overrun with monkeys and painted, performing priests. The cremation site is located on the 'holy' river. This river is used for washing, bathing, swimming, and many other superstitious purposes. It is filled with the ashes of dead Hindus, the trash of tourists, and the filth of the urban sector of the city. 
It was here that i saw a person burning for the first time in my life. 

An elderly man had died. There was a procession of his family members wailing, accompanying his body to the cremation site. His feet were sticking out of his white wrapping. A worker spread dry straw and oil over the body and lit the fire. There was a group gathered on the landing above to watch the cremation. I looked to my left and saw a tourist girl, peering down on the conservatively covered weeping family, push the straps of her tank top off her shoulders in order to get a proper tan as she watched their beloved elder burn. I was overcome with the insensitivity and the hopelessness. 

Later on that day we walked to the Kathmandu Stupa. A stupa is not a temple, exactly, but it is a place of meditation and worship. Its name is derived from a word for 'mound', and that's exactly what it looks like. It's a place that contains Buddhist relics and is covered with the flags which are printouts of the Buddhist mantras - the idea is that the wind will carry the karma in the mantras and spread them over the populated area. 
There are dedicated men and women repeating mantras over and over, counting their progress with strings of beads. There are observers coming to spin large and small Tibetan prayer wheels in order to lift their petitions to the greater deities - around and around,  over and over, to rack up good karma. There are followers prostrating themselves as a means of good deeds. Old monks stroll around the tall white stupa.  Om mani padme hum, they say. They flip a bead. 
Om mani padme hum. 




Buddhism doesn't feel as dark as Hinduism when you're surrounded by it, but i think that's what makes it so insidious. It feels good. It feels like a more educated religion to subscribe to; but it's rooted in Hinduism, and it's obviously overpoweringly works-based. It's founded on a ruse that makes it look nice, like it will result in people being helpful toward other people, like there are simple steps to follow in a messy life, like enlightenment will enable the paradox of the most minimalistic and glamorous characteristics existing in the same human being. You may find that 100 prostrations and endless mantras and the equal exchange of karma - good for good and bad for bad - are easier than faith.

 But in the end all you're doing is spinning your wheels.

On Monday i took a domestic flight to see the highest point on earth. 

i struggle to put into words my experience seeing Everest. it was unlike anything i've ever seen. it was too big to grasp. it was over too soon. Well, in one way it was over too soon. In the other way, it was foggy and we were delayed over two hours in the tiny airport. There was a collection of about sixty Chinese tourists there among the crowd, and they just could not get a good grasp of what was going on through the language barrier. They hadn't all come together in one group, but they moved as one mass. Any time an announcement would come through the loudspeaker, regardless of what it was, they would all stand up and swarm one of the two departure gates, clogging every process completely and needlessly.  i laughed the first time at 6:45 am when the flight attendant came on and announced that their flight had been delayed until 7:30, and they all got up to go board! Every single one of them! It kept getting more obscure, and even funnier, after they stopped discriminating against gates or airlines mentioned in the announcement and got up to board anyway. It was good entertainment for my wait. 
When we finally boarded after being shuttled to the plane twice and further delayed, it was smooth sailing. The flight was wonderful. The Himalayas were magnificent throughout the hour we spent in the air. 

They let each of the passengers come up to stand in the cockpit and take in the 180 degree view out the front windows, and that is where the copilot first pointed out Mt. Everest to me. I can't explain to you the depth or the breadth of the mountain range from that angle. What a great picture of the great and far-reaching nature of True Love. 

I went back to my seat and marveled at one of the most famous places on earth through a propeller and a darkly tinted window. 

Yesterday we took about an hour long walk to Kopan Monastery, a Buddhist refuge in the mountains. On our way we met a few different families who invited us in for tea, or who appreciated our desire to take photos of their elderly mothers. Two families were especially sweet and welcoming, and we got to stop and share Truth with them - in their own tongue, thanks to Leah. After some time we got all the way up to the monastery. The architecture is beautiful, and the grounds are meticulously kept. 
I hadn't realized that Buddhism arose out of Hinduism, but i see much of the symbolism that has carried over in their monuments and shrines. I was with Leah and another friend named Joanna, and we prayed as we walked through this place. We went to the highest spot in the monastery, a grassy circle reachable by winding stone stairs looking out over the whole monastery and almost the whole city of Kathmandu. We sat there and asked our Father to invade. It was a very beautiful place to be. 

There was going to be a Buddhist service going on in their equivalent of a chapel while we were there, so we watched as the young monks filed in and waited for the Pooja to start. As they removed their shoes and came inside, i noticed many of them pausing to peer out of the windows lining the sides of the chapel. Some of them even leaned out, quiet but longing, seeing something out there, tilting their torsos forward and a bare foot up in the air. I couldn't help but feel they were seeking for something outside of that place. 
i couldn't help but hope they never stop looking out those windows until they find it. 

As we walked back i saw more of the Buddhist mantra flags flying. I was struck by their emptiness and the hollow lies they depict as they fly, many old - dirty and shredded, in the wind. 
How often does the way we make to find our freedom turn on us? How often do we find ourselves enslaved and imprisoned by the parts of our lives that have become tradition?

Maybe sometimes we just need to get above our situation to see the absurdities we use to line the Truth woven through imagery into the fabric of our being. 

Maybe sometimes we need to go see Mount Everest 

and look down at the temples. 

This first week in Nepal has been such a sweet eye-opening and adventure-heavy time. I'll be back at the end of next week with another recap!

Love from Kathmandu,
Non-traditional Julie.