Four days until I leave Nepal!

It is hard to believe that a month has passed by and I will be on my way back to Liverpool for a couple of weeks.

Nepal is a country that has many problems - too many to write about but it is in essence a fascinating place.  Buddhism is alive and the Dharma is in action here big time.  I have met so many wonderful, dedicated people working hard for change here and truly motivated to help one of the poorest countries in the world.

I met J from the Chicago area who is wealthy for sure but has his own foundation to help kids in SE Asia and another J from Chicago who has been helping Thrangu Rinpoche projects around the world for 20 years.  She has an MA in Business and I can see how much she loves the monks and her work.  I met K, a Kiwi who lives just north of Boudha here in Kopan who runs an animal rescue out of her home.  J is 77 and a massage therapist and acupuncturist who jokes about riding motorcycles in Laguna Beach back in the day...another Laguna Beach woman I met here was a journalist in Afghanistan.  J lives in London, from Poland originally who feeds the hungry dogs and sponsors 3 kids in SMD school....the list goes on and on!

Yesterday I went shopping in a "free trade" store for gifts and had a delightful time - born to shop!  Found some lovely, hand-made local items including table runners made from stinging nettle fibre.  I found truly cashmere and silk scarves and was truly overwhelmed by the traffic, pollution and noise - honking of horns is incessant here!  Funny thing is I am getting used to it!

I was with G who was very patient with me in my fervour of buying - she knows ALL the good places to shop!  I was then just stopping at the Yak n Yak hotel for a drink as the nuns from Tara Abbey were taking her to dinner when the head nun them.  I was happy to sit and to spend time chatting with Manku about her life as a nun - she is a smart cookie and one of the nuns who used to ride a motorcyle when they were building the nunnery.   It was a delightful dinner and I must say I am going to really miss being around the monks and the nuns here - Victoria will be a strange place to be with no burgundy robes passing by and noone to greet with a Tashi Delek!