I’ve encountered all of the above in the last few days. Now back in Thamel (I was being sarcastic in my earlier post when I described it as a lovely haven) I have nothing better to do but fill in some of the details of my time away.

Walking out of one of the central Thamel guesthouses with a backpack makes you a pretty easy mark for a gouge so I was very proud of myself when I passed up offers for 300 and 250 Rupees to get me over to Bodnath and found one on the street for 150. Ask a cabbie to take you to Bodnath and he’ll look at you quite blankly so when he did, I said Boudha which is how it’s known everywhere but the guidebooks. I tried to explain that I wasn’t actually going TO Boudha to instead to the Shechen Monastery just northwest of there. It didn’t take me to long to realize that Monastery wasn’t registering either and switched to Gompa, the Tibetan word for same. A half-hour later he pulls up alongside the gate to Boudha and pronounces us “there” to which I reply with more pointing to the tiny map in the Lonely Planet and more references to Shechen Gompa. So off he heads but we only go about 2 blocks before he pulls over to asks someone on the street. I am like a dog who hears only the recognizable words: “bla bla bla Shechen Gompa bla bla bla”. There are no looks of recognition on their faces, no pointing as if to say, “go that way”. So off we go again but only for a couple more blocks, another stop but this time he turns off the engine and crosses the street to ask. He comes back and asks some ladies next to the cab. At this point I get into the conversation and point to the place on my little LP map and finally, someone seems to know what we’re trying to find! A nice young woman, who, incidentally, turns out to be Bhutanese, converses with the cab driver and then hops in. She’s taking us there. Quickly off of the main road we are on a one-car-wide, washed-out, dusty, dirty ,alley-way at which point we get a flat tire. This gives me a chance to discover that our spontaneous navigator is from Bhutan and that her husband is a sculptor at Shechen Gompa. I’m also given the chance to survey my surroundings. I have no idea how far we are from the central Stupa of Boudha or the Gompa but I feel I’m in good hands. Off we go doing 3 point turns when coming to cross-roads as there’s not enough room to just turn the corner. We arrive at the gates moments later and after depositing my backpack I go for a little walk-about only to discover that the entire time we had been within 3 blocks of the Stupa.

During the 3 days I spent in the neighborhood I visited the Stupa at all hours of the day and night, in between checking out the many Gompas in the neighborhood. It’s a major pilgrimage site for Buddhists of all stripes but especially Tibetans who make up the vast majority of the circumabulators.

Shortly after my arrival I cautiously explored my host Gompa but got shooed out of the main building by a mean monk, for taking pictures, I suppose. It surprised me a bit since they have so many western students there and it’s not like I was stepping over monks or anything. The building was empty at the time. I’m usually quite cautious about photos but am even more so after being chastised by a wizened old crank. I’m happy to say that my subsequent experiences were much more welcoming. The Tarik Gompa was not only stunning but inhabited by the most cheerful monks I’ve ever met. I *never* try to sneak shots of monks but these guys were asking to have their pictures taken. I visited this place four times to take pictures and every time they opened the central temple and turned on the lights for me (when there was power, that is). Here is a pic of their lovely main room.

The only other highlight of my visit was running into a Doctor from Brooklyn and his documentary film-making son. They entertained me for a couple of hours at a roof-top cafe while we watched the light change on the Stupa as the sun set (I must have taken a hundred pictured of that thing). They had just arrived from visiting a friend in Kolcutta where the doc performed 12 cleft palette surgeries in a few days. It made me realize how recharging it can be to converse with people! Most of the westerners I’ve come across have not spoken such great english - the French couple told me I talked way too fast.

The first thing I did back in Thamel was to stop in for a chocolate eclair which is more like bread filled with cream and topped with chocolate that an actual pastry but at this point, I’m not complaining. The bandh called by the Maoists begins tomorrow and it’s anybody’s guess how this will affect life here in Kathmandu. I have heard everything from no affect at all to a total shut down of businesses and traffic. The yoga center outside Kathmandu where I had been planning to hole up for the week turned out to be in a Maoist controlled village and one of the locals at the Shechen Guest House said it was maybe not such a good idea to travel there right now. I must admit I was a little shocked that the Maoist controlled someplace so close to Kathmandu. It’s about a 30 minute cab-ride away.

So here in Thamel I will do the only things there are to do here: eat and shop. I just checked and this internet shop will be open during the bandh so if nothing else I can post on my developing bargaining skills.
Sue Borchardt in Kathmandu of February 4, 2006 where it’s 72 degrees at 1:26 p.m.

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