It’s festival time in Bhaktapur! The festival is Dashain, biggest festival in the Nepali calendar, and this morning we sat on the steps of a temple and watched them chop the heads off of goats and a bullock with a huge kukri knife. One blow – CHOP! Then they drag the body (still twitching, ewww) » » »
Archive for October, 2010
19 October 2010
Overland to Tibet?
Paragraphs in blockquote written by Maureen We travelled overland from Kathmandu to Lhasa, and flew back. So instead of a country summary, here’s a summary of that particular (and popular) trip. This may help if you are thinking of doing the same. A Nepali travel agency arranged the trip for us, which lasted 7 nights, » » »
17 October 2010
Debating monks
Buddhist monks enjoy debating, and in some monasteries they get very animated about it. The standing monk asks a question, and the seated monk has to answer – they get a virtual slapping if they don’t get it right. I think questions like “when was the Battle of Hastings?” and “what was Chairman Mao’s favourite » » »
16 October 2010
Chinese Takeaway
The Chinese have ruined Lhasa – that was my thought as we drove into the famed holy city of the Dalai Lama. The postcards are all lies; the great Potala palace sits forlornly in the middle of a bustling modern Chinese city. To give you an idea, take Edinburgh Castle, remove it from its renowned » » »
16 October 2010
Tibet
Tibet is a strange mixture – a land on the roof of the world, unlike any other place we’ve seen, yet with the trappings of modern China seeping in all the time. Impressions that stick with me… The scent of yak butter candles in dark monasteries, with worshippers jostling to donate money to their preferred » » »