Hey Bunyip

“Where is the rest of your Tibet thread? If I missed it, just point me to it. If not, some of us are all waiting to hear more..”

“What she said!!!LOL


I sure enjoyed the first of your story!”

“I'm E-mailing an article to Matt tonight.
It's the first part of the trek.”

“Great, I can`t wait to read it!”

“Here is a teaser from another trip.

We walk past prayer wheels spun around by the creek that runs through to town. We cant believe how green everything is. The last time we were here, there was snow covering everything. It's good fun walking through the narrow alleyways, jumpng over the mud and peering through the small doors into the smokey lives of these people. Every now and again a small child will yell Hello as we walk past a window, we shout Tashi Delek back (A Sherpa greeting)which makes them laugh. We eventually get to the Gompa (monastery) and spin the prayer wheels that line it's outer walls. As my wife takes photos, an old lady comes over and tries to chat, but I cant talk Tibetan and she cant speak English.Eventually I understand that she wants us to come and have tea. My wife comes looking for me and I tell her to come in and sit down. As we sit, the old lady places 2 cups in front of us and to my wifes horror pours salted butter tea into the cups. I can drink this sort of tea but my wife cant even look at it as the blobs of butter float and congeal to the sides of the cup. She tries to pretend to sip it as I drink mine.
Through sign language and the odd word, we learn thet she has a son at school in Kathmandu and a daughter living in New York. She asks if I can take her photo with my wife, which I do without hesitation, trying to figure out how to get the photo back to her. A man pops his head in and gets the shock of his life, but soon settles in and has a cuppa too. He says he can read and write English and will write down the old Ladys address and goes off to find a pen. We wait a while for him to come back and realise he probably isnt and figure it's time to go. I finish both cups of tepid butter tea. My wife wont drink hers so muggins has to drink both. Another man pops in and we are able to write her address and promise to send the photo.

More another time.”

“You tease you!LOL

You ought to write a book,.. that`s great writing!”

“Thanks mate.”

“I see in your writing and the words you paint with that you brought back more than trinkets. You came away with the things that touched your heart and not just the things you could press your hands to.

Good on you!”

“prayer wheels? I thought Buddhists, strictly speaking, don't pray?”

“They let the wheel do that.”

“The prayer wheel is a drum containng "prayers", as it makes one revolution (always clockwise) that is considered to be one prayer made. Prayer flags and skyhorses are are pieces of cloth printed with "prayers" as the cloth flutters it also sends a prayer. Most of the prayers are mantras and such. These prayers go to the myriad of Tibetan Buddhist gods.They string at auspicious locations, like mountain passes, mountain tops, around Gompas, etc.”

“That was really good Bunyip! I look forward to reading more.”

“hmm interesting Bunyip. I am learning about Buddhism. Also, one day I will make a trek to Nepal/Tibet. Will Matt post your report? Where?”

“I sent it to "articles".

Here is some from a trip I did in '96...

Woke early about 6.15,
Beckmar pushes our "bed tea" and "washy water" through the flap of the tent. We are slow to rise as we were up late talking and listening to Nima playing songs on a Tibetan Lute. As this will probably be the last wash before Muktinath, we make the most of it.

We spend an extra few minutes getting our packs ready for wet weather, my wife is a little slow at getting going so I help her out. The boys are keen to get going and keep trying to take the pots away. We relent and they smile and say, "tankyou" and laugh as they scurry downsairs. We push our way out of the tent, stretch and go downstairs for breakfast.(The tent is pitched on the dirt roof of the lodge). Prewa isn't ready for us yet so my wife runs upstairs and throws our duffles down to the boys on the ground. They tie them into a load, "The Prince" throws the tump band around his head and in a steady jog moves on up out of town.
Breakfast his quickly gulped down as we are eager to get on our way as well. Water bottles filled and Indian Chocolate Bourbon Biscuits packed we hit the trail.
We spin the prayer wheels mounted into a "Mani Wall", the higher you get the longer these walls seem to get. The District Political Representative is due in today so the Police at the Checkpost are a bit excited and more cheeky than usual. Permits checked, Passports entered into log books and we finally move on up out of town. As we walk past there barracks, my wife notices a Policeman admiring himself in a mirror. She yells out,"Beautiful". All the other Policeman start laughing, himself included.
We are almost at the town limits and about to walk through a large Kani(painted Tibetan-style Archway) when the old man with the sick wife from the night before, comes over and gives my wife a stone the size of an apple. He tells her to place it at the top of the pass and this will help speed her recovery.(The course of anti-biotics our guide gave her for an abcessed tooth will help too, but some extra help from the the Local Gods doesnt go astray.) She feels honoured and after much shaking of hands, puffs out her chest and walks on up the track towards the pass about 3 days away.”

“Very cool! Let us know when it gets posted, I'm sure I'll enjoy reading more but I must admit, I rarely check out the rest of this site.”